9 Editing a Draft

When you edit a message that you want to send (called a draft in this case), the mode used is MH-Letter. This mode provides several commands in addition to the normal Emacs editing commands to help you edit your draft. These can also be found in the ‘Letter’ menu.

SPC

Perform completion or insert space (mh-letter-complete-or-space).

M-TAB

Perform completion on header field or word preceding point (mh-letter-complete).

, (comma)

Flash alias expansion (mh-letter-confirm-address).

TAB

Cycle to next field (mh-letter-next-header-field-or-indent).

S-TAB

Cycle to the previous header field (mh-letter-previous-header-field).

C-c ?

Display cheat sheet for the MH-E commands (mh-help).

C-c C-c

Save draft and send message (mh-send-letter).

C-c C-d

Insert fields specified by the given identity (mh-insert-identity). See Identities.

C-c C-e

Compose MIME message from MH-style directives (mh-mh-to-mime).

C-c C-f C-a

C-c C-f a

Move to ‘Mail-Reply-To:’ header field (mh-to-field).

C-c C-f C-b

C-c C-f b

Move to ‘Bcc:’ header field (mh-to-field).

C-c C-f C-c

C-c C-f c

Move to ‘Cc:’ header field (mh-to-field).

C-c C-f C-d

C-c C-f d

Move to ‘Dcc:’ header field (mh-to-field).

C-c C-f C-f

C-c C-f f

Move to ‘Fcc:’ header field (mh-to-fcc).

C-c C-f C-l

C-c C-f l

Move to ‘Mail-Followup-To:’ header field (mh-to-field).

C-c C-f C-m

C-c C-f m

Move to ‘From:’ header field (mh-to-field).

C-c C-f C-r

C-c C-f r

Move to ‘Reply-To:’ header field (mh-to-field).

C-c C-f C-s

C-c C-f s

Move to ‘Subject:’ header field (mh-to-field).

C-c C-f C-t

C-c C-f t

Move to ‘To:’ header field (mh-to-field).

C-c C-i

Insert a message (mh-insert-letter).

C-c C-m C-e

Add tag to encrypt the message (mh-mml-secure-message-encrypt).

C-c C-m C-f

C-c C-m f

Add tag to forward a message (mh-compose-forward).

C-c C-m C-g

C-c C-m g

Add tag to include anonymous ftp reference to a file (mh-mh-compose-anon-ftp).

C-c C-m C-i

C-c C-m i

Add tag to include a file such as an image or sound (mh-compose-insertion).

C-c C-m C-m

C-c C-m m

Compose MIME message from MML tags (mh-mml-to-mime).

C-c C-m C-n

C-c C-m n

Remove any secure message tags (mh-mml-unsecure-message).

C-c C-m C-s

Add tag to sign the message (mh-mml-secure-message-sign).

C-c C-m C-t

C-c C-m t

Add tag to include anonymous ftp reference to a compressed tar file (mh-mh-compose-external-compressed-tar).

C-c C-m C-u

C-c C-m u

Undo effects of C-c C-e (mh-mh-to-mime-undo).

C-c C-m C-x

C-c C-m x

Add tag to refer to a remote file (mh-mh-compose-external-type).

C-c C-m e e

Add tag to encrypt the message (mh-mml-secure-message-encrypt).

C-c C-m e s

Add tag to encrypt and sign the message
(mh-mml-secure-message-signencrypt).

C-c C-m s e

Add tag to encrypt and sign the message
(mh-mml-secure-message-signencrypt).

C-c C-m s s

Add tag to sign the message (mh-mml-secure-message-sign).

C-c C-o

Insert a newline and leave point before it (mh-open-line).

C-c C-q

Quit editing and delete draft message (mh-fully-kill-draft).

C-c C-s

Insert signature in message (mh-insert-signature).

C-c C-t

Toggle display of header field at point (mh-letter-toggle-header-field-display).

C-c C-w

Verify recipients, showing expansion of any aliases (mh-check-whom).

C-c C-y

Insert the current message into the draft buffer (mh-yank-cur-msg).

C-c M-d

Insert custom fields if recipient is found in mh-auto-fields-list (mh-insert-auto-fields). See Identities.

Several options from the ‘mh-letter’ customization group are used while editing a draft.

mh-compose-insertion

Type of MIME message tags in messages (default: ‘MML’ if available; otherwise ‘MH’).

mh-compose-skipped-header-fields

List of header fields to skip over when navigating in draft (default: '("From" "Organization" "References" "In-Reply-To" "X-Face" "Face" "X-Image-URL" "X-Mailer").

mh-compose-space-does-completion-flag

On means SPC does completion in message header (default: ‘off’).

mh-delete-yanked-msg-window-flag

On means delete any window displaying the message (default: ‘off’).

mh-extract-from-attribution-verb

Verb to use for attribution when a message is yanked by C-c C-y (default: "wrote:").

mh-ins-buf-prefix

String to put before each line of a yanked or inserted message (default: "> ").

mh-letter-complete-function

Function to call when completing outside of address or folder fields (default: ispell-complete-word).

mh-letter-fill-column

Fill column to use in MH-Letter mode (default: 72).

mh-mml-method-default

Default method to use in security tags (default: ‘PGP (MIME)’ if support for it is available; otherwise ‘None’).

mh-signature-file-name

Source of user’s signature (default: "~/.signature").

mh-signature-separator-flag

On means a signature separator should be inserted (default: ‘on’).

mh-x-face-file

File containing X-Face or Face header field to insert in outgoing mail. (default: "~/.face").

mh-yank-behavior

Controls which part of a message is yanked by C-c C-y (default: ‘Body With Attribution’).

The following hooks are available.

mail-citation-hook

Hook for modifying a citation just inserted in the mail buffer (default: nil).

mh-before-send-letter-hook

Hook run at the beginning of the C-c C-c command (default: ‘nil’).

mh-mh-to-mime-hook

Hook run on the formatted letter by C-c C-e (default: ‘nil’).

mh-insert-signature-hook

Hook run by C-c C-s after signature has been inserted (default: nil).

The following face is available.

mh-letter-header-field

Editable header field value face in draft buffers.

The commands and options introduced here are explained in more detail in the following sections.