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NAME
     answer - phone message transcription system

SYNOPSIS
     answer [ -pu ]

DESCRIPTION
     _A_n_s_w_e_r is a part of the Elm mail system and is designed  for
     secretaries  and  the  like  to  allow them to answer phones
     and|or listen to phone  message  machines  and  quickly  and
     easily transcribe the messages into electronic mail.

     The program will use  standard  mail  addresses  or  aliases
     included in the standard .elm directory alias files.  It can
     also use its own alias set (usually a subset of  the  system
     aliases, with more fields per user (i.e. unique first names,
     unique last names, first-initial last  name,  and  so  on)).
     Note  that if you want to use this capability, it means that
     you must create this alias set and then  install  it,  using
     _n_e_w_a_l_i_a_s,  as  a  separate  alias table for the account this
     program is to be run from.

     Options are:

       -p      Prompt for phone slip type message fields.

       -u      Allow names that  are  not  in  the  alias  table.
               Without  this  option all names must be resolvable
               as aliases and answer will reprompt for a new name
               if the alias cannot be resolved.

     Interface-wise, the program  is  a  breeze  to  use  -  type
     'answer'  to start it up and then merely type a user name at
     the

          Message to:

     prompt, fill in the requested information  (simply  type  an
     "x"  next  to  the  pertinent  information  -  "TELEPHONED",
     "PLEASE CALL", "URGENT", etc. if the -p option  was  given),
     and  then enter a message, if any, ending with a blank line.
     If you elect to use the special alias  file,  names  can  be
     entered  as  'Firstname Lastname' and the system will try to
     find a mail alias based on the first  letter  of  the  first
     name  plus  the  last name.  For example, 'Dave Taylor' will
     cause the program to search for an alias 'd_taylor'  in  the
     file  (note the transliteration into lower case).   The pro-
     gram will loop until killed or quit.

     _A_n_s_w_e_r can be easily exited by typing any of 'quit',  'exit'
     'done', or 'bye' at the 'Message to:' prompt.




USENET Community TrustLast change: Elm Version 2.4                 1






ANSWER(1L)        MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES         ANSWER(1L)



AUTHOR
     Elm Development Group

SEE ALSO
     _T_h_e _E_l_m _A_l_i_a_s _S_y_s_t_e_m _U_s_e_r_s _G_u_i_d_e

     newalias(1L), checkalias(1L), mail(1),  mailx(1),  from(1L),
     printmail(1L)

FILES
     $HOME/.elm/aliases.text       individual alias source
     $HOME/.elm/aliases.dir        individual alias dbz directory
     table
     $HOME/.elm/aliases.pag         individual  alias  dbz   hash
     table
     $HOME/.elm/aliases            individual alias data table
     /tmp/snd.$$                   edit buffer for outgoing mail

BUG REPORTS TO
     Syd Weinstein  elm@DSI.COM    (dsinc!elm)

COPYRIGHTS
     Copyright 1988-1992 by The USENET Community Trust
     Derived from Elm 2.0,  Copyright 1986, 1987 by Dave Taylor































USENET Community TrustLast change: Elm Version 2.4                 2



