Albatros — User Manual

Version 1.0.0 beta 12 · Windows, Linux, macOS

Author: Ing. Roberto Arato · Arato Ingegneria · aratoingegneria.it

Albatros is a program for email, calendar and tasks, and it also reads RSS feeds and newsgroups. It stays fast even with very large archives and finds any message instantly. Your mail stays on your computer, in ordinary files that you can copy and keep. Signing and encryption (OpenPGP and S/MIME) are built in, with no add-ons needed. The interface is available in nine languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Arabic. Albatros is conceived and developed by Ing. Roberto Arato (Arato Ingegneria). It also brings all your chats together in one tab: Delta Chat, IRC, XMPP, Matrix and Microsoft Teams.

Interface language. This manual names buttons, menus and fields exactly as they appear in the English interface. To change the language, see chapter 3.

Contents

1. Requirements
2. Installation
   • Windows
   • Linux
   • macOS
   • Updating and uninstalling
3. First start
4. Adding a mail account
5. The main window
6. Reading mail
   • RSS and Atom feeds
   • Newsgroups
   • Chat
7. Writing and replying
8. Organizing mail
9. Searching
10. Calendar
    • Tasks
11. Address book
12. Importing from Thunderbird and Outlook
13. Backup and transfer to another computer
14. Settings
15. Security and privacy
16. Signing and encryption: OpenPGP and S/MIME
17. Where your data is stored
18. Keyboard shortcuts
19. Troubleshooting

1. Requirements

To install with a double-click there are also installers: Albatros-1.0.0-beta.12-linux-x64.deb (and linux-arm64.deb) for Debian, Ubuntu and Mint, and Albatros-1.0.0-beta.12-osx-arm64.dmg (and osx-x64.dmg) for macOS. They contain the same program as the packages above.

Nothing else needs to be installed: each package already contains everything it needs. If you don't know which processor you have, choose the Intel/AMD version (x64) for Windows and Linux; on a Mac, look in Apple menu → About This Mac ("Chip: Apple …" or "Processor: … Intel …"). The following chapters use the x64 package in their examples (or arm64 for the Mac): with the other version only the file name changes.

Disk space: about 50 MB for the program, plus the space for your mail (roughly what it takes on the server).

Each package also contains this manual in HTML, in all nine languages (for example "Albatros Manual (English).html"). Next to the packages there is a SHA256SUMS.txt file with the checksums: if you wish, you can check that the downloaded file is intact.

2. Installation

The simplest way: on Windows you unpack it and start it, on Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint) and on macOS there is an installer. Alternatively, on every system, you unpack the archive and start it, even from a USB stick.

2.1 Windows

1. Download Albatros-1.0.0-beta.12-win-x64.zip.
2. Right-click the file → Extract All… and choose a folder, for example C:\Users\<name>\AppData\Local\Programs\ (just for you) or C:\Program Files\ (requires an administrator).
3. Open the Albatros folder and double-click Albatros.exe.
4. To keep it at hand: right-click Albatros.exe → Pin to Start, or Show more options → Send to → Desktop (create shortcut).

2.2 Linux

Debian, Ubuntu, Mint and derivatives: the .deb installer. Double-click Albatros-1.0.0-beta.12-linux-x64.deb (the system's installation program opens), or from a terminal:

sudo apt install ./Albatros-1.0.0-beta.12-linux-x64.deb

Albatros goes into /opt/albatros, appears in the applications menu (Internet/Office section) and from a terminal you start it with albatros. secret-tool is installed along with it, to keep passwords in the desktop keyring. To remove it: sudo apt remove albatros (mail and settings stay, see chapter 17). Installed this way, Albatros does not update by itself, because /opt belongs to the system: when there is a new version it tells you in the status bar and you install it with the new .deb.

All distributions: the .tar.gz archive. From a terminal (the ~/.local/opt folder is just an example):

mkdir -p ~/.local/opt
tar -xzf Albatros-1.0.0-beta.12-linux-x64.tar.gz -C ~/.local/opt

To start it from the applications menu:

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin ~/.local/share/applications ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps
ln -sf ~/.local/opt/Albatros/Albatros ~/.local/bin/Albatros
cp ~/.local/opt/Albatros/albatros.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/
cp ~/.local/opt/Albatros/albatros.png ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/

Albatros now appears in the menu (Internet/Office section). From a terminal, start it with Albatros. If ~/.local/bin is not in your PATH, write the full path after Exec= in the albatros.desktop file.

Keeping passwords safe: Albatros uses your desktop keyring (GNOME Keyring, KWallet) through the secret-tool command. If it is missing, install it:

• Debian, Ubuntu, Mint: sudo apt install libsecret-tools
• Fedora: sudo dnf install libsecret
• Arch: sudo pacman -S libsecret

Without secret-tool, passwords are still encrypted, in a file in your home folder (see chapter 15). If, at the first password, the keyring asks you to choose a password to protect it, answer within a minute: otherwise Albatros uses the encrypted file.

2.3 macOS

1. Download Albatros-1.0.0-beta.12-osx-arm64.dmg and double-click it: a window opens with Albatros.app, the Applications shortcut, the manuals and the license. (With the Albatros-1.0.0-beta.12-osx-arm64.tar.gz archive it is the same: double-clicking it makes Albatros.app appear.)
2. Drag Albatros.app onto Applications (the Applications folder). Then you can eject the "Albatros 1.0.0 beta 12" disk.
3. If the package is not signed and notarized by Apple, macOS blocks it the first time. To open it:
   • macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later: try to open it once. Then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the bottom and click Open Anyway next to "Albatros".
   • macOS 14: right-click (or Control-click) Albatros → Open → Open.
   • Alternatively, from Terminal: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Albatros.app
4. The first time Albatros saves a password, macOS may ask for access to the Keychain: choose Always Allow.

2.4 Updating and uninstalling

• Updating by itself: once a day Albatros checks the Arato Ingegneria website for a new version. If there is one, it downloads it in the background and verifies its digital signature and fingerprint: a tampered or incomplete file is discarded. When it is ready, a cyan button Update ready: 1.0.0 beta N · Restart appears in the status bar: press it whenever it suits you. Albatros closes, puts the new version in place and opens again; a message confirms "Albatros has been updated to version …". If the new version fails to start, Albatros puts the previous one back by itself. If you are writing a message, it first asks whether to send it or save it as a draft. Only the version number is sent in the request to the website.
  • In Settings → Advanced, Automatic updates turns the check on or off and Check now runs it immediately.
  • If Albatros is in a folder where it cannot write (for example C:\Program Files\ without being an administrator, or /opt/albatros after installing with the .deb), it does not update by itself: the status bar shows Version … is available: download it from the website and you update by hand.
• Updating by hand: quit Albatros and replace the program folder (or Albatros.app) with the new one; with the .deb, install the new .deb. Your mail, settings and passwords are stored elsewhere (see chapter 17) and are not touched.
• Uninstalling: delete the program folder (or Albatros.app; with the .deb, sudo apt remove albatros). To also remove your mail and settings, delete the folders listed in chapter 17. Make a backup first if you need one.

3. First start

The window opens immediately, even with a lot of mail: the archive loads in the background.

If you have no accounts yet and Thunderbird is installed on the computer, Albatros finds it and offers to import accounts, address books and mail ("Thunderbird is installed on this computer: …"). If there is no Thunderbird but there is an Outlook data file (.pst), it offers that instead. Click Import… to choose what to bring over (see chapter 12), or Not now.

As long as there are no accounts, the left pane shows Add account, Import from Thunderbird… and Import from Outlook….

Language. Albatros starts in the language of your operating system, if it is one of the nine available (otherwise in English). To change it: Settings → General → Language. The choice applies to menus, windows, dates and numbers, and takes effect the next time you start Albatros. In Arabic the whole window runs from right to left.

4. Adding a mail account

Settings → Accounts → Add account (or the button in the left pane, as long as there are no accounts).

1. Type your Email address. Albatros recognizes the provider and fills in the servers by itself:
   • common providers (Gmail, Outlook.com/Hotmail, Libero, Tiscali, Yahoo, iCloud…): immediately;
   • any other domain: Albatros looks up the settings online in a few seconds ("Looking up the server settings online…"). It uses the domain's automatic configuration, the Mozilla database and DNS records (MX, SRV, Microsoft Autodiscover: it recognizes Microsoft 365, even behind a spam filter, and on-premises Exchange). Only the domain is sent over the network, never your address.
2. Choose how to sign in:
   • Gmail / Google Workspace: two cyan buttons, side by side, let you choose how to sign in. Sign in with Google opens your browser to give consent. Use an app password (the chosen option shows a ✓) shows the instructions and the password field: you need a Google app password, a 16-letter code, not the password you use to sign in to Gmail; the Open the Google page button takes you where you create it. If Google shows "Google hasn't verified this app", click Advanced → Go to Albatros (unsafe) and then Allow: Albatros has not yet completed Google's verification, but your mail stays only on your computer.
   • Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live, Microsoft 365 (work or school): Sign in with Microsoft opens your browser to give consent. Microsoft no longer accepts a password alone for reading mail. For work accounts, the administrator may need to approve Albatros once.
   • All others: enter your password. Yahoo and iCloud require an app password created in their account settings.
3. Click Verify and save: Albatros tests the connection and, if everything is fine, starts downloading your mail.

Another account already signed in to the browser. With Sign in with Google or Sign in with Microsoft, if you are already signed in to the browser with another account (for example your work account), the consent page may use the wrong one. While the page is open, two buttons appear in the account window:

• Open in a private window: reopens the same page in a private browser window, where you can sign in with the right account, for example mario.rossi@example.com.
• Copy link: copies the page's address so you can paste it yourself into a private window (Ctrl+Shift+N, or Ctrl+Shift+P in Firefox). Use it if the private window does not open by itself.

Outlook.com and IMAP. If, after signing in with Microsoft, the server answers "not connected", IMAP access is probably turned off in Outlook.com: on outlook.live.com open Settings → Mail → Forwarding and IMAP, turn on "Let devices and apps use IMAP", save and try again. Albatros suggests this in the error message.

First synchronization. The first time, Albatros downloads the most recent messages first, so you can read the mail of the last few days right away even if the mailbox is very large; older messages arrive later. The list fills up while downloading, without waiting for the end. The status bar shows the progress: "listing folders…", then, for each folder, "checking messages on the server…".

Fast download. Albatros downloads all accounts together and, for each account, uses several connections at the same time (up to 10 with Gmail and Google Workspace, 4 with other servers): even a single very large folder is split among the connections. If the server does not accept more connections, Albatros carries on with the ones it has. With Gmail, keep in mind that Google lets you download at most about 2.5 GB per day per account: a larger mailbox arrives over two or more days, and Albatros resumes where it left off.

Server settings: opening this section you can correct the server, port, security (SSL/TLS, STARTTLS, or "None (not recommended)") and user name by hand, both for receiving and for sending (SMTP). If the outgoing server wants a user name and password different from the incoming ones (this happens with some company or relay servers), enter them in Username for sending and Password for sending; left empty, the incoming ones are used. This password is also kept in the system's secure store.

Signature for this account: normally all accounts use the signature in Settings → Composition. With Use a separate signature for this account the account has its own (for example the office one on one address and the association one on another); if you leave the text empty, this account's messages are sent without a signature.

IMAP or POP3. In Server settings → Incoming you choose the protocol. IMAP (recommended) keeps your mail on the server and keeps it in sync with your phone and other computers. POP3 downloads messages once into the Inbox of this computer, as Thunderbird does; the account's folders are local. With POP3 two options appear: Leave a copy of messages on the server and Remove the copy from the server after this many days (0 = never). If you untick the first one, messages are deleted from the server as soon as they are downloaded.

• Microsoft Graph is for Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com mailboxes, even where the company has turned IMAP off (common in new tenants). You sign in only with Sign in with Microsoft; the folders stay on the server as with IMAP, and sending also goes through Microsoft, which puts the copy in Sent by itself. A message with attachments over about 3 MB cannot be sent this way: Albatros tells you.
• JMAP is the successor of IMAP, used for example by Fastmail: enter the server (for Fastmail api.fastmail.com, which Albatros fills in by itself if the server was imap.fastmail.com) and an app password or a token. Folders, read status, moves, tags and sending all go through JMAP.

Invalid certificate: if the server presents a certificate that has expired, is self-signed or is issued to a different name, Albatros stops and shows the problem and the certificate's fingerprint. Accept it (Accept this certificate and retry) only if you are sure the server is the right one, for example because your provider confirms the fingerprint. If the certificate changes one day, Albatros asks again.

Managing accounts (Settings → Accounts):

• Edit…: name, password, servers, sending. The address cannot be changed: for a different address, add a new account. For Google and Microsoft there is "Sign in again with Google" / "Sign in again with Microsoft". A Gmail or Outlook.com account that uses a password has the Sign in with Google (or Sign in with Microsoft) button to switch to signing in without a password: it is the fix if Google stops accepting the app password ("Gmail rejects the password").
• Active (receive and send): if you untick it, the account stays but no longer connects to the server (no receiving or sending).
• ↑ ↓: order of the accounts in the list. You can do the same from the main window: right-click an account → Move up / Move down (see chapter 5).
• Remove: Albatros asks whether to keep the messages already downloaded (Remove and keep messages: they stay viewable and searchable) or delete them from this computer (Remove and delete messages). Nothing changes on the server.

5. The main window

• At the top, from left to right:
  • the logo and the name ALBATROS;
  • the Mail, Calendar and Tasks tabs (see chapter 10);
  • Write (pencil icon, Ctrl/Cmd+N), for a new message, and next to it Get mail (arrows icon, F5), to check for mail right away;
  • in the center the search box, with the magnifying glass and the text "Search mail (Ctrl+F)". Hovering over the box shows the full syntax (see chapter 9);
  • on the right four icons: Tools (wrench), Theme (each click switches between Automatic, Light and Dark; the tooltip shows the active one, for example "Theme: Automatic"), Settings (gear, Ctrl/Cmd+,) and About (question mark), with the version, Manual (opens this manual in the language of Albatros) and Keyboard shortcuts…. The Tools menu contains All attachments…, Free up space… (see chapter 8), Outbox (see chapter 7), Add an RSS feed… and Newsgroups… (see chapter 6).
  • the Chat tab and, in the Tools menu, IRC…, XMPP…, Matrix… and Microsoft Teams…: see Chat. Hovering over each button shows a tooltip with its name and keyboard shortcut.
• On the left: accounts and folders. Account names are in light blue, to tell them apart from folders. Next to each folder's name is the number of messages it contains, in square brackets (for example "INBOX [2323]", only if it is not empty), followed by a light blue badge with the number of unread messages; next to the account is the count for its Inbox. If an account has a synchronization problem (password no longer valid, server unreachable…) an orange triangle appears: hover over it to read the reason. The triangle disappears by itself as soon as synchronization works again. Right-click an account: Move up and Move down change its position in the list (the order is kept the next time you open Albatros), Account settings… opens Settings → Accounts. At the bottom of the list, when needed, you find Saved searches (see chapter 9), Snoozed (the messages set aside, see chapter 6) and the RSS and News archives with the feeds and newsgroups you follow.
• In the center: the message list. The From (who sent it) and To (who it was sent to) columns are always there, so you can immediately tell received messages from the replies you sent; click the column headers (Date, From, To, Subject) to sort. You can select several messages with Ctrl/Cmd and Shift. In the first columns:
  • the star: filled and gold for starred messages, empty for the others. One click adds or removes it (on the server too: you also see it in Gmail and Thunderbird);
  • the dot: filled for unread messages (which are also in bold), a small ring for read ones. One click on the dot marks the message as read or unread, without opening it;
  • the paperclip 📎: the message has attachments. At the top right of the list, next to the folder name, the Unread button (with the same cyan dot as unread messages, Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+U) shows only the unread messages of the folder or of the search. A message you open while the filter is on stays in the list until you turn it off, so it does not disappear while you are reading it. Next to it is Conversations: when it is on, the list shows one row per conversation, with the most recent message and how many there are; deleting, moving or marking a row as read applies to the whole conversation. The choice is kept for next time. Messages with a tag (Important, Work, Personal…) have the text and background of their row tinted with the tag's color (stronger on the selected row) and its name in a badge next to the subject (see chapter 8).
• At the bottom: the preview of the selected message. With the "Full-height list" layout (Settings → Appearance) the message opens in a separate window instead (double-click or Enter).
• Status bar: what Albatros is doing (synchronizing, indexing, sending) and the Undo button after an action. On the right, for the whole length of a synchronization or of an index rebuild, a cyan bar with Stop: while folders are being checked it scrolls without a number, while mail is being downloaded it fills up (hovering shows, for example, "INBOX · 426/1469"). Pressing Get mail again during a round does not start another one: you see "Already getting mail: wait for the current round to finish". Connected calendars also appear here while they are updating ("Calendar “Work”: synchronizing…"), then with the summary ("Calendars updated: 3 events changed"). When there are messages waiting to be sent, the Outbox: N button appears; it opens the Outbox (see chapter 7).
• Title bar: the name and version, for example "Albatros 1.0.0 beta 12": so you always know which version you are using.

New mail arrives by itself: in real time if the server supports it (IMAP IDLE), otherwise with a periodic check (every 5 minutes; you can change this in the settings). Get mail (F5) checks right away. While mail arrives the list is updated, but the selected message stays selected, the preview does not change and an open right-click menu stays open.

New-mail notification. When new messages arrive in the Inbox, a system notification appears (the notification center of Windows, macOS or the Linux desktop): "New mail from …" with the subject, or "3 new messages" if several arrive together. On Windows and Linux, clicking the notification brings Albatros to the front on the Inbox of that account. Old mail downloaded the first time, or imported from Thunderbird and Outlook, is not announced. You can turn it off in Settings → Synchronization → Notify new mail.

6. Reading mail

• Formatting: HTML messages are shown formatted. With the message's HTML and Text buttons you choose whether to see them formatted or as plain text; the choice is kept for the following messages. You can select and copy the text (Ctrl/Cmd+C, Ctrl/Cmd+A, or right-click → Copy, Select all).
• Links: clicking a link opens it in your browser (only http and https addresses). If the text of the link shows a different site from the one it really leads to, a typical trick of scams, Albatros warns you with Suspicious link and opens it only if you click Open anyway.
• Remote images: to protect you from tracking, images loaded from the Internet are not shown automatically. Above the message you see Show images (for this message only) and Always from this sender. For a trusted sender you see "Trusted sender: images always shown" with the Stop trusting button. Trusted senders can also be managed in Settings → Reading.
• Attachments: buttons below the header: a click opens the attachment, a right-click offers Open, Save as… and, if there is more than one attachment, Save all attachments…. At the end of the row, the cyan Download all attachments button saves them all in a folder you choose (starting from Downloads); when it is done, the folder opens. Files that may contain programs (for example .exe, .js, documents with macros, or invoice.pdf.exe) carry the ⚠ symbol. Before opening them, Albatros asks for confirmation and shows the real extension.
• Preview of images and PDFs: attached photos and images (JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, WebP) are previewed below the text of the message. For PDFs you see the first page: small inside the attachment button and large below the text. Hovering shows the name and size; a click opens the file. Albatros draws the PDF thumbnail by itself, without other programs, even when the PDF uses its own fonts embedded in the file or contains scanned pages (including the black-and-white ones of faxes); a PDF protected by an opening password has no thumbnail.
• Add to calendar: the Add to calendar button (next to Reply and Forward), or a right-click on the message in the list, offers Reply to this email and Review this email. The event window opens already filled in: title "Reply: subject of the message", sender, date and subject in the notes, the first working day after today at 9:00 for half an hour, with the default reminder. Change the day and time if you like and click Save.
• Meeting invitations: a message with an invitation shows the date, time and location, with the Accept, Maybe and Decline buttons. Your reply goes to the organizer and the event is added to the calendar. If the organizer cancels the event, the message says so and offers Remove from calendar. Replies to your own invitations appear as "Reply to one of your invitations".
• Read: opening a message marks it as read (you can turn this off in Settings → Reading).
• Signed or encrypted messages: a colored box appears above the text. It is green if everything is in order ("✔ Signed by …", "🔒 Encrypted message: opened with your key."), yellow if there is a doubt (for example you don't have the sender's key), red if the signature is not valid or the message cannot be opened. See chapter 16.
• Watch out for the sender: an orange box above the message warns you when the sender may not be who they claim to be. This happens if the server that received it could not verify it, if the name shows an address different from the real one, if the name is that of one of your contacts who usually writes from another address, or if the domain looks very much like one you know (for example paypa1.com). Check before replying or opening links or attachments. You can turn it off in Settings → Reading → Warn about suspicious senders.
• ⏰ Snooze: puts the message out of the way until you need it: In 3 hours, This evening at 18:00, Tomorrow at 08:00, Monday at 08:00 or Choose day and time…. In the meantime you find it in Snoozed, in the left pane. At the chosen time it goes back to its folder, marked as unread, and a notification says so ("Time for the mail from …"). On a snoozed message the button becomes Bring back now.
• Unsubscribe: appears on messages from mailing lists and newsletters that state how to unsubscribe. If the sender allows it, Albatros asks for the unsubscription with one click, without opening any page; otherwise it sends the unsubscribe email or, if the sender wants it that way, opens their page in the browser. It always asks for confirmation first.
• 🖨 Print / PDF: Print… opens the message as a PDF in the system viewer, from which you print it; Save as PDF… saves it where you choose. The PDF has the header (from, to, date, subject), formatted text and images.
• 💬 Conversation (N): appears when the message is part of a thread. The menu lists all the messages of the conversation, in all folders (your replies in Sent too), oldest first; the dot marks the unread ones. A click opens that message.
• ✓ Task: turns the message into a task (see chapter 10): the subject becomes the title, the due date is tomorrow, and the task reopens the message.

6.1 RSS and Atom feeds

Albatros also reads news from websites, like email. Tools → Add an RSS feed… and paste the feed address or, more simply, the website address: Albatros looks for the feed in the page. The feed becomes a folder under RSS, in the left pane; each article is a message, with title, text and a link to the original, and you can search it like the rest of your mail. Feeds update by themselves every half hour.

Right-click a feed folder: Update feeds now and Unfollow… (the folder disappears with its articles: move the ones you want to keep first).

Podcasts. Podcast episodes are feeds with an audio file attached. At the bottom of the article there is one line per file, with an icon (🎧 audio, 🎬 video, 🖼 image), the name and the size: a click opens it in the system's program. Albatros does not download the file by itself, because an episode weighs tens of MB.

Mastodon. To follow a Mastodon profile (or one on another fediverse server), type its address in Add an RSS feed… as @user@server (for example @albatros@mastodon.social), or the address of its page. Posts have no title: Albatros uses the first words of the text as the subject.

6.2 Newsgroups

Albatros also reads and writes in newsgroups (Usenet, NNTP). Tools → Newsgroups…:

1. New server: the server address and port, user name and password if needed, and the Name in articles and Address in articles you sign your posts with. Save and test checks the access; the password stays in the system's secure store.
2. Search the server's groups: type part of the name (for example comp.lang) and press Search. For each group you see how many articles it has and whether it is read only.
3. Subscribe: the group becomes a folder under News, with the latest articles. New articles arrive by themselves.

Articles are read like email and grouped into conversations. Above an article, Reply to group opens the compose window with the Groups field instead of the recipients: the reply goes to the group, not by email. For a new article: right-click the group folder → Write to the group…. From the same menu: Update groups now and Unsubscribe from the group… (the folder disappears; the articles stay on the server).

6.3 Chat

The Chat tab gathers all conversations in one place: on the left the list, most recent first, with the last sentence and the number of unread messages; on the right the messages as bubbles, yours on the right. Type in the box at the bottom: Enter sends, Shift+Enter starts a new line. Opening a conversation marks it as read. Groups and rooms have the 👥 icon.

Delta Chat (over email). Chats compatible with Delta Chat are ordinary emails, so no new account is needed. New chat… at the bottom of the list asks for the account, one or more addresses and, for a group, its name. Whoever uses Delta Chat on the phone sees the messages as a chat, whoever uses a mail program sees them as emails. When everyone has the key (Autocrypt, exchanged by itself after the first messages), the messages are encrypted. Albatros looks for chats in the Inbox, in Sent and in the «DeltaChat» folder. The first time, with a very large archive, the search takes a while; after that it is ready at once.

The other chats are added from the Tools menu. They stay connected while Albatros is open and reconnect by themselves if the network drops; their messages stay on the computer. Passwords and tokens are kept in the system's secure store, like those of your mail.

• IRC (Tools → IRC…): server (for example irc.libera.chat), port, TLS and your nick; the SASL password is only needed if the nick is registered. Then Join a channel (#name). A private message opens a new conversation; /me waves writes an action.
• XMPP / Jabber (Tools → XMPP…): address (name@server) and password; server and port only if they differ from the domain's. Write to opens the conversation with a person, Join the room with a room (room@conference.server), Leave closes it. Messages you send from your phone with the same account arrive too.
• Matrix (Tools → Matrix…): user @name:server and password. The password is only used to sign in: then Albatros keeps the session token, and removing the account also closes the session on the server. Join the room with #name:server; Write to @person:server opens a direct conversation. An invitation appears as «Invitation from …»: writing in it joins the room. End-to-end encrypted rooms (almost all private rooms created by Element) for now only show «encrypted message».
• Microsoft Teams (Tools → Microsoft Teams…): you need a work or school account. Type the address and press Sign in with Microsoft. One-to-one, group and meeting chats appear, refreshed every 15 seconds; Write to opens the chat with a colleague. Team channels and personal Microsoft accounts are not available.

7. Writing and replying

• Write (Ctrl/Cmd+N) opens a new message. Reply (Ctrl/Cmd+R), Reply all (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+R) and Forward (Ctrl/Cmd+L) are above the preview and in the right-click menu.
• Recipients: while you type in the To, Cc and Bcc fields, Albatros suggests people from the address book and from those who wrote to you or you wrote to. Separate several addresses with commas.
• From: if you have several accounts, choose which one to send from.
• Attachments: Attach…, or drag files from File Explorer (or from the Finder) anywhere onto the message window, even over the text: they become attachments. Dragged folders are not attached. Attached PDFs and images (including those of a forwarded email) show a thumbnail of the first page or of the picture in their button, large enough to check it is the right file before sending.
• Signature: set it in Settings → Composition; it is added automatically at the end of new messages and replies. Besides the text signature you can have an HTML or image signature: Choose image… uses a logo or your scanned signature (png, jpg, gif, webp), Open HTML file… uses a signature prepared in another program, and Edit HTML lets you correct its code; Preview shows the result and Remove deletes it. In sent messages the HTML signature replaces the text one, and the images travel inside the message, not as attachments. People who read mail as plain text see the text signature. An account can have a signature of its own (see chapter 4); if you change the sender in From in the compose window, the signature changes too, unless you have already edited it by hand.
• 🔏 Sign and 🔒 Encrypt: these two buttons in the compose window sign the message and encrypt it for the recipients. If all recipients have an OpenPGP key or an S/MIME certificate, Albatros turns on Encrypt by itself. See chapter 16.
• Drafts: Save draft (Ctrl/Cmd+S) saves to the account's Drafts folder, so you can find it on your phone too. When you close an unsent message (also with Esc), Albatros asks what to do: Save draft, Don't save or Cancel. Double-click a draft to continue it.
• Templates: ready-made texts for the replies you write often. The Templates button in the compose window inserts them at the cursor; Save text as template… saves the text you wrote (or the selected part) as a new template, Manage templates… opens Settings → Composition. In a template's text you can use {nome} (the recipient's name), {data} (today's date), {ora} (the time) and {mittente} (your name): they are filled in automatically.
• Forgotten attachment: if the text mentions an attachment ("attached", "in allegato", "allego"…) but the message has none, before sending Albatros asks "Did you forget the attachment?": you can go back or Send anyway. You can turn it off in Settings → Composition.
• Send (Ctrl/Cmd+Enter). Without a network connection the message stays in the Outbox and is sent automatically as soon as the connection is back. A copy goes to the Sent folder.
• Undo send: after Send the message waits a few seconds before leaving (10 by default) and the status bar shows Undo send: pressing it brings the message back to the compose window. In Settings → Composition → Undo send you choose how many seconds, or Immediately (no "Undo send").
• Send later: schedules the sending: In one hour, Tomorrow at 08:00, Monday at 08:00 or Choose day and time…. The message waits in the Outbox; if Albatros is closed at that time, it is sent as soon as you open it again.
• Outbox (Tools → Outbox, or the Outbox: N button in the status bar): the messages waiting to be sent, with the expected time ("as soon as there is a connection" for those held without a connection, "rejected by the server" if the server did not accept them). For each one: Send now, Edit… (reopens it in the compose window, from where you send it or reschedule it) and Delete (without sending it).

8. Organizing mail

Every action is shown immediately and carried over to the server in the background. It works offline too: the changes are sent as soon as the connection is back.

• Starred: click the star on the left of the message; another click removes it. Can be undone.
• Read / unread: click the dot, the M key or the right-click menu. To mark every message in a folder as read: right-click the folder → Mark all as read (can be undone).
• Tags: to tell messages apart at a glance. Important (red), Urgent (dark red), Work (orange), Personal (green), To Do (blue) and Later (purple) are already there. To tag messages, select one or more and press the tag's number, from 1 to 9 (Important is 1, Urgent 2, and so on following the order in Settings), or right-click → Tag. The same key removes it; 0 removes all tags. A message can have more than one tag: the row takes the color of the first. Tags are also saved on the server, so you see them on your other computers and they are the same as Thunderbird's; some servers, for example Microsoft's, don't keep them, and then they stay only in Albatros. With Gmail tags are Gmail labels: a tag you set in Albatros appears on gmail.com as a label with the same name (for example "Work"), and labels set on gmail.com appear in Albatros. Labels that Albatros doesn't know are shown in gray, with their name, and you can add them to the list in Settings. As always in Gmail, each label also appears as a folder on the left. If you rename a tag in Albatros, on Gmail the new name applies only to messages you tag from then on.
• Managing tags: right-click → Tag → Manage tags…, or Settings → Tags. You can change the name and color, the order (with the arrows: it also decides the 1–9 key), add tags with New tag… and delete them. A deleted tag is removed from all messages. Tags set by other programs appear at the bottom, with Add to the list.
• Moving: drag the messages onto a folder of the same account, or right-click → Move to.
• Deleting: the Del key. The message goes to the Trash. From the Trash, or in an account without a Trash, deletion is permanent and Albatros asks for confirmation.
• Emptying Trash and Junk: right-click the Trash → Empty trash, or the junk mail folder (Spam) → Empty junk. Albatros asks for confirmation, showing the number of messages; the deletion is permanent, on the server too, and cannot be undone.
• Undo: after an action the status bar shows what was done ("Message moved") with the Undo button for a few seconds. You can also undo with Ctrl/Cmd+Z or from the menu. A permanent deletion cannot be undone.
• Folders: right-click a folder → New folder… (creates a subfolder), Rename…, Delete folder…. A deleted folder also disappears from the server, with everything it contains: Albatros asks for confirmation. Special folders (Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Trash…) cannot be renamed or deleted.
• Sent, Drafts, Trash, Junk: Albatros recognizes them from what the server declares and, if the server says nothing, from the name ("Sent", "Sent Items", "Sent Messages", "Sent Mail", "Posta inviata", "Gesendet"…). If it gets it wrong, or if you want to use another folder, right-click the folder → Use as → Sent, Drafts, Trash or Junk; Automatic (as the server says) goes back to Albatros's choice. The choice applies to the copy of sent messages, to drafts, to deleting and to "Empty".
• Rules: they do by themselves what you would do by hand on new mail. In Settings → Rules → New rule… give the rule a name and choose:
  • If (all conditions are met, or at least one): Sender, Recipients (To, Cc), Subject, Body or Account that contains, does not contain, is, starts with or ends with a text;
  • Then: Move to a folder, Add label, Mark as read, Add star, Move to Trash. Rules apply to new mail in the Inbox as soon as it arrives, in the order of the list (the ↑ ↓ arrows change it; the checkbox next to the name turns a rule on or off). A message that is moved or put in the Trash does not go on to the following rules; with After this rule do not apply the following ones the chain stops anyway. To apply them to a whole folder: right-click the folder → Apply rules. A rule never deletes permanently.
• All attachments (Tools → All attachments…): the list of all the attachments in the archive, most recent first, with name, size, sender, subject and folder. The box at the top searches by file name, sender or subject; double-click (or Open) opens the attachment, Save as… saves it, Open the mail shows the message that contains it.
• Free up space (Tools → Free up space…): how much space the archive takes and where. Three lists: Largest mails, Senders taking the most space and Duplicate attachments (the same file arrived in several messages). Select and press Move to Trash, or Search their mails to see them in the main list. The space is freed when you empty the Trash.

9. Searching

Type in the "Search mail" box in the center of the top bar (Ctrl/Cmd+F): results appear as you type, across all accounts, most recent first. If there are more than 500, the list shows the 500 most recent and the status bar says how many were found in total ("the 500 most recent of 3,200 results"): add a word or a filter to narrow it down. Esc clears the search and returns to the folder. If you forget the syntax, hover over the box: the tooltip summarizes it. The search looks at sender, recipients, subject, text and also attachment names: quote also finds messages with an attachment "Quote_system.pdf". The search keywords (da:, oggetto: and so on) are written in Italian:

Case and accents do not matter. In the Calendar tab the same box searches events.

Saved searches. A search you make often (for example da:bank ha:allegato or non:letto cartella:inbox) can be saved: while it is in the box, Save search appears; choose a name and the search appears in Saved searches, in the left pane. A click runs it again, always up to date, like a folder. Right-click: Rename…, Edit the search… and Delete the search (the messages are not touched).

Words that are not searched. Very common words (the, and, il, che…) are left out of the index, to keep it small and fast. In Settings → Search and index you can add others in Words not to search (for example greeting formulas) or put some back in Words to search anyway. They apply to messages arriving from then on; for all the others press Rebuild the index.

10. Calendar

Calendar tab.

• Views: Day, Week, Month, Agenda (the next 60 days). Navigate with Today and the arrows (also ← → on the keyboard; T goes back to today). There is a mini calendar on the left.
• New event: double-click an hour (or a day in the month view), or click New event. In the event window you set the title, location, start and end, all day, repeat (daily/weekly/monthly/yearly, until…), reminders, calendar, color, notes and attendees. Ctrl/Cmd+Enter saves.
• Several reminders per event: with + Add reminder you can have as many as you like, for example one day before and 15 minutes before. Each one can be With sound or silent; Remove this reminder deletes it.
• Event color: an event usually has the color of its calendar ("Same as calendar"), but in the event window you can give it a color of its own.
• All day: double-clicking the "All day" strip at the top (Day and Week views) creates an all-day event.
• "Custom" repeat: appears for more complex series coming from other programs or in invitations; Albatros shows and respects them.
• Moving: drag the event to another time or another day (in quarter-hour steps). In the Month view only the day changes and the time stays the same. Events in read-only calendars cannot be moved. For recurring events Albatros asks whether to move only that one or the whole series. The same applies when you edit or delete: "Only this one", "This and following", "All".
• Reminders: at the set time a small window appears at the bottom right, with the event's color and the Open, Close and Remind me in… buttons (5, 10, 15, 30 minutes or 1 hour). Several reminders at once are stacked. The window says when the event starts: "now", "in 20 minutes", "in 3 hours", "tomorrow · 08:00" or the day and date. A reminder that came due while Albatros was closed (or while you were saving the event) appears immediately, so you don't miss it. In Settings → Calendar you choose:
  • the default reminder for new events;
  • the Reminder sound, that is the sound of reminders marked "With sound", with Test to listen to it. "None" makes them all silent;
  • Also show reminders as desktop notifications: the reminder also appears in the notification center of Windows, macOS or the Linux desktop. On Windows and Linux, clicking the notification opens the event. Test notification shows an example.
• Moving to another calendar: open the event and choose another Calendar, then Save. The whole event moves, even if it repeats (with its exceptions); if the calendars are connected, the event disappears from the old one and appears in the new one on the server too. It cannot be moved into a read-only calendar.
• Calendars: on the left there is the list with color and show/hide checkbox; right-click offers Rename… and Delete. New calendar… creates a local calendar. If a connected calendar does not update (server unreachable, expired permission…), an orange triangle appears next to its name: hovering over it shows the reason. It disappears by itself when the calendar synchronizes again.
• Connecting calendars ("Connect a calendar…"):
  • Google Calendar: "Sign in with Google".
  • Microsoft 365 · Outlook.com: type the address and press "Sign in with Microsoft". The browser opens so you can give Albatros permission for the calendars: this is a different permission from the one for mail, so Microsoft asks for it even if the mail account is already connected. All the account's calendars appear; changes made in Albatros (new, moved or deleted events, recurring ones too) go to Outlook and vice versa. Albatros looks from six months back to a year and a half ahead. For a work account the administrator may need to approve Albatros once.
  • CalDAV (Nextcloud, iCloud with an app password, Fastmail, Synology, Radicale…): server address, user name and password. Changes made in Albatros go to the server and vice versa.
  • Subscription to a published calendar (an .ics address, for example holidays or sports calendars): read-only, updated automatically.
• Invitations: see Reading mail.

10.1 Tasks

Tasks tab: the things to do, divided into lists (on the left). Type in the "New task" box and press Enter; the checkbox next to a task marks it as done (Show completed ones too shows them again). A click on a task opens its card on the right: Title, Due (or No due date), Priority (High, Medium, Low) and Notes.

• From a message: the ✓ Task button above the message creates a task with the subject as title and the due date tomorrow; the task's card reopens the message.
• Link a list…: brings into Albatros the lists of Microsoft To Do (Outlook's too; the browser opens for the permission) or those of a CalDAV server (Nextcloud, iCloud with an app password, Fastmail, Synology…). Changes go both ways.

11. Address book

Albatros does not ask you to fill in an address book by hand: it builds it from your mail, from the people who write to you and above all from the people you write to. It is used for suggestions while you type recipients: the most frequent and most recent people come first.

Added to this are the contacts imported from the Thunderbird address book or from Outlook (see the next chapter), which provide the correct names and take priority in suggestions.

Online address books. In Settings → Contacts → Link an address book you can also link the address books you keep online:

• Google (Gmail, Android) and Microsoft (Microsoft 365, Outlook.com): the browser opens so you can give Albatros permission to read your contacts.
• CardDAV (Nextcloud, iCloud with an app password, Fastmail, Synology, Radicale…): the address of the server or of the address book, user name and password.

The contacts are included in the recipient suggestions and are read again every 6 hours (Update now does it right away). You edit them on the service, which stays the real address book; Unlink removes them from Albatros, while they stay on the service.

12. Importing from Thunderbird and Outlook

12.1 Thunderbird

Settings → General → Import from Thunderbird…, or the same button in Settings → Accounts and, as long as there are no accounts, in the left pane.

1. Choose the Profile: Albatros finds the installed ones by itself. With Browse… you can point to the folder of a profile copied from another computer or of a portable Thunderbird.
2. Choose the accounts: for each one you see its type (IMAP or POP3) and server. New accounts are already ticked. For an account already in Albatros the checkbox means "look for its messages in Thunderbird and import the ones that are missing": useful if you see fewer messages in Albatros than there were in Thunderbird.
3. Choose What to import:
   • Account settings only: for each account the account window opens already filled in with Thunderbird's servers; you only need the password (or "Sign in with Google" / "Sign in with Microsoft"). Passwords are not imported. The mail of IMAP accounts then arrives from the server by itself.
   • Settings and the mail that exists only on this computer: in addition, the mail of POP3 accounts is copied and, if you want, that of the Local Folders. Copies of IMAP accounts are never copied: that mail is on the server.
   • The address book, with the number of contacts: contacts with the same email address are merged with the ones you already have.
4. Import. The mail arrives under "Thunderbird" with the same folders, tags and read/flagged status, and can be found right away with search. You can Stop at any time: next time the import resumes where it left off.

No duplicates: a message already in Albatros, even because it was downloaded by an account, is not imported a second time, and accounts already present are not added again. During the import, synchronization with the servers is paused and restarts by itself at the end.

Removing an import: right-click the "Thunderbird" (or "Outlook") archive in the left pane → Remove imported archive…. All imported messages and their folders are removed from Albatros; the accounts and their mail are not touched, and the originals stay in Thunderbird. Afterwards you can import again from scratch.

Thunderbird is never modified. To get the most recent data, close Thunderbird before importing (Albatros warns you if it is open).

12.2 Outlook

Albatros reads the Outlook data file (.pst) of classic Outlook: Settings → General → Import from Outlook…, or the same button in Settings → Accounts and, as long as there are no accounts, in the left pane. At the first start, if there is no Thunderbird but there is an Outlook file, Albatros offers to import it by itself.

1. Choose the file: Albatros finds those in Outlook's usual folders. With Browse… you can point to any .pst file, even one copied from another computer.
2. Choose the folders to import: each one shows its number of items. Outlook's calendar and tasks appear in the list but, for now, are not imported.
3. Import. The mail arrives under "Outlook" with the same folders and read/flagged status, and search is ready right away; contacts go into the Albatros address book. You can Stop at any time: next time the import resumes where it left off, without duplicates.

The Outlook file is not modified. .ost files (the local copy of Exchange and Microsoft 365 accounts) are not imported: that mail is on the server, just add the account. If Outlook is using the file, close Outlook and reopen the import window. Outlook accounts are not imported: add them to Albatros as described in chapter 4.

13. Backup and transfer to another computer

Settings → General → Backup and transfer to another computer.

• Export everything… creates a single .zip file with all your mail, address book, calendars, settings and accounts. Passwords are not included: they stay protected on this computer, and on the other one you enter them once (Settings → Accounts → Edit…). For the same reason your private OpenPGP keys and your S/MIME certificates are not included: take them to the other computer with Backup copy… and with the .p12 file (see chapter 16). During the backup, synchronization waits, so the copy is consistent.
• Restore from a backup… shows the date, computer and contents of the backup and asks for confirmation. The restore completes when Albatros restarts (Restart now, or Later the next time you open it, or Cancel the restore). The data that was there before is not deleted: it is moved to a prima-del-ripristino-<date> folder next to the Albatros data.

Use it also as a regular backup: keep the file on an external disk or in the cloud.

The suggested file name is albatros-backup-YYYY-MM-DD.zip, with the current date.

Export configuration… (on the same page) saves only settings and accounts, in a small file (albatros-config.json). Import a configuration… brings them to another computer; the accounts arrive without passwords, which you enter in Settings → Accounts.

14. Settings

Every change takes effect immediately. Many sections have Restore defaults.

15. Security and privacy

• Passwords and tokens are never stored in plain text:
  • Windows: encrypted with your Windows user (DPAPI): unreadable for other users or on another PC.
  • macOS: in the Keychain.
  • Linux: in the desktop keyring through secret-tool; if it is missing, in encrypted files in the settings folder. At startup Albatros really tests the keyring (it saves and deletes a test entry). If it does not answer, for example because it is locked in a session without a desktop or did not get its password within a minute, Albatros uses the encrypted files instead of stopping; the log says so.
• Signing in with Google and Microsoft: Albatros never sees your password, only an authorization that you can revoke from your Google or Microsoft account.
• No telemetry: Albatros connects only to the servers of your accounts and calendars, to the automatic configuration (with the domain only), to the remote images you choose to show and, once a day, to the Arato Ingegneria website for updates (with the version number only; you can turn it off in Settings → Advanced).
• Signed updates: the list of versions and every package are checked with a digital signature and a fingerprint before being installed: Albatros never installs a file that does not come from Arato Ingegneria or that arrived damaged.
• Log: the log file never contains passwords, tokens or message texts.
• Certificates: invalid ones are always rejected, unless you explicitly accept them for that server.
• OpenPGP keys and S/MIME certificates: their private parts are kept in the same secure store as the passwords (see the next chapter).

16. Signing and encryption: OpenPGP and S/MIME

Albatros can sign messages, so that whoever receives them knows they come from you and that nobody has changed them, and encrypt them, so that only the recipients can read them. It supports both systems in use, with no add-ons needed:

• OpenPGP: free keys that you create yourself, compatible with GnuPG, Thunderbird, ProtonMail and Mailvelope.
• S/MIME: certificates issued by an authority (including digital signature certificates in .p12 / .pfx format), common in companies and public bodies.

Everything is managed in Settings → Security and privacy.

16.1 Your OpenPGP key

• Create my key: choose the account and click the button: the key is ready in a moment. Albatros keeps it in the system's secure store, so there is no passphrase to remember.
• Import key…: brings a key you already have into Albatros (.asc, .gpg, .pgp, .key files, for example exported from GnuPG or Thunderbird). If the file contains the private key, Albatros asks for its passphrase. The same button imports your correspondents' public keys.
• Export public key…: saves your public key to an .asc file, to give to anyone who wants to send you encrypted mail.
• Backup copy…: also saves the private key, protected by a passphrase you choose: make it long, Albatros does not keep it. You need it to put the key back into Albatros on another computer or into another program. Make this copy: without the key, messages encrypted for you can no longer be opened.
• Each key shows its fingerprint, a long sequence of letters and digits: by comparing it with your correspondent's (in person or over the phone) you can be sure the key really is theirs.
• Attach my public key to messages (Autocrypt): with this option your public key travels in the messages you send. Programs that support Autocrypt (such as Albatros and Thunderbird) learn it by themselves and can reply to you encrypted. Albatros does the same with the keys that arrive in your correspondents' messages, which appear under "Correspondents' keys" with the note "received via Autocrypt".

16.2 S/MIME certificates

• Import your certificate…: choose the .p12 or .pfx file and type the password it was exported with. The file must contain the private key, and the certificate must show your email address.
• Correspondents' certificates: Albatros takes them by itself from their signed messages. With Add a correspondent's certificate… you can also import them from a .cer, .crt or .pem file.
• Add trusted authority…: for certificates issued by an authority that the system does not know, for example a company's internal one.
• Next to each certificate there is its expiry date: an expired certificate must be renewed with whoever issued it.

16.3 Signing and encrypting a message

The compose window has two buttons:

• 🔏 Sign: signs the message with your OpenPGP key or your certificate. With Always sign messages (when the account has a certificate) in Settings, the button is already on in every message.
• 🔒 Encrypt: encrypts the message for all recipients. You need each one's OpenPGP key or S/MIME certificate: if it is missing for someone, Albatros tells you before sending ("Missing for: …"). When all recipients have one, Albatros turns on Encrypt by itself.

Albatros chooses the system: it prefers OpenPGP and uses S/MIME when only S/MIME covers all recipients, or when you only have a certificate to sign with. It never mixes the two systems in one message. Drafts stay unencrypted; in the Sent folder the copy stays readable for you.

16.4 Reading a signed or encrypted message

Above the text a box tells you about the message:

Albatros recognizes both the PGP/MIME format and "inline" PGP (text between -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- lines).

17. Where your data is stored

• Mail is in the posta subfolder: one .eml file per message, which any mail program can open. Imported mail is in posta/Thunderbird and posta/Outlook. The posta/.rmail folder contains the index and the address book (contatti.json).
• The feeds and newsgroups you follow are in posta/RSS and posta/News, again one .eml file per article.
• Calendars are in the calendario subfolder, together with the tasks (attivita.json).
• The exact path of the mail folder is shown in Settings → General. To move it, for example to a larger disk, use Change folder… and choose the new folder. The move takes place when Albatros restarts, with the progress shown on screen. On the same disk it is immediate; on another disk the files are copied, checked, and only then removed from the old folder. If something goes wrong, the mail stays where it was. Until you restart you can still choose Cancel the move.
• If you add, remove or move .eml files by hand while Albatros is closed, the archive realigns itself at the next start.

18. Keyboard shortcuts

On macOS use Cmd (⌘) instead of Ctrl: the menus already show it. The full list is also in Albatros: the About icon (the question mark at the top right) → Keyboard shortcuts….

19. Troubleshooting

"Incorrect user name or password." Check the password. Gmail, Yahoo and iCloud with a password require an app password. Gmail and Microsoft work better with "Sign in with Google" / "Sign in with Microsoft".

"Microsoft refused access" with a work account. The Microsoft 365 administrator must approve Albatros for the organization and have IMAP enabled for your mailbox.

Outlook.com: the server answers "not connected". IMAP access is turned off in the mailbox: see chapter 4 (outlook.live.com → Settings → Mail → Forwarding and IMAP).

The browser opens the wrong account. During "Sign in with Google" / "Sign in with Microsoft", use Open in a private window or Copy link in the account window (see chapter 4).

"Server … unreachable" / "The server is not responding." Check the connection, the server name and the port (Settings → Accounts → Edit…). Changes made offline stay queued and are sent later.

Gmail: a large mailbox downloads halfway and then gives an error. Google lets you download about 2.5 GB per day per account via IMAP. Beyond that, it refuses access until the next day and the orange triangle appears on the account: you don't need to do anything, the next day Albatros resumes where it left off.

Google Calendar: orange triangle with "Google refused access to the calendar (error 403)". Google does not let Albatros read the calendar: usually the permission was removed from the Google account. Delete the calendar (right-click → Delete: the events stay on Google) and connect it again with Connect a calendar… → Sign in with Google. The same applies if the reason is "Google's permission for the calendar has expired or was revoked".

Microsoft 365 calendar: orange triangle with "Microsoft refused access to the calendar (error 403)". For a work account the approval of the Microsoft 365 administrator is often needed. If the reason is "Microsoft's permission for the calendar has expired or was revoked", delete the calendar (the events stay on Outlook) and connect it again.

The update did not start. Albatros stays at the version you have and says so in the status bar. The account of what happened is in the aggiornamento.log file in the log subfolder (see Need help? below). If the new version failed to open, Albatros has already put the previous one back. You can always update by hand as in chapter 2.4.

I don't see the notifications. On Windows check Windows Settings → System → Notifications (notifications must be on and "Do not disturb" off); on macOS System Settings → Notifications → Script Editor. In Albatros, Settings → Calendar → Test notification shows an example.

Sent messages do not end up in Sent (or drafts are not saved). The server does not say which folder is which and the name is not among those Albatros recognizes: right-click the right folder → Use as → Sent (or Drafts). See chapter 8.

A message has disappeared from the Inbox. If you snoozed it, it is in Snoozed, in the left pane, until the chosen time (Bring back now brings it back right away). Otherwise check whether a rule moved it (Settings → Rules).

A sent message has not left yet. Look at the Outbox (Tools → Outbox): it may be scheduled for later, waiting for the connection or rejected by the server; Send now sends it right away.

Newsgroups: "The server … does not accept articles (read only)". The newsgroup server only allows reading: to write you need a server (or a subscription) that accepts articles.

Synchronization seems stuck. Look at the cyan bar at the bottom right: as long as it is there, the round is in progress (hovering shows the folder and the count). Checking mailboxes with tens of thousands of messages can take a few minutes. Stop stops it; what has already been downloaded is kept.

"Missing credentials". This happens after a restore on another computer or an import: open Settings → Accounts → Edit… and enter the password (or "Sign in again with Google" / "Sign in again with Microsoft").

Invalid certificate. Read chapter 4: accept it only if you are sure about the server.

"To sign you need a certificate of your own for …". The account you are writing from has neither an OpenPGP key nor an S/MIME certificate: create one or import it in Settings → Security and privacy (see chapter 16).

"To encrypt you need each recipient's OpenPGP key or S/MIME certificate." The message lists who it is missing for. Ask that person for their public key (or a signed message from them) and import it, or turn off Encrypt.

"Encrypted message: it cannot be opened." It is encrypted for a key or certificate that you don't have on this computer. If you have it on another computer, put it back into Albatros from the backup copy or from the .p12 file.

The password of the .p12 file or of the key is not accepted. You need the password the file was exported with (for a GnuPG or Thunderbird key, its passphrase), not your mail password.

The program does not open on macOS. See 2.3 (Privacy & Security → Open Anyway).

Albatros is already open. It can be open only once per archive: if you start it again, the window that is already open comes to the front.

Need help? If the problem concerns the connection to a server, first turn on Settings → Advanced → Protocol log (IMAP and SMTP) and repeat the operation. Then, still in Settings → Advanced, open the data folder: the log subfolder contains the log (albatros.log). Attaching it to a report helps to understand the problem. It contains no passwords or message texts. If Albatros seems slow, the log also tells you where: interface waits longer than half a second and operations that stayed queued for a long time are written with their name (for example "interfaccia ferma 820 ms durante: elenco di INBOX"; the log is written in Italian).

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