Manual for VSigGen 1.5

VSigGen is © 1998-2004 Gert-Jan Vons

website    e-mail me


Contents

Top

Introduction

This is version 1.5 of VSigGen, an e-mail signature generator running under Windows. Given a file with quotes, it will generate an e-mail signature in the specified file, based on a user-defined format.

Most mailers store signatures in a text file, so by telling VSigGen to update that file every couple of minutes with a new signature, your e-mail signature will automatically change!

You can also configure a static signature to be used for more formal e-mail messages, e.g. with your company name, address, and so on. When you select this, it will remain active until it is overwritten with a random signature when the time-out expires.

After starting VSigGen, you can access its functionality by right-clicking on its tray icon.

Top

Command-line options

By default VSigGen stays in the background so that it can automatically change your signature file. The /once option can be used to tell VSigGen to update your signature file just once and exit after that, instead of installing itself in the background.

Top

Requirements

VSigGen runs under Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP.

Top

Where to get the latest version

The latest version of VSigGen can be found on my web site.

Top

Setting up VSigGen and your mailer

VSigGen's configuration dialog is opened by right-clicking on the tray icon. In there, you have to specify a file containing the quotes, a file in which the generated signature will be stored, and the layout of the signature.

The signature can be updated manually or automatically, and the quotes can be taken from the quote file either sequentially or random.

You can use VSigGen with any mailer that manages the signature using a text file somewhere in the file system. See below for more information on how this is done with popular mailers.

Eudora

In Eudora, one creates a signature by selecting "Tools->Signatures", and right-clicking in the signature pane.

Eudora stores its signatures in its Sigs directory, which is where you should find the signature file you need to specify in VSigGen.

Netscape 4.x

You can configure a signature file in the preferences dialog, see "Edit-> Preferences", "Mail & NewsGroups->Identity". Just specify the same path in both the Netscape preferences and VSigGen.

Netscape 6, Netscape 7, Mozilla

Go to "Edit->Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings...", enable the "Attach this signature" option, and specify a signature file.

Microsoft Outlook

Outlook allows you to configure a signature through "Tools->Options->Signatures". You have to create a new signature, and configure a common file for the signature both in Outlook and VSigGen.

In older versions of Outlook (Express), one can configure a signature file in the "Tools -> Stationery..." dialog. Just click on the "Signature..." button to configure the signature file.

Pegasus Mail

This is a tough one. Pegasus Mail has separate signature files for local and internet mails, and for plain text and formatted messages. And that for a number of signature sets.

VSigGen only maintains a single signature file, not four of them. For Pegasus Mail users, it is probably easier to use the built-in variable signatures; just look up "signature" in Pegasus Mail's on-line help.


Where to find quotes

You can find quote collections at the following sites:


Format of VSigGen's signature files

The signature file must be a plain ASCII file, with either DOS- (\r\n) or UNIX-style (\n) line breaks. The generated signature will use DOS-style line breaks.

When reading the signature file, each line starting with a '#' (original VSigGen file format) or '%' (UNIX fortune file format) is considered to be a quote separator line, and thus ignored.

Note that some signature collections use blank lines to separate the signatures; this is not yet supported by VSigGen, but might be added in the future. For the time being, just put a '#' or a '%' at the start of each blank line.


Change History

v1.5 2004/09/26

v1.4.3 2003/01/31

v1.4.2 2002/10/12

v1.4.1 2002/08/07

v1.4 2002/08/04

v1.3 1998/12/02

v1.2 1998/12/01

v1.1.1 1998/11/15

v1.1 1998/11/15

v1.0 1998/10/12

Top

$Id: manual.html,v 1.5 2004/09/26 08:30:44 Gert-Jan Exp $