V Card

[abe-ariel]

Can anybody please direct me to instructions how to prepare a V Card for SeaMonkey mail?

[rsx11m]

1. In the Mail & News window, go into Edit > Account Settings and select the main tab of the account in question.
2. Check "Attach my vCard to messages" and click the "Edit Card" button.
3. Fill in the blanks as desired (first and last name are not pre-populated in the card).

It will be added when the message is sent, thus doesn't show up in the message body of the composition window or its attachment box.

[abe-ariel]

Thank you for your clear instructions which were successfully implemented.
Found also: http://www.freeemailtutorials.com/mozil ... nature.cwd
which elaborate on subject with instructions to add a photograph and more.

[abe-ariel]

Sorry, not so quick.
I typed my V Card details into the box in the Mail and News Account settings, ticked ATTACH MY V CARD TO MESSAGES and tested the results by sending emails to myself. They are not that good:
New messages show V Card. This is OK.
Replies and Forwards do not show V Card. They show instead the words "abe-ariel.vcf (4 bytes)" with a small icon at the top right hand box. (abe-ariel is my name and part of my email address)
What did I do wrong, please?

[rsx11m]

Weird, works for me with 2.46 on Windows 7. I need to select both View > Message Body As > Original HTML and View > Display Attachments Inline to see the vCard

The attachment name is correct (which is what a vCard actually is) and indeed built from the front part of your e-mail address in the respective identity. What's worrisome is the 4 bytes length.

Look into the message source (of an affected reply or forward) with View > Message Source or Ctrl+U and find something like the following block at the bottom of the message encoding the vCard:

Code: Select all

Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=utf-8;
 name="xxx.vcf"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: attachment;
 filename="xxx.vcf"

begin:vcard
fn:Display Name
n:...
version:2.1
end:vcard

How does it look in your message as encoded?

[mgagnonlv]

One of the problems with v-cards is that it is an attachment. So once you send a message with it (or with a photo), it depends very much on how the recipient's software treats the data afterwards. Some do a decent job, others don't, but typically after 1 or 2 transfers/replies, v-cards, photos and even embedded attachments are lost.

I also have another issue with v-cards. Unless everyone uses the same software, they are useless as soon as you enter non-US letters. Exchanging v-cards between French-speaking users produces very strange results as accents are encoded differently when the message is read through Thunderbird (pre vs post v24), Outlook Express, Outlook 2003, 2010, or 2013+.

[rsx11m]

Replies and Forwards do not show V Card.

Oh, so that's replies and forwards of those messages received from other people who replied from or forwarded your message back to you? Please clarify (I have tested reply/forward to myself from that message in my own account).

[abe-ariel]

Merci Michel and thank you rsx11m.
For rsx11m : YES, the problem is with replies and forwards of messages received from other people. Let me clarify and elaborate on it:
When I wish to compose an email, I hit the COMPOSE button, a blank email form opens with my V Card automatically printed at the bottom.
When I hit the REPLY or FORWARD buttons of an incoming email received from another person, the contents of the received message appears on the form of the newly composed email, but MY V-CARD FAILS TO SHOW UP at the bottom. Such message, when received by the addressee, will not show my V Card.
How can I cure that?
Thank you.

[TPR75]

When I hit the REPLY or FORWARD buttons of an incoming email received from another person, the contents of the received message appears on the form of the newly composed email, but MY V-CARD FAILS TO SHOW UP at the bottom

You can add it manually (when new window with a message is open):
Menu -> File -> Attach -> Personal Card (vCard)
... but it should be attached automatically when you set it up for e-mail account:
Menu -> Edit -> Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings... -> [account_name] -> in "Default Identity" field mark "Attach my vCard to messages"

I just tested this function and it works for all outgoing messages (NEW, REPLY, FORWARD).

EDIT: Probably it's something Mac related.

[abe-ariel]

Thank you.
You did not specify where on the computer should my vCard file be placed and what name I should give it. In case you mean the vCard text should be typed into the SIGNATURE TEXT box in "Default Identity" field, I've already done all that, regretfully to no avail.

[TPR75]

Thank you.
You did not specify where on the computer should my vCard file be placed and what name I should give it. In case you mean the vCard text should be typed into the SIGNATURE TEXT box in "Default Identity" field, I've already done all that, regretfully to no avail.

To create vCard you must go to your e-mail account settings:
Menu -> Edit -> Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings... -> [account_name] -> in "Default Identity" field mark "Attach my vCard to messages"



... and press "Edit Card" to fulfill proper data:



Then your vCard will be attached automatically when message is being sent.

IMHO it's better to NOT send vCard with every message because vCard is your Virtual Business Card. When you meet somebody for the first time you can give that person your Business Card but when you'll meet for second (and so on) time then it could looks "strange" when you'll give Business Card every time. IMHO it's better to add vCard manually when needed. Don't you think?

User's vCard is used to add personal data (names, e-mail, phone number etc.) quick and easy without manual adding to Address Book.

On the other hand signature is not the same thing like vCard. It's basically your signature. Example:

"Best regards,
Abe-Ariel

--
AA King of Bussines Co. Ltd."

Code: Select all

Best regards,
Abe-Ariel

-- 
AA King of Bussines Co. Ltd.

Above text will be attached to your messages as plain text (by default) at the bottom. This construction "minus minus space" will inform e-mail client to cut every text bellow such line when message is replied or forwarded.
More technical info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_block
Netiquette about signature:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-spi ... 51594.html

I hope it helped a little. So! You want vCard or signature?

[rsx11m]

This construction "minus minus space" will inform e-mail client to cut every text bellow such line when message is replied or forwarded.

Your example is a special case of the signature to include a closing greeting and requires mail.identity.default.suppress_signature_separator (or its respective mail.identity.id#.suppress_signature_separator counterpart) to be set to true, thus to explicitly include the separator at a non-default location, so let's not start with that.

In general, any text "Some text" you enter in the signature block will show up as

Code: Select all

-- 
Some text

at the bottom of the message or just

Code: Select all

Some text

when quoting above the message in a reply or when forwarding a message and the placement of the signature is supposed to go above the quoted/forwarded message. Note that the "minus minus space" is added (or not) automatically depending on the placement of the signature, thus does not have to be explicitly included in the text box of the Account Settings.

Anyway, signatures are part of the message body you send out whereas vCards are technically an attachment and it depends on the receiving e-mail client how to deal with them. As such, signatures are probably preferable over vCards to add your contact information to each message (or you can send both for e-mail programs which can handle them properly).

[abe-ariel]

TO TPR75 and rsx11m .
Thanks for your explanations and patience.
vCard now works very well in all three configurations - NEW MESSAGE, REPLY and FORWARD. However (and also in reply to TPR75’s question) as I wish my personal info to include my PO Box number and its zip code, I think SIGNATURE fits my requirements more than vCARD.
So I typed my signature text into its field and UNTICKED both boxes "ATTACH THE SIGNATURE FROM A FILE INSTEAD" and "ATTACH MY vCARD TO MESSAGES".
The result is that my signature appears well at the bottom of all my NEW MESSAGES, above automatically generated two minus signs (—). However it does not appear in my REPLY and FORWARD messages.
How can that problem be rectified? I wish EVERY mail message going out of my SeaMonkey mail system to include my signature.
BTW, as I know nothing on the ins and outs of SeaMonkey, I must admit my ignorance that I did not quite understand what you wrote about MINUS MINUS SPACE and CODE : SELECT ALL.

[rsx11m]

However it does not appear in my REPLY and FORWARD messages.

That's another setting and should default to "send signature" for replies but "don't send" for forwarded messages (I'm not quite sure why that differentiation was made).

In the Account Settings of that account (or identity), go into the Composition & Addressing panel. In the upper box, there are two boxes "Include signature for replies/forwards" which should both be checked.

BTW, as I know nothing on the ins and outs of SeaMonkey, I must admit my ignorance that I did not quite understand what you wrote about MINUS MINUS SPACE and CODE : SELECT ALL.

No problem. The "CODE" thing is produced by the forum's board software for displaying code blocks (thus, if it were code you want to use somewhere, you can easily copy it from that box). As for the signature separator, sorry for the confusion - I wouldn't have mentioned it if the example TPR75 hadn't been a special case of its usage. It's just use in the message to enable special handling of the following signature, like graying of the signature text or removing it when replying to a message, etc. It's an ancient definition of the standard but still in use.

[abe-ariel]

Thank you rsx11m. Unfortunately the saga is still on.
I went to the Composition & Addressing panel, where I found the box "Include signature for replies" checked. That notwithstanding' all my replies did not include my signature. The box "Include signature for forwards" was unchecked. I checked the latter and now both boxes are checked, as you instructed. However, both my Replies and Forwards still do not contain my signature.
Did I miss anything?