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# REG: Microsoft Mail Entries, PART 1

Article ID: 102961

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

APPLIES TO

- Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.1

This article was previously published under Q102961

## SUMMARY

The article contains REGISTRY entries for Microsoft Mail, Part 1. These subgroups are included:

- Address Book Entries for Mail
- Custom Commands Entries for Mail
- Custom Messages Entries for Mail
- Custom Menus Entries for Mail

This is the first of three articles on the MS Mail entries; for the other entries, see "Microsoft Mail Entries, Part 2" and "Microsoft Mail Entries, Part 3".

### REGISTRY ENTRIES FOR MICROSOFT MAIL

The parameters used by the Microsoft Mail application provided with Windows NT appear under this subkey:

       HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Mail

This key includes the following subkeys:

    Subkey             Purpose
    --------------------------

    Address Book       Secifies entries used by the Address Book support
                       functions for the Mail program.
    Custom Commands    Specifies a custom command that can be installed into
                       one of the Mail menus at run-time.
    Custom Messages    Specifies a custom message type that is installed into a
                       Mail menu at run-time.
    Custom Menus       Specifies a custom menu name to be added to the Mail
                       menu bar.
    Microsoft Mail     Defines the configuration of the Mail program, and the
                       Microsoft Mail transport and name service.
    MMF                Affects the automatic compression of the Mail message
                       file.
    Mac File Types     Defines the mapping from Macintosh file type and creator
                       tags into eight-plus-three character filename
                       extensions.
    MS Proofing Tools  Defines settings for the speller.
    Providers          Defines settings that service providers use Microsoft
                       Mail front-end programs.

Many of the entries in these subkeys have default values and won't be present in the Mail subkeys. To change the appearance and behavior of the Mail application, use the Mail menu commands instead of editing the Mail entries directly. Some of the options that you specify in the Mail application are stored in your mail message file (.MMF) instead of the Mail Registry entries.
These keys are created in HKEY_CURRENT_USER when you first run Mail. If your system previously contained a Windows for MS-DOS version of MSMAIL.INI, its contents are migrated to the Registry when you first run Mail under Windows NT.

### ADDRESS BOOK ENTRIES FOR MAIL

Entries in this subkey are used by the Address Book support functions in the Mail program. Most of the entries for this subkey use default values specified by the Mail program, and the Address Book subkey might not be present under the Mail key. The entries in this subkey control the default address directory displayed in the Address Book. Do not change any of these entries if they appear.
This is the Registry path for this subkey:

       HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Mail\Address Book

### CUSTOM COMMANDS ENTRIES FOR MAIL

Each entry under this key specifies a custom command that can be installed into one of the Mail menus at run-time. These entries can appear both in the Microsoft Mail key and in the SHARED32.INI file in the directory defined under the Microsoft Mail subkey as the value of SharedExtensionsDir.
This is the Registry path for this subkey:

       HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Mail\Custom Commands

The Custom Commands subkey can contain one or more of the following entries:

    tag   REG_SZ
    ------------

This specifies the descriptive identifier for the command in the following format:

tag= version;menu;name;position;DLL name, ordinal;command; event map;status text;Help file;help context;

For example:

IC1= 3.0;help;&Out of Office;10;<ExtsDir>BIN-EXT\OOF32.DLL;3;;

Out of Office Email Notification

    Value         Meaning
    ---------------------

    version       The version of Mail that the custom command is compatible
                  with.
    menu          The menu where the custom command is to be added, such as
                  File or Help.
    name          The command name to appear on the menu. Include an ampersand
                  just before the letter that is to serve as an ALT+key
                  accelerator.
    position      The zero-relative position within its menu where the command
                  is to appear. A menu value of -1 places the command at the
                  end of the menu.
    DLL           Name or path of the DLL where the custom command resides.
                  This entry can optionally be followed by a comma and the
                  ordinal of the entry point to call (default is ,1).
    command       The command string passed as one of the parameters to the
                  DLL entry point for the command.
    event map     A sequence of up to 16 digits identifying the Mail events
                  that the custom command supports. Each can be 0 or 1 to
                  indicate if the DLL is to be called for a specific event.
                  Currently, three events are defined; the rest are reserved
                  and must be zero (or, as in the examples above) this whole
                  section can be empty:
                     The first digit means Mails startup.
                     The second digit means Mail exit.
                     The third digit means the arrival of a new message.
    status text   Text to be displayed in the Mail status bar when the user
                  highlights the command in the menu.
    Help file     Windows NT Help file to be invoked when the user presses F1
                  while the command is selected. The specified filename is
                  passed to the Windows NT Help program. (Optional)
    Help          Passed to the Windows NT help program along with context the
                  Help file name. Use -1 (Help file index) if there is no
                  specific entry in the Help file for this command.
    <ExtsDir>     A special token that can appear within certain fields.
                  Expands to the value of SharedExtensionsDir in the Microsoft
                  Mail key. used to refer to DLLs that are installed in a
                  shared network. Valid fo the Dll name, command, and Help
                  file subfields.

### CUSTOM MESSAGES ENTRIES FOR MAIL

This subkey is similar in many ways to the Custom Commands subkey. Each entry specifies a custom message type to be installed into a Mail menu at run-time.
These entries can appear both in the Microsoft Mail key and in the SHARED32.INI file in the directory defined by the SharedExtensionsDir entry under the Microsoft Mail key.
This is the Registry path for this subkey:

       HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Mail\Custom Messages

The Custom Messages subkey can contain one or more of the following entries.

    class   REG_SZ
    --------------

Specifies a string uniquely identifying the message type. Mail places this string in messages and calls custom message DLLs based on its value. Each entry is in the following format:

class = version;menu;name;position;DLL name;command;operation map; status text;Help file;help context;

    Value        Meaning
    --------------------

    version      the version of Mail that the custom message is compatible
                 with.
    menu         The menu where the custom command for the message type is to
                 be added, such as File or Mail.
    name         The command name to appear on the menu. Include an ampersand
                 just before the letter that is to serve as an ALT+key
                 accelerator.
    position     The zero-relative position within its menu where the command
                 is to appear. A menu value of -1 places the command at the
                 end of the menu.
    DLL          Name or path of the DLL where the custom command resides.
                 This entry can optionally be followed by a comma and the
                 ordinal of the entry point to call (default is ,1).
    command      The command string passed as one of the parameters to the DLL
                 entry point for the command.
    operation    Sequence of up to 16 digits. Each can be 0, 1 or 2, where 0
    map          indicates that Mail is to perform its standard operation on
                 the custom message. 1 indicates that the DLL is to be called
                 to handle the operation. 2 indicates that the operation is to
                 be completely disabled. Currently eight operations are
                 defined; the rest are reserved and must be zero. In the
                 following list, 0 is the leftmost digit.
                    0  Compose (menu command defined in this entry)
                    1  File.Open
                    2  Mail.Reply
                    3  Mail.Reply to All
                    4  Mail.Forward
                    5  File.Print
                    6  File.Save as
                    7  Arrival of new mail
    status text  Text to be displayed in the Mail status bar when the user
                 highlights the command in the menu.
    Help file    Windows NT Help file to be invoked when the user presses F1
                 while the command is selected. The specified filename is
                 passed to the Windows NT Help program. (Optional)
    Help         Passed to the Windows NT hlp program along with
    context      the Help file name. Use -1 (Help file index) if there is no
                 specific entry in the Help file for this command.
    <ExtsDir>    A special token that can appear within certain fields.
                 Expands to the value of SharedExtensionsDir in the Microsoft
                 Mail key. used to refer to DLLs that are installed in a
                 shared network. Valid fo the Dll name, command, and Help file
                 subfields.

### CUSTOM MENUS ENTRIES FOR MAIL

This subkey can contain any number of entries (within reason). You can use these menus to group custom commands and/or messages under a single, distinctive menu item.
This is the Registry path for this subkey:

       HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Mail\Custom Menus

The following information can appear both in the Microsoft Mail key and in SHARED32.INI in the directory defined by SharedExtensionsDir under the Microsoft Mail key. The SHARED32.INI file is examined first.

### tag REG_SZ

Identifies the menu to someone reading these values but serves no other purpose. Specifies a menu name to be added to the Mail menu bar. This is the format:

Tag=version;name;name to follow;status text

For example:

tools=3.0;&Tools;Window;Useful development toys

    Value      Meaning
    ------------------

    version    the version of Mail that the custom message is compatible with;
               3.0 is the current version.
    name       The menu name to be added to the menu bar. Include an ampersand
               just before the letter that is to serve as an ALT+key
               accelerator.
    name to    Name of an existing menu. The new menu is
    follow     added directly before it.
    status     Text to be displayed in the Mail status bar
    text       when the user highlights the menu name.

Reference: "The Windows NT Resource Kit for Operating System, Version 3.1".

Additional query words: prodnt

Keywords: kbother KB102961