kmail questions

I’m new to kde and want to try the kde email client kmail. I use gmail most of the time. A few questions about it:

  1. Security: both the imap (receive) and smtp (send) servers are set to use SSL which is ok. But kmail also has an option for authentication method. By default “clear text” is selected. Does this mean my pasword is send in cleartext even if SSL is used? Clearly I want my pasword to be encrypted;)
  2. When kmail/kontact starts, it immediately asks for my pasword. Can I disable this? I only want to give in my pasword when I click on check new mail button.
  3. When composing a new mail, I can’t find a nice gui to insert emoticons/smileys. Off course I could just type the smileys ‘: )’ but I would expect an email client to have a gui for it. Does kmail have one?

Thx!

Well, clear text means not encrypted, but it is really your email server that defines the possibilities here. If your server supports SSL, you can certainly pick SSL.

To answer number 2, go to “Settings” >> “Configure KMail”, click on “Accounts” and just below the list of accounts is a check box that says “Check mail on startup”

On 2009-11-29, suskewiet <suskewiet@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
> I’m new to kde and want to try the kde email client kmail. I use gmail
> most of the time. A few questions about it:
>
>
> - Security: both the imap (receive) and smtp (send) servers are set
> to use SSL which is ok. But kmail also has an option for
> authentication method. By default “clear text” is selected. Does this
> mean my pasword is send in cleartext even if SSL is used? Clearly I
> want my pasword to be encrypted;)

You use Gmail, but you’re concerned about security and password visibility ?
That just doesn’t make sense.

> - When composing a new mail, I can’t find a nice gui to insert
> emoticons/smileys. Off course I could just type the smileys ‘: )’ but
> I would expect an email client to have a gui for it. Does kmail have
> one?

I agree with you on that. Not that I’d want heavy menu’s for page layout
gadgets. But it is a fact that HTML mails are not easy to make, and
forwarding/replying on can severely damage it’s content.
I never write HTML mails myself, but if someone sends me one, and I forward
it, I would like it to be “as-was”. But I hear there is some development in
that direction ?


Any time things appear to be going better, you have overlooked
something.

That doesn’t work, kmail still asks pasword on startup.

The confusing part is that kmail provides both options simultanously. I have ssl selected, and in addition authorisation option is “plain text”. What does this mean?

Next to plain text I can choose “login”, “Cram-md5”, “digest-md5”, “Gssapi” and “ntlm”.

Is it save to use clear text?

Autorization = how your credentials are evaluated by the server, it defines what your server is expecting to see for a password once it arrives.

SSL = the communication protocol - how the password (and all email) is sent to the server.

So, if your server expects a “plain text” password, and supports SSL communication, your “plain text” password is SSL encrypted on its way to the server.

Alternatively, your server may expect a digest-md5 processed password, but over a “normal” connection (e.g. IMAP port 1025).