Mulberry Frequently Asked Questions

Note: Mulberry is a legacy email client no longer actively supported by Vanderbilt Information Technology Services. Microsoft Outlook 2003 and VUwebmail are more current alternatives to Mulberry.

1. What is Mulberry?
2. Who can use Mulberry?
3. I'm worried about privacy. Is Mulberry secure?
4. How do I change the sort order of my messages in Mulberry?
5. Can I access a "shared" (or organizational) mailbox with Mulberry?
6. How do address books work in Mulberry?
7. I don’t like some of the default options settings in Mulberry. How can I change them?
8. Will Mulberry save files (messages) to your local drive?
9. How can I import Eudora™ mailboxes into Mulberry?
10. Is there a way to encrypt a message in Mulberry when sending it?
11. I can't see the text in forwarded messages. Why?
12. How do I view attachments?
13. How do I designate a sent mail folder?
14. How do I retrieve deleted messages?
15. How do I keep Mulberry from launching every time I click an email address on the web?

1. What is Mulberry?

Mulberry is a standards-based Internet mail client that uses either the IMAP4 or POP3 protocol for accessing your messages on a VUmail server, and SMTP protocol for sending messages. Mulberry supports SSL for secure authentication using your VUnet ID.

Several years ago Mulberry was chosen as the standard e-mail client on the Vanderbilt campus. However, in late 2005 the company that produced and maintained Mulberry (CyrusSoft, Inc.) declared bankruptcy, and other clients improved as they took advantage of newer technology.
(back to top)

2. Who can use Mulberry?

Any user with a valid VUnetID and password can download and use Mulberry.
(back to top)

3. I'm worried about privacy. Is Mulberry secure?

Mulberry uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) by default, meaning that communication between the client and the VUmail server is encrypted to thwart eavesdropping (including the login process, so your password is secured).

To protect your privacy you must take common sense precautions:

1. Don't share your password.
2. Pick a password that's tough to guess (i.e. at least 8 characters, not in the dictionary, contains a mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers and symbols, doesn't contain part or all of your VUnet ID).
3. Change your password periodically.
4. Use a different password for your VUnet ID than you use for other accounts outside Vanderbilt.
   (back to top)
   
   

4. How do I change the sort order of my messages in Mulberry?

Click on column headings (status, from, subject or thread, date, time) in the message list or mailbox window to sort the messages by the value expressed in that heading. Click on the "hierarchy" button just above the scroll bar to reverse the order of the sorted column.

Rearrange the columns by right-clicking on the column heading and changing what is presented in that column. Modify a column width by dragging the column divider to the left to decrease or right to increase.
(back to top)


5. Can I access a "shared" (or organizational) mailbox with Mulberry?

Mulberry does allow you to access and read shared or organizational mailboxes. These are presented as "Group mail" mailboxes in the server window.
(back to top)

6. How do address books work in Mulberry?

Mulberry is configured to access the Vanderbilt public address books and your personal address books. Each address book may be marked for searching by name, by nickname, or by email address, or any combination of those.
(back to top)

7. I don’t like some of the default options settings in Mulberry. How can I change them?

The default options settings were set by ITS in consultation with local providers of computing support. At any time, you can change and save your own settings by selecting "File > Preferences". A dialog displays containing two radio buttons labeled "Simple" and "Advanced." If Simple is selected, click the radio button for Advanced and use the tabs to move through the various settings. The Mulberry Reference Guide provides explanations on each of the tabs and all of the settings in each tab.
(back to top)


8. Will Mulberry save files (messages) to your local drive?

Mulberry can save a message on your local system both within the
Mulberry system (i.e., a message within a mailbox on the Local System) and as a text file.

To save the message within Mulberry - Click on the "Copy To:" button (initially labeled as "None", but is actually a drop-down list) and select the mailbox on the Local System - or elsewhere - you want to copy it to.  This does require a mailbox be set up on the local system - on the "Servers" window click on the line "Local System" then click on the "Create" button at the top of that window.  Give it a name, then click "OK".

To save as a text file - make sure the message itself is the "current" window (usually, the message window header is highlighted).  Select the menu item "File" --> "Save As..." from the main menu bar, then give the file name and location in standard Windows or Mac form for saving a file.  The file will be written in "straight ASCII" (MicroSoft ".txt") format.
(back to top)


9. How can I import Eudora™ mailboxes into Mulberry?

You can import mailboxes created by Eudora on Mac OS or Win32 into Mulberry. Currently this procedure has to be done by hand, but at a later date Cyrusoft will provide mailbox import/export plugins to automate this.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMPORTANT The procedure described below suggests copying the mailboxes during the import process. You should make sure you copy the original Eudora mailboxes rather than moving them, just in case some problem occurs and you need to go back to the originals.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Create a Local or POP3 mail account in Mulberry, or identify an existing one to use for the import.
2. Note the name you assigned to the account.
3. Locate the directory Mulberry uses to store the mailboxes for the account on disk. By default this will be in the Mailboxes directory in the Mulberry application directory. Inside Mailboxes will be an Offline and POP3 directory, used for storage of Local or POP3 mail account mailboxes. Inside each of those is a directory with the same name as the account. That's where mailboxes are stored.
4. Create a new directory inside the account directory on disk - call it something like 'Imports'.
5. Locate the directory where your Eudora mailboxes are stored.
6. On Win32: Copy all the files with .mbx extensions into the new Mulberry directory. Do not copy the files with .toc extensions as they are not needed.
On Mac OS: Copy all the mailbox files to the new Mulberry directory. Download the mailbox converter AppleScriptlet. Drop the new Mulberry directory onto the AppleScriptlet. This converts the file types to one suitable for Mulberry, and add the required .mbx extension.
7. Restart Mulberry and look at your account. The Imports hierarchy should now contain your imported mailboxes.
(back to top)

10. Is there a way to encrypt a message in Mulberry when sending it?

Mulberry uses an implementation of the PGP encryption software called GnuPG (or GPG), licensed under the Gnu public license (essentially “freeware”). The software will need to be installed within Mulberry prior to use. For installation details select Help > Help Topics from the Mulberry menu. Within the Mulberry Help window click on the “Search” tab, enter the keyword “GPG” (or “PGP”), click “List Topics”, select “GPG” as the Topic to display, then click “Display” at the bottom of the window.
(back to top)

11. I can't see the text in forwarded messages. Why?

You'll need to change your settings in the Mulberry preferences.

From the Mulberry menu select "File > Preferences > Attachments > Receiving".
- Look under application launcher and be sure Include Text Attachments is checked.

Save your preferences, then log out and log back in.
(back to top)

12. How do I view attachments?

The only way to view attachments in Mulberry is by saving the attachment to your local hard drive before opening it. This is a security feature that prevents viruses from executing within Mulberry.

Right-click the attachment and select "Save". Designate a path where you'd like to save the attachment. Once saved, double-click the attachment to open it. You can alternatively start the appropriate application (e.g., Microsoft Word or Excel) to view the attachment.

(back to top)

13. How do I designate a sent mail folder?

First select and highlight the VUmail message service in the "servers" area Then, go to "File > New > Folder". A new window displays titled 'New Folder'; where you see 'untitled,' name the folder 'Sentmail' and click 'OK.'

Now select "Tools > Options > Edit". A new window displays titled 'Options.' Select 'Compose' (found on the left side). Under 'Options' place a check mark in the box that says 'Save Message.' Under 'Sentmail Folder' select 'Browse.' Find the folder called 'Sentmail,' select it, and click 'OK.'

(back to top)

14. How do I retrieve deleted messages?

If the message is still in the deleted folder, click the message and select 'undelete.' If the message has already been cleaned from the deleted folder, there is no way to retrieve it.

(back to top)

15. How do I keep Mulberry from launching every time I click an email address on the web?

Turn off the 'Check for mailto URL handling on startup' option in the Attachment/Sending preferences.

(back to top)