Sounds

QuickMail can play a short sound when something happens, such as a message being sent or new mail arriving. Sounds for events are off by default, and you can also have a rule play a sound. This is a first version, and we would like to hear what you think; see Tell us what you think. They add to QuickMail’s announcements and status text rather than replacing them, so you still get those whether or not you use sounds.

Turning Sounds On

Go to Settings → Sounds and check Play sounds for mail events. These events then have a sound:

• Message sent, message queued to send later, and send failed
• New mail, and mail in a conversation you are watching
• A delete, move, archive or empty trash that failed
• Connection lost and connection restored
• Calendar reminder, if you have turned on calendar reminders
• Message deleted, archived and moved
• Trash emptied

If you delete or file a lot of mail in a row, you may prefer to set those three message sounds to None. Repeats of the same sound within a second are dropped.

Choosing a Sound

1. In Settings → Sounds, arrow through Sound events. Each entry says the event and its sound, such as “New mail: Arrived”.
2. Choose a sound in Sound for this event, or choose None to silence that event.
3. Choose Preview to hear it, at the volume showing. Preview plays even if sounds are muted, and stops when you close Settings or preview None.
4. To use a sound of your own, choose Choose File… and pick a WAV or MP3 file of up to 5 MB and 30 seconds. QuickMail keeps its own copy, so you can move or delete the original.

Choose Save to keep your changes. Volume sets how loud QuickMail’s sounds are, within whatever Windows is set to. It starts at 80%.

Choosing a Style

Style sets how the built-in sounds sound: Glass, Soft bell or Wood. Each style has the same sounds with the same melodies, so a sound means the same thing whichever you choose. The tone changes, and Wood is also a little quieter. To compare them, select an event with a built-in sound, change the style and choose Preview, all before saving. An event set to None has nothing to preview, and sounds you added yourself don’t change with the style.

New Mail Sounds and Notifications

The new-mail sound works whether or not new-mail notifications are on. It follows the same rules:

• It only plays for unread mail that arrives in an Inbox while QuickMail is running.
• It does not play when a lot of mail arrives at once, such as when your computer wakes up.
• A shared mailbox stays silent unless you turn on Notify me of new mail in this shared mailbox for it in Account Manager.

While Play sounds for mail events or Mute all sounds is on, notifications leave out the Windows notification sound, so you hear QuickMail’s sound and not both. That applies even to an event set to None. A notification for mail a rule has just played a sound for leaves it out as well.

When Sounds Stay Quiet

Sounds for things that happen on their own, such as new mail, connection changes and reminders, stay quiet during a presentation, while an app is running full screen, and during the quiet time Windows sets after a new account’s first sign-in. Sounds that answer something you just did, such as a message being sent, still play. A message going out from the Outbox on its own counts as something that happened on its own.

Windows Do Not Disturb does not silence QuickMail’s sounds, because Windows gives apps no way to tell when it is on. To silence them, use Mute All Sounds.

Mute All Sounds

Choose Tools → Mute All Sounds, or run it from the Command Palette, to silence every sound, including anything playing. Do the same again to turn sounds back on. You can give it a keyboard shortcut in Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts.

Tell Us What You Think

Sounds are new, and your experience decides where they go next. We would especially like to know:

• Are these the right events? Which are missing, and which would you never use?
• What do you think of the sounds? Which style do you prefer, and are any two sounds too alike, harsh, or easy to confuse with your screen reader’s own sounds?
• How do the sounds work alongside your screen reader’s speech?

Use Help → Report a Bug, or email support@theideaplace.net.