In order to determine which digest(s) you wish to download you need to know what's available. In order to do this you'll need to request the index from the chosen list. I'm using ClickTrain throughout this document.

You can get the whole index by sending an e-mail to majordomo@tardigrade.net with the following commands in the body of the message:

	index clicktrain-digest
	end

NOTE: The end command tells majordomo that no further commands will follow in your message.

Majordomo will e-mail you the full index almost immediately after receiving your request.

To retrieve a file send another e-mail to majordomo with the following in the body of the message:

	get clicktrain-digest filenameGoesHere
	end

The following is a partial sample of an index from majordomo.

--

>>>> Index clicktrain
.:
total 41276
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      1227945 Aug 23 14:02 CONTENTS
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       435115 Aug 23 14:02 TOPICS
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom  8801230 Aug 23 14:34 clicktrain.200308
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    22216 May  6 18:47 v01.n1000
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    21850 May  6 23:05 v01.n1001
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    22604 May  7 07:11 v01.n1002
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    21490 May  7 14:08 v01.n1003
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    21862 May  7 21:08 v01.n1004
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    21206 May  8 07:34 v01.n1005
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    22230 May  8 16:23 v01.n1006
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    21590 May  8 22:47 v01.n1007
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    21693 May  9 09:53 v01.n1008
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    21763 May  9 17:18 v01.n1009
-rw-rw----    1 majordom majordom    21772 May 10 04:33 v01.n1010

------- snip -------

I have highlited some portions of the sample above, using various colors, to point out important parts of the index.

The grayed out part of the index can be ignored.

The two items in red/bolded text are file names, the one labeled clicktrain.200308 is for the month of August(08) of 2003 and the one labeled v01.n1000 is Digest Volume 1, issue number 1000. The full index is sorted by filename, using a literal sort, so file v01.n100 would be listed before v01.n50, don't let this fool you. Just remember that the higher the issue number the more recent the digest. That will help you determine which files you wish to retrieve.

The two items in green/bolded text are the date/time each item was filed. Note that the year is not included. The date will also aid in determining which digest you want to download.

The two numbers in teal/bolded text are the file sizes in bytes. The monthly is of course much larger than the individual digests, at 2+MB vs. around 20KB for the single Digest. The digests will be quicker to download and take up much less space, but it's up to you which files you want to request.

You can request more than one digest in an e-mail by adding extra lines, one per file being requested, i.e.

	get clicktrain-digest v01.n1000
	get clicktrain-digest v01.n1001
	get clicktrain-digest v01.n1002
	end

Majordomo will e-mail you a conformation notice and then will e-mail you each digest separately.

Unfortunately, if you're looking for a specific post within one of the available digests there is no way to search for that post till you have downloaded a digest. After that most e-mail programs or text editors have the ability to search a e-mail/document using keywords you provide.