[VM] vm 8.1.1 - marking all unread messages read?

[John Stoffel]

Guys,

I accidently marked all messages by an author as 'unread', which was a
mistake. Now I want to change them all back to 'read', but I can't
figure out how to do it. M A followed by M N U doesn't do this in
8.1.1 at all.

I would have hoped that M N <space> would do it, since you can hit
spacebar to read any message and change it's status.

Any hints for someone who's too dumb to figure this out?

Thanks,
John

--

[John Hein]

Post by John Stoffel
Guys,
I accidently marked all messages by an author as 'unread', which
was a mistake. Now I want to change them all back to 'read', but I
can't figure out how to do it. M A followed by M N U doesn't do
this in 8.1.1 at all.
I would have hoped that M N <space> would do it, since you can hit
spacebar to read any message and change it's status.
Any hints for someone who's too dumb to figure this out?

How about M A like you did, then:
M N .
or
M N a read [1]
or
M N M-x vm-set-message-attributes read

To see key bindings in the summary, switch to a summary window, then
"M-x describe-bindings" or "f1 b". Then you can search in the help
window (for "read" in your case or "mark.*read" with a regex search).

Of course, if you notice your mistake right away, vm-undo (C-x u) can
help you.

[1] Note the 'a' binding was removed from the default set of bindings
in 8.2.0(?). To restore that, use vm-legacy-key-bindings. Of the key
binding that were removed, I use 'b' and 'a' a lot and 'L' a few times
a week.

[Uday S Reddy]

Thanks for the response, John.

Post by John Hein
M N .

The `.' key binding is recent. It may not be there in VM 8.1.1.

Post by John Hein
or
M N a read [1]

This should work if `a' is bound to the function named below.

Post by John Hein
or
M N M-x vm-set-message-attributes read

This won't work because M N only works with keyboard commands, not M-x
commands. This is a very old limitation of VM.

Post by John Hein
Of the key
binding that were removed, I use 'b' and 'a' a lot and 'L' a few times
a week.

Are there other instances of `a' that you need normally?

Cheers,
Uday

[John Hein]

Post by Uday S Reddy
Thanks for the response, John.

Post by John Hein
M N .

The `.' key binding is recent. It may not be there in VM 8.1.1.

Okay. I've always used 'a read' or 'a whatever'. I just stumbled
onto '.' in the bindings while answering the OP.

One could also bind vm-mark-message-read to a custom key sequence,
of course.

Post by Uday S Reddy

Post by John Hein
or
M N a read [1]

This should work if `a' is bound to the function named below.

Post by John Hein
or
M N M-x vm-set-message-attributes read

This won't work because M N only works with keyboard commands, not M-x
commands. This is a very old limitation of VM.

Ah, I didn't test that one (obviously).
Clearly I haven't tried that myself (or at least not in my memory at
the moment).

Post by Uday S Reddy

Post by John Hein
Of the key
binding that were removed, I use 'b' and 'a' a lot and 'L' a few times
a week.

Are there other instances of `a' that you need normally?

You mean other than 'a read'? Sure. Of the list below [1], [un]read,
new, [un]filed, [un]deleted, replied are probably most common(?), but
I use [un]forwarded, unreplied and [un]redistributed on occasion. I
could see using flagged/unflagged, but never have (maybe because it's
not visibly marked in the default summary). I do use 'l a' and 'l d'
for that purpose (flagging).

I guess I generally prefer 'a + <attr>' with tab completion over
memorizing multiple key bindings for this. The operations are not
frequent enough that I _need_ a single key stroke. That saves on
precious key bindings, too ;)

[1]
answered expanded new replied unfiled unredistributed written
collapsed filed read unanswered unflagged unreplied
deleted flagged recent undeleted unforwarded unseen
edited forwarded redistributed unedited unread unwritten