Writing Mail
The compose screen, from the From field to Undo Send.
Starting a Message
Click the pencil at the top of the sidebar (see keyboard shortcuts for the key equivalents). Reply, Reply all and Forward open the same screen with the original quoted. Click an email address anywhere in the webmail (a message header, a contact) and it opens the composer with that address filled in.
The composer can open in its own window instead of replacing the mail screen: tick Compose in a new window under Settings → Preferences → Composing Messages.
Your message is saved to Drafts automatically while you write (every few minutes; the interval is a preference), and again when you close the composer without sending. Drafts are ordinary messages in the Drafts folder; open one to continue it.
The Header Fields
- From lists your identities. An identity is a display name, an address, and optionally its own signature, Reply-To, Bcc and outgoing server. Your main address has one already; create one under Settings → Identities for any alias, catch-all or custom-domain address you want to send from (receiving needs no identity, only sending does), and make any of them the default. An identity can also use another provider's outgoing server, which keeps replies from a fetched account authentic to that provider. When you reply, the identity that matches the address the message was sent to is picked for you, so a reply to a masked alias goes out from that alias. See Using Identities.
- To, Cc, Bcc: start typing a name or address and matching contacts from every address book appear; press Enter or Tab to accept. Each recipient becomes a chip you can remove with its x. Cc and Bcc are hidden until you click their links beside the To field; Bcc recipients are invisible to everyone else.
- Reply-To and Followup-To set where replies should go when that is not the From address. Also behind links beside To.
- Subject. If you leave it empty you are asked to confirm before sending.
Click Options and attachments (the sliders icon on the toolbar; on a phone it is in the menu) to open the panel with everything in the next sections.
Plain Text or HTML
Above the message body is an editor selector: Plain text or HTML. Plain text is the default for new messages. It is smaller, every mail reader shows it identically, and it carries none of the tracking or disguise risks described in Reading Mail. Switch to HTML when you need bold, lists, links with text, tables, inline pictures or a particular font.
The HTML editor has a formatting toolbar (fonts, size, color, bold, italic, lists, alignment, links, images, tables, and a source view). Pictures you insert are embedded in the message, not linked, so the recipient does not have to fetch anything from anywhere. An HTML message is always sent with a plain-text copy as well.
The Compose HTML messages preference changes the default: never, only when replying to an HTML message, when replying to or forwarding one, always, or always except when replying to plain text. Switching from HTML back to plain text in the editor asks for confirmation, since formatting will be lost.
When you reply, Keep formatting in the options panel preserves the original message's formatting in the quote even when you are writing in plain text.
Attachments and Secure Links
Click Attach a file (the paperclip) or drag files anywhere onto the composer. The attachment panel shows the size limit for your account. Each attachment has a menu for Open, Download, Rename and Remove. Attach vCard adds one of your identities as a contact card.
Secure Link
For files that are too large to attach, or too sensitive to leave sitting in someone's inbox, use Secure Link in the attachment panel:
- Pick the file and enter a password. The file is encrypted in your browser with AES-256-GCM before anything is uploaded. CodaMail only ever stores the encrypted blob; the password never leaves your computer.
- A download link is inserted into your message. Send the password to the recipient some other way: a text message, a phone call, in person. Never in the same email.
- The recipient opens the link, enters the password, and gets the file. Wrong-password attempts are rate limited.
- The encrypted file is deleted automatically after a limited time, so the link does not live forever.
Secure Links are how you send a file to someone whose mail provider you do not trust, and how you keep a large file from being copied into every recipient's mailbox.
Forgot the attachment?
If your text mentions an attachment ("attached", "enclosed", "see the file") and there is none, CodaMail asks before sending. Remind about forgotten attachments in the Composing preferences turns this off.
The Options Panel
Open it with the sliders icon. Everything here applies to this message only; the matching preferences set the defaults.
- Digitally sign this message, Encrypt this message, Attach my public key: PGP, using the keys you manage under Settings → Manage PGP Keys. Signing proves the message came from you; encrypting makes it readable only by holders of the recipients' keys. See PGP encryption, which also covers encrypting incoming mail automatically.
- Return receipt asks the recipient's mail software to tell you when the message is read. Recipients can, and often do, decline.
- Delivery status notification asks the receiving mail server to confirm delivery. This reports arrival at the server, not that anyone read it.
- Keep formatting: see Plain Text or HTML above.
- Priority: Lowest to Highest. Shown as a marker in most mail readers; it has no effect on delivery speed.
- Save sent message in: Sent by default, any folder, or don't save.
- Schedule this email for later delivery: tick it and choose in one hour, in four hours, tomorrow at 9 am or 2 pm, or a custom date and time in your time zone. The message leaves the composer and waits under Settings → Scheduled Messages, where you can reschedule or cancel it until it goes out. Your browser does not need to be open at send time.
Signatures and Responses
Each identity has its own signature, plain or HTML, edited under Settings → Identities. It is inserted automatically according to Automatically add signature (always, new messages only, replies and forwards only, or never), and changes when you change the From identity. The Insert signature toolbar button adds it by hand. Where it goes in a reply, whether the original sender's signature is stripped from the quote, and the standard "-- " separator are all Composing preferences.
Responses are canned texts you reuse: a standard answer, directions, a disclaimer. Create them under Settings → Responses, in plain text or HTML, and insert one with the Insert a response toolbar button. You can also select text in a message you are writing and save it as a new response from the same menu.
Spelling and Language
Check spelling on the toolbar underlines misspellings; click one for suggestions. The Language button beside it picks the dictionary. Check spelling before sending in the preferences makes it automatic, and three options let the checker skip words with symbols, numbers, or all capitals.
Sending, and Taking It Back
Click Send. With Send delay set in the Composing preferences, the message does not leave immediately: a notice counts down Sending in N seconds with two links, Undo Send and Send Now. Undo returns the message to the composer with everything intact. Delays of 5, 10, 15 or 30 seconds are available; Send immediately turns the delay off.
After the delay the message is handed to the CodaMail sending server. Before it goes out, the server removes the headers that would identify your computer and software (your IP address and your mail software) and attaches a message ID that does not reveal your account name. See Privacy by Default.
A copy lands in Sent (or wherever you chose). If you need to send the same message again, or use it as a template, open it from Sent and choose Edit as new.
Sending limits. Every account has a daily sending allowance appropriate to its plan, to keep the service off spam blocklists. If you hit it, the message is refused with a clear error and you can send again the next day.
Next: Preferences Explained, every option in Settings → Preferences.