13. Summaries

Typing h (vm-summarize) causes VM to display a summary of contents of the current folder. The information in the summary is automatically updated as changes are made to the current folder. An arrow `->' appears to the left of the line summarizing the current message. The variable vm-auto-center-summary controls whether VM will keep the summary arrow vertically centered within the summary window. A value of t causes VM to always keep the arrow centered. A value of nil (the default) means VM will never bother centering the arrow. A value that is not nil and not t causes VM to center the arrow only if the summary window is not the only existing window. You can change what the summary arrow looks like by setting vm-summary-arrow to a string depicting the new arrow. You should set this variable before VM creates the summary buffer.

The variable vm-summary-format controls the format of each message's summary. Its value should be a string. This string should contain printf-like "%" conversion specifiers which substitute information about the message into the final summary.

Recognized specifiers are:

a

attribute indicators (always four characters wide)
The first char is `D', `N', `U' or ` ' for deleted, new, unread and read messages respectively.
The second char is `F', `W' or ` ' for filed (saved) or written messages.
The third char is `R', `Z' or ` ' for messages replied to, and forwarded messages.
The fourth char is `E' if the message has been edited, ` ' otherwise.

A

longer version of attributes indicators (seven characters wide).

The first char is `D', `N', `U' or ` ' for deleted, new, unread and read messages respectively.
The second is `r' or ` ', for message replied to.
The third is `z' or ` ', for messages forwarded.
The fourth is `b' or ` ', for messages redistributed.
The fifth is `f' or ` ', for messages filed.
The sixth is `w' or ` ', for messages written.
The seventh is `e' or ` ', for messages that have been edited.

c

number of characters in message (ignoring headers)

d

numeric day of month message sent

f

author's address

F

author's full name (same as f if full name not found)

h

hour:min:sec message sent

H

hour:min message sent

i

message ID

I

thread indentation

l

number of lines in message (ignoring headers)

L

labels (as a comma list)

m

month message sent

M

numeric month message sent (January = 1)

n

message number

s

message subject

t

addresses of the recipients of the message, in a comma-separated list

T

full names of the recipients of the message, in a comma-separated list If a full name cannot be found, the corresponding address is used instead.

U

user defined specifier. The next character in the format string should be a letter. VM will call the function vm-summary-function-<letter> (e.g. vm-summary-function-A for "%UA") in the folder buffer with the message being summarized bracketed by (point-min) and (point-max). The function will be passed a message struct as an argument. The function should return a string, which VM will insert into the summary as it would for information from any other summary specifier.

w

day of the week message sent

y

year message sent

z

timezone of date when the message was sent

*

`*' if the message is marked, ` ' otherwise

(

starts a group, terminated by %). Useful for specifying the field width and precision for the concatentation of group of format specifiers. Example: \"%.35(%I%s%)\" specifies a maximum display width of 35 characters for the concatenation of the thread indentation and the subject.

)

ends a group.

Use "%%" to get a single "%".

A numeric field width may be specified between the "%" and the specifier; this causes right justification of the substituted string. A negative field width causes left justification. The field width may be followed by a "." and a number specifying the maximum allowed length of the substituted string. If the string is longer than this value, it is truncated.

If you save copies of all your outbound messages in a folder and later visit that folder, the `%F' format specifier will normally display your own name. If you would rather see the recipient addresses in this case, set the variable vm-summary-uninteresting-senders. This variable's value, if non-nil, should be a regular expression that matches addresses that you don't consider interesting enough to appear in the summary. When such senders would be displayed by the `%F' or `%f' summary format specifiers VM will substitute the value of vm-summary-uninteresting-senders-arrow (default "To: ") followed by what would be shown by the `%T' and `%t' specifiers respectively.

The summary format need not be one line per message but it must end with a newline, otherwise the message pointer will not be displayed correctly in the summary window.

You can have a summary generated automatically at VM startup by setting the variable vm-startup-with-summary non-nil. See section 1. Starting Up.

All VM commands are available in the summary buffer just as they are in the folder buffer itself. If you set vm-follow-summary-cursor non-nil, VM will select the message under the cursor in the summary window before executing commands that operate on the current message. Note that this occurs only when executing a command from the summary buffer window.

A non-nil value of vm-gargle-uucp means to use a crufty regular expression that does surprisingly well at beautifying UUCP addresses that are substituted for `%f' and `%t' as part of summary and attribution formats.