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(emacs)Mail Headers

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Mail Header Fields
==================

   A header field in the mail buffer starts with a field name at the
beginning of a line, terminated by a colon.  Upper and lower case are
equivalent in field names (and in mailing addresses also).  After the
colon and optional whitespace comes the contents of the field.

   You can use any name you like for a header field, but normally people
use only standard field names with accepted meanings.  Here is a table
of fields commonly used in outgoing messages.

`To'
     This field contains the mailing addresses to which the message is
     addressed.  If you list more than one address, use commas, not
     spaces, to separate them.

`Subject'
     The contents of the `Subject' field should be a piece of text that
     says what the message is about.  The reason `Subject' fields are
     useful is that most mail-reading programs can provide a summary of
     messages, listing the subject of each message but not its text.

`CC'
     This field contains additional mailing addresses to send the
     message to, like `To' except that these readers should not regard
     the message as directed at them.

`BCC'
     This field contains additional mailing addresses to send the
     message to, which should not appear in the header of the message
     actually sent.  Copies sent this way are called "blind carbon
     copies".

     To send a blind carbon copy of every outgoing message to yourself,
     set the variable `mail-self-blind' to `t'.  To send a blind carbon
     copy of every message to some other ADDRESS, set the variable
     `mail-default-headers' to `"Bcc: ADDRESS\n"'.

`FCC'
     This field contains the name of one file and directs Emacs to
     append a copy of the message to that file when you send the
     message.  If the file is in Rmail format, Emacs writes the message
     in Rmail format; otherwise, Emacs writes the message in system
     mail file format.  To specify more than one file, use several
     `FCC' fields, with one file name in each field.

     To put a fixed file name in the `FCC' field each time you start
     editing an outgoing message, set the variable
     `mail-archive-file-name' to that file name.  Unless you remove the
     `FCC' field before sending, the message will be written into that
     file when it is sent.

`From'
     Use the `From' field to say who you are, when the account you are
     using to send the mail is not your own.  The contents of the `From'
     field should be a valid mailing address, since replies will
     normally go there.  If you don't specify the `From' field
     yourself, Emacs uses the value of `user-mail-address' as the
     default.

`Reply-to'
     Use this field to direct replies to a different address.  Most
     mail-reading programs (including Rmail) automatically send replies
     to the `Reply-to' address in preference to the `From' address.  By
     adding a `Reply-to' field to your header, you can work around any
     problems your `From' address may cause for replies.

     To put a fixed `Reply-to' address into every outgoing message, set
     the variable `mail-default-reply-to' to that address (as a string).
     Then `mail' initializes the message with a `Reply-to' field as
     specified.  You can delete or alter that header field before you
     send the message, if you wish.  When Emacs starts up, if the
     environment variable `REPLYTO' is set, `mail-default-reply-to' is
     initialized from that environment variable.

`In-reply-to'
     This field contains a piece of text describing the message you are
     replying to.  Some mail systems can use this information to
     correlate related pieces of mail.  Normally this field is filled
     in by Rmail when you reply to a message in Rmail, and you never
     need to think about it (Note: Rmail).

`References'
     This field lists the message IDs of related previous messages.
     Rmail sets up this field automatically when you reply to a message.

   The `To', `CC', and `BCC' header fields can appear any number of
times, and each such header field can contain multiple addresses,
separated by commas.  This way, you can specify any number of places to
send the message.  These fields can also have continuation lines: one
or more lines starting with whitespace, following the starting line of
the field, are considered part of the field.  Here's an example of a
`To' field with a continuation line:

     To: foo@here.net, this@there.net,
       me@gnu.cambridge.mass.usa.earth.spiral3281

   When you send the message, if you didn't write a `From' field
yourself, Emacs puts in one for you.  The variable `mail-from-style'
controls the format:

`nil'
     Use just the email address, as in `king@grassland.com'.

`parens'
     Use both email address and full name, as in `king@grassland.com
     (Elvis Parsley)'.

`angles'
     Use both email address and full name, as in `Elvis Parsley
     <king@grassland.com>'.

`system-default'
     Allow the system to insert the `From' field.

   You can direct Emacs to insert certain default headers into the
outgoing message by setting the variable `mail-default-headers' to a
string.  Then `C-x m' inserts this string into the message headers.  If
the default header fields are not appropriate for a particular message,
edit them as appropriate before sending the message.