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Working with newsgroups
To read and post messages to Internet newsgroups (also known as USENET groups), you need a Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) newsgroup account. From the menu, choose File - Preferences - Client Reconfiguration Wizard, and answer the questions to create a newsgroup account. You can also choose this command at any time to edit your account.

If you don’t want to let Notes set up your account, you can create or edit an account manually, but letting Notes do the configuration is more convenient and accurate.

Note Newsgroup servers typically don't require a login name and password. Enter values for these fields only if you are certain that access to your server is authenticated or if you get authentication errors when trying to access the server. Check your ISP Help or call your ISP customer service for information on any login your newsgroup server requires.

When Notes creates your newsgroup account, it also creates a local newsgroup (proxy) database with the same name as the account. The database is called a "proxy" because it represents information stored on the newsgroup server, instead of storing actual newsgroup messages locally and using up space on your computer.

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To work interactively with a newsgroup server

When you're connected to the Internet, opening your newsgroup database connects to your newsgroup server and opens an Outbox folder to store your messages. You can subscribe to groups, read messages, respond to messages, or create your own messages.

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To subscribe to a newsgroup and read newsgroup messages

To join a newsgroup discussion, subscribe to one or more newsgroups that interest you.

1. Open your newsgroup (proxy) database.

2. Click Newsgroups. The Newsgroups dialog box shows a list of newsgroups available on your newsgroup server.

3. (Optional) Click "Show only subscribed newsgroups." For example, if you are looking for a newsgroup to which you want to unsubscribe, clicking this button makes it easier to find that newsgroup in the list.

4. (Optional) Search for a newsgroup name that contains text you specify by clicking "Show only names containing text," entering text in the box that appears, and clicking Search. For example, you could enter "garden" to find the newsgroup rec.gardens.

5. Select a newsgroup and click Subscribe.

6. When you click Done, Notes creates a folder for that newsgroup.

7. Select the folder and start browsing the messages in it.

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To post to a newsgroup

1. Open your newsgroup (proxy) database and select the newsgroup where you want to post.

2. To create a new message on a new topic, click "New Main Topic," enter your text, and click "Post Topic."

3. To respond to an existing message, select the message, click Response, enter your text, and click "Post Response."

Tip You can post newsgroup messages as HTML by changing your preferences.

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To refresh newsgroup information

If you work with a newsgroup for a long session without closing and re-opening the newsgroup database, new information may become available on the server. Click "Refresh Summaries" to see new information.

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To work with newsgroups offline

If your connection is dialup, you may want to work offline with newsgroups and use replication to transfer changes when you're connected. You create a local replica of your newsgroup database to store your messages, and responses are stored locally on your computer. This convenience allows you to work offline and connect only to post or receive new messages to or from the USENET groups to which you subscribe.

1. Open the newsgroup database.

2. Make sure you're subscribed to all the newsgroups you want.

3. Close the database and drag its bookmark to the Replicator icon. When the Replicator page opens, there is a new replication entry for your newsgroup account.


4. Click "Start Now" to begin replication.

When replication is finished, double-click the newsgroup replication entry to open the newsgroup replica. You can now read and post news messages locally. Posted messages remain in the Outbox folder until the next time you start replication.

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See Also