2. Troubleshooting

2.1. All I can see is the headers of the message!

Hit the space bar.

VM has a previewing feature that can be set to display some number of lines of the message before you have read the message. This can be useful if you read sensitive or confidential e-mail in an environment where someone could be reading over your shoulder.

Set the variable `vm-preview-lines' to the number of lines you'd like to see displayed, or to the value `nil' if you'd like to disable previewing. If you disable previewing, you'll immediately see as much of the message as will fit in your emacs window.

2.2. Why does mailcrypt fail under VM with an invalid-function error?

The mailcrypt that is shipped with XEmacs 19.14 isn't built properly to work with VM. Mailcrypt uses some internal VM macros. The byte compiler needs to know about all macro calls so that it can inline them. So any macros used must be defined inside Emacs at compile time, otherwise the resulting compiled code will crash with an (invalid-function (macro . ...)) error.

What this means for mailcrypt is that VM's source directory must be in your emacs Lisp load path when mailcrypt is being built. The installation instructions for mailcrypt tell how to do this.

2.3. I'm using TM and tm-vm and I'm having MIME problems.

Try turning off TM and seeing if they go away. TM can cause some problems with VM, especially now that VM has its own MIME capabilities.

2.4. I can't run VM under GNU Emacs 20!

Chances are, you're getting an error message like "VM has not been ported to v20 Emacs." Recent versions of VM work with recent versions of Emacs 20 and newer, so you should probably get a newer copy of VM.

2.5. I can't save my changes because my folders are being modified on disk.

The most common cause of this error is mistakenly using procmail to deliver mail to your VM folders. procmail should deliver mail to your spool files. See the VM and Procmail FAQ for more information.

2.6. I found a bug in VM -or- How do I do (something) in VM?

First, check the VM documentation and on-line help. You can get to the VM on-line help by typing `?' twice in any VM window. The VM documentation can be read with the info browser: `C-h i' will get you to the info browser, and `m VM RET` from the top level will get you to the VM documentation, provided it's been installed correctly.

Next, check this document to see if your problem is related to a frequently asked question.

If the FAQ doesn't help, try searching the VM newsgroups with DejaNews. Try several searches, using different keywords.

If you're comfortable with emacs and at least slightly familiar with emacs Lisp, please try searching for relevant variables or functions with apropos. Type `C-h a' under XEmacs, or use `M-x apropos' under GNU Emacs (the key sequence `C-h a' is bound to function-apropos under GNU Emacs, which is not as useful as apropos.) Do an apropos search for "vm.*something" where "something" is a keyword. Some good keywords are "folder", "window", "frame", "pop", "mime", "summary", and "virtual" ... -- lower-case, singular nouns. If you find something that looks useful, examine its documentation by clicking on it (XEmacs) or using `C-h f <function-name>' for functions and `C-h v <variable-name>' (Emacs). You can also go browsing through the VM sources looking for enlightening comments.

If none of that helps, then you need to decide if you have a bug or a question. If it's a bug, submit a bug report with `M-x vm-submit-bug-report'. If it's a question, post your message to the newsgroup gnu.emacs.vm.info. Try to make your message brief but detailed, and describe what you expected to happen and what did happen. Follow the discussion in the VM newsgroups gnu.emacs.vm.info and gnu.emacs.vm.bug.