Re: [Pan-users] Confused about Pan basic behavior

[zipft97602]

.b e. be1952-at-hotmail.com |Pan mailing list| wrote:
> initially
>
> in File select work online
> in Edit/Preferences/Behaviour uncheck everything
> set a download directory
> set a cache size 500Mb
> use a pane layout rather than tabbed
>
> then select Get new headers in subscribed groups

Charles Kerr charles-at-rebelbase.com |Pan mailing list| wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 14, 2003 at 10:50:14PM -0600, Erik wrote:
>
>
> > It keeps all the headers for me, no re-downloading. My cache is 10MB and my
> > ~/.pan is currently 154MB. I don't think the two are releated.
>
>
> This is correct.  The cache refers only to the disk space allocated for
> storing message bodies, not headers.  Headers are stored in
> ~/.pan/servername/groupname and aren't bounded by the cache.

The cache size was a large part of my problems. It was still at the default 10 
MB, which might work for a few text only groups, but doesn't seem big enough if 
you use a binary group. I'm not sure how Erik manages to use binary groups with 
a 10 MB cache, this seems unworkable to me -- if you switch to another message 
and then back, it has to re-download again. I guess he doesn't do that. :)

I'm used to the Agent technique of expiring messages by date, not by size, and 
this hadn't occurred to me. Thanks.



I still have some remaining problems/questions.

1. It is difficult to see the entire subject line (of a long subject) without downloading the entire message. Binary MP3 groups, for example, often have long subject lines where the thing you care about (the track name) is at the end of the subject, and you don't want to download the entire message just to see the subject. The only way to see it is to drag the line between "subject" and "lines" columns to the right, then scroll the header pane right, and repeat these steps as necessary until you see what you want. Is there an easier way to do this? 

If not, I suggest a feature that provides a "hover" window, or a "more" button, 
that lets you see the entire subject. Perhaps easier (and better as far as I'm concerned), just 
fill in the heading of the body pane (with the subject, date, author), as soon as you select a 
message in the header pane, and don't wait until you have downloaded the message before filling in 
the heading of the body pane.

2. Is there any way to go to the next unread message with a body? If I work 
offline, and flag messages for download,then download those flagged messages, 
the next thing I want to do is read just those flagged messages. How can I do 
that easily?

Part of the problem here is that "download flagged message" does not mark unflagged 
messages as old, so the "new" filter doesn't do what I expect.

3. Is there any way to see the filename of an attached message? If I select a 
message, and select save article attachments, how do I know what filename is 
used for that message? If there is no way to do this, I suggest displaying it 
in the body pane.

Thanks for your help,

Don