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(emacs)Rmail Files

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Multiple Rmail Files
====================

   Rmail operates by default on your "primary Rmail file", which is
named `~/RMAIL' and receives your incoming mail from your system inbox
file.  But you can also have other Rmail files and edit them with
Rmail.  These files can receive mail through their own inboxes, or you
can move messages into them with explicit Rmail commands (Note: Rmail
Output).

`i FILE <RET>'
     Read FILE into Emacs and run Rmail on it (`rmail-input').

`M-x set-rmail-inbox-list <RET> FILES <RET>'
     Specify inbox file names for current Rmail file to get mail from.

`g'
     Merge new mail from current Rmail file's inboxes
     (`rmail-get-new-mail').

`C-u g FILE <RET>'
     Merge new mail from inbox file FILE.

   To run Rmail on a file other than your primary Rmail file, you may
use the `i' (`rmail-input') command in Rmail.  This visits the file in
Rmail mode.  You can use `M-x rmail-input' even when not in Rmail.

   The file you read with `i' should normally be a valid Rmail file.
If it is not, Rmail tries to decompose it into a stream of messages in
various known formats.  If it succeeds, it converts the whole file to an
Rmail file.  If you specify a file name that doesn't exist, `i'
initializes a new buffer for creating a new Rmail file.

   You can also select an Rmail file from a menu.  Choose first the menu
bar Classify item, then from the Classify menu choose the Input Rmail
File item; then choose the Rmail file you want.  The variables
`rmail-secondary-file-directory' and `rmail-secondary-file-regexp'
specify which files to offer in the menu: the first variable says which
directory to find them in; the second says which files in that
directory to offer (all those that match the regular expression).
These variables also apply to choosing a file for output (Note: Rmail
Output).

   Each Rmail file can contain a list of inbox file names; you can
specify this list with `M-x set-rmail-inbox-list <RET> FILES <RET>'.
The argument can contain any number of file names, separated by commas.
It can also be empty, which specifies that this file should have no
inboxes.  Once a list of inboxes is specified, the Rmail file remembers
it permanently until you specify a different list.

   As a special exception, if your primary Rmail file does not specify
any inbox files, it uses your standard system inbox.

   The `g' command (`rmail-get-new-mail') merges mail into the current
Rmail file from its specified inboxes.  If the Rmail file has no
inboxes, `g' does nothing.  The command `M-x rmail' also merges new
mail into your primary Rmail file.

   To merge mail from a file that is not the usual inbox, give the `g'
key a numeric argument, as in `C-u g'.  Then it reads a file name and
merges mail from that file.  The inbox file is not deleted or changed
in any way when `g' with an argument is used.  This is, therefore, a
general way of merging one file of messages into another.