Email on the BrailleNote

This guide includes:

• Sections from the BrailleNote Apex User Manual about setting up and using email
• YouTube videos demonstrating setting up email on the BrailleNote
• Contact Information for Humanware Support

Setting up Email on Your BrailleNote

Directory of E‑mail Accounts

To select “Directory of E‑Mail Accounts,” first select KeyMail from the Main Menu, then select Setup Options. You are presented with the KeyMail Setup Menu and “Directory of E‑mail Accounts” is the first item on this menu.
There are two options on this menu; “Add an Account,” and “Look up an Account.”

“Add an Account” is used to set up the details of a new e‑mail account.

“Look up an Account” allows you to review the details for an existing e‑mail account, and modify individual fields as appropriate.

Information relating to a particular e‑mail account is stored in a record, and each record has a number of fields that contain the details for that record. KeySoft provides commands for moving between records and reviewing the fields within them. To move to the next record, press SPACE with dots 5‑6. To move back to the previous record, press SPACE with dots 2‑3. Within a record you can use the SPACE and BACKSPACE keys to move forward or back through the list of fields.

The next two sections provide detailed information on “Adding an Account” and “Looking up an Account.”

Add an E‑mail Account

To send and receive e‑mail you need access to an e‑mail Service Provider. When you open an account with a Service Provider you need to obtain details of the service such as the POP server and SMTP addresses, and these details must be loaded into KeyMail before you can use that e‑mail account.

Note: Details of the actual internet connection are listed separately. This is because it is not uncommon for users to access the internet in multiple ways, via a different set‑up to the default one, and this arrangement saves double entering account details or connection configurations.

To add an e‑mail account, follow these steps:

1. Select E‑mail from the Main Menu, or press BACKSPACE with ENTER with E, anywhere.
2. KeySoft displays “KeyMail Menu.” Select Set Up Options from the KeyMail menu. KeySoft displays “KeyMail Set Up Menu.” Select Directory of E‑mail accounts.
3. KeySoft displays “Directory of E‑mail Accounts.” Select Add an account. KeySoft displays “Entry List for Directory of E‑mail accounts.”
4. KeySoft now steps you through a list of details of the service so that you can enter details for each item. KeySoft queries “Account Name?” Enter the name you wish this account to be called and press ENTER. Typically you would use the name of your provider, for example, “Earthlink.”
5. KeySoft prompts “User Name?” Enter the user name, for example Murray_Thorn. Typically this is the part of your e‑mail address that precedes the @ sign.
6. KeySoft prompts “Password?” For greater security, you can leave this blank and you will be prompted for the password each time you connect. Alternatively, type your password. The password is displayed as you enter it. You can review it before pressing ENTER. After pressing ENTER it displays as 5 asterisks. Remember that passwords are often case sensitive, so it is important that you enter the password exactly as you have chosen or been given.
7. You are then prompted for “Your Name?” and reminded that computer Braille is required. This is the name that will appear in the From: field when the recipient reads e‑mail from you.
8. KeySoft prompts “Your E‑mail address?.” Type your full e‑mail address for this provider, for example: Murray_Thorn@earthlink.net.
9. KeySoft now queries “POP Server?.” Enter the POP server address. For example a POP server address might be “pop.humanware.com.” The POP server address defines the path via which you receive mail from your e‑mail account provider.
10. KeySoft queries “Use a secure connection for POP server?” If your POP server requires a secure connection (SSL), press Y. If a secure connection is not required, press N. The default is No.
11. Next KeySoft queries “SMTP Server?.” Enter the SMTP server address. For example a SMTP server address might be “smtp.humanware.com.” The SMTP server address defines the path via which you send mail to your e‑mail account provider.
12. KeySoft then queries “Use a secure connection for SMTP server?” If your SMTP server requires a secure connection (SSL), press Y. If a secure connection is not required, press N. The default is No.
13. KeySoft displays, “SMTP authentication required?” Increasingly, e‑mail providers expect users to verify their user name and address on the SMTP server before allowing them to proceed. The BrailleNote BT is set up to automatically provide your username and password if you have turned this feature on. The default is No. Press Y to turn on.
14. KeySoft asks you to enter the Pop port. The default value is 110. This may vary depending on E‑mail service.
15. Finally, KeySoft asks for SMTP port. The default value is 25. This may vary depending on E‑mail service.
16. You can review your list of entries with the BACKSPACE and SPACE keys. When you are happy with the entries, press SPACE with E to exit the list and KeySoft prompts “Add this record?.” Press Y to save this record in the list of e‑mail accounts. KeySoft confirms your choice with the message “Yes,” “Record added” and returns to the Directory of E‑mail Accounts Menu.

If you have more than one e‑mail account that you wish to access on the BrailleNote BT, simply add another record in the same way. Each account will have its own POP and SMTP server addresses, which you can get from the e‑mail account provider.

Look up an E‑mail Account

To check or modify details of a particular account, select “Look up an Account”. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Select E‑mail from the Main Menu, or press BACKSPACE with ENTER with E, anywhere.
2. KeySoft displays “KeyMail Menu.” Select Set Up Options from the KeyMail menu. KeySoft displays “KeyMail Set Up Menu.” Select Directory of E‑mail accounts.
3. KeySoft displays “Directory of E‑mail Accounts.” Select Look Up an account. KeySoft queries “Account to Look Up?”
4. To lookup all account records, press ENTER. To move to the next account record, press SPACE with dots 5‑6, and to move to the previous account record, press SPACE with dots 2‑3. Alternatively type part or the entire e‑mail account name, then press ENTER. If your entry matches more than one account name, KeySoft displays the number of matches and places you at the first matching account name. To move to the next match, press SPACE with dots 5‑6, or to move back, SPACE with dots 2‑3. Make a selection by pressing ENTER.
5. KeySoft steps you through the fields of the nominated account so that you can check the details of each item. If you want to change a field, press BACKSPACE with dots 1‑4 anywhere in the list. This takes you into an entry mode where all fields are presented and you can enter or change any field. Press ENTER when you have finished modifying a field and the next field will be presented. SPACE with E takes you back to the review option.
   To make a duplicate copy of an e‑mail account record, you can use the same technique as discussed in 10.5 Duplicating a Record, for duplicating address list records. This provides a quick and convenient way of duplicating a record, and then modifying a field.
   The account record list comprises the following items:
   Account Name;
   User Name;
   Password;
   Your Name;
   E‑mail address;
   POP Server;
   POP Server secure connection (SSL). Yes or No;
   SMTP Server;
   POP Server secure connection (SSL). Yes or No;
   SMTP Authentication Required?
6. When you are happy with the entries, press SPACE with E to exit the record, and if you changed any details KeySoft prompts “Add this record?” Press Y to save this record in the list of services or N if you do not want to save your changes.
   If you want to delete an account record, select the account you wish to remove, and press BACKSPACE with dots 2‑3‑5‑6.

Receive Options

Receive Options allows you to choose whether you want to delete e‑mail from the e‑mail service after uploading it to your BrailleNote BT, and to put a size limit on incoming e‑mails.

To select Receive Options, first select KeyMail from the Main Menu, and then select Setup Options. You are presented with the KeyMail Setup Menu and Receive Options is the second item on this menu.

Selecting Receive Options places you in the E‑mail Receive Options Setup List, which contains two items.

1. “Delete e‑mail from service after receiving? currently Yes or No”
   For the usual option of having each e‑mail deleted from your service account after it has been successfully received, press Y. To leave it on the service so that, for example, you can also download it to your PC, press N. This feature can be useful if you wish to keep a complete record of your received e‑mail on your PC, and are using your BrailleNote BT to download your messages while you are traveling.
2. “Size limit for automatic download of e‑mail? Currently 50K”
   If an e‑mail is larger than this setting, KeySoft will prompt you with a number of options before downloading it. These options were discussed in 11.9.1 Download status. To change the value, enter the maximum size in kilobytes and press ENTER. For example, to set the limit at 60 kilobytes, enter 60, followed by ENTER. The default setting is 50K, or approximately 50,000 characters.
   To exit the Receive Options list, press SPACE with E and you are returned to the KeyMail Setup Menu.

Free Database Space

E‑mail folders are held in a database. One of the peculiarities of databases is that when you delete items from them, they don’t automatically shrink back down again. Because of this, simply deleting your unwanted e‑mails does not free up more space. The “Free database space” software shrinks the database back to the smallest size capable of storing the e‑mails remaining in the database.

To use this utility, simply go to the e‑mail set‑up menu, and select the item “Free database space”. After running, the utility will report how much space has been freed.

Videos on Email Setup

Gmail on ApexYouTube Video from gallagher123123
Adding a Gmail account on the BrailleNote Apex YouTube Video from HumanWare Technologies

Using Email on Your BrailleNote

KeyMail

You can access KeyMail by typing E from the Main Menu, or by pressing BACKSPACE with ENTER with E. This takes you to the KeyMail Menu, which contains 4 items. These are:

• Write an e‑mail
• Read e‑mail
• Send and receive e‑mail
• Set up options

Write E‑mail

Choose “Write an e‑mail” when you wish to send a new message to one or more people. You can enter their e‑mail addresses manually, or more conveniently, choose them from your KeyList address list. KeyMail steps you painlessly through the various options that include the following items:

• main recipient or recipients
• carbon copy recipient or recipients
• blind carbon copy recipient or recipients
• subject
• file attachments

You can then create, review, spell check, and edit the text of your e‑mail message using the same friendly commands used in KeyWord. At this point you may choose to send your e‑mail, with or without saving a copy, or save it as a Draft, so that you can return to it at a later time. You may also emboss or print a copy of your e‑mail.

Reading E‑mail

To read e‑mail stored on your system, choose “Read E‑mail.” You can check for new messages before you start, or read messages stored from previous sessions. KeyMail uses a series of folders to organize your mail, and you can add folders of your own to streamline the filing of your mail. KeyMail guides you through selecting the desired folder, and provides tools for replying to and forwarding e‑mail, with and without the original text and/or attachments included.

E‑mails can be marked for further action, such as moving or copying to another folder, or sending to the Trash folder.

Checking for E‑mail

To check for new e‑mail, choose “Send and receive e‑mail.” KeyMail prompts you through the necessary steps, and provides feedback about the status of the connection and mail download. If you have any unsent mail, it is also sent at this time.

Setup Options

The purpose of the “Set up options” is to define the details of your e‑mail accounts. You can set up as many accounts as you wish. Using the Receive options you can choose not to delete messages from your service provider after they have been downloaded, leaving them available to be downloaded to another computer. A size limit can also be set on e‑mails to be downloaded, and if exceeded, an alert will be given. The Address list set up allows you to define which address list to use, if you have more than one, and to tell it your own name and e‑mail address so these can be included in e‑mail you send.

Selecting Setup Options from the KeyMail menu presents the KeyMail Setup Menu which provides 4 options:

• Directory of E‑mail Accounts
• Receive Options
• Address List
• Free Database Space

“Directory of E‑mail Accounts” allows you to define account details for e‑mail using a particular Service Provider, and provides options for both adding a new account and looking up and modifying an existing account.

“Receive Options” allows you to choose whether or not your e‑mail is deleted from your mail box at the Service Provider after you have downloaded it to the BrailleNote BT. It also allows you to set the size limit for automatic download.

“Address List” allows you to select the Address List file that will be used by KeyMail.

“Free Database Space” allows you to reclaim space in the e‑mail database that had been taken up by unwanted e‑mails.

Still Need Help?

You can contact Humanware support by calling 1 800 722-3393 or emailing info@humanware.com.