== Installation ==
* Either:
    * Put the postie.zip file in wp-content/plugins/ and unzip it
* Or:
    * Use the automatic installer (WP 2.7+)
* Login to WordPress as an administrator
* Goto the Plugins tab in the WordPress Admin Site
* Activate "Postie"
* Goto to the "Settings" tab and click on the sub-tab "Postie" to configure it.
* Make sure you enter the mailserver information correctly, including the type
  of connection and the port number. Common port configurations:
  * pop3: 110 
  * pop3-ssl: 995
  * imap: 143
  * imap-ssl: 993
* (Postie ignores the settings under Settings->Writing->Writing-by-Email)

= Automating checking e-mail =
WordPress cron (which Postie relies on) doesn't run unless a page is accessed on 
the site. So if you send an email, but nobody accesses the site for 3 days Postie 
won't be given the chance to fetch the email and publish the post.

To ensure that Postie runs smoothly on a low or no volume site you need to ensure 
that a page gets hit (any page is fine). Use something like cron + curl on Linux 
or install curl on Windows and use the Scheduled Tasks control panel. If you are 
using a hosting company that doesn't allow you access to cron you can use a service 
like SetCronJob.

By default, postie checks for new e-mail every 30 minutes. You can select from
a number of different checking intervals in the settings page, under the
Mailserver tab.

= Forcing e-mail check =
If you would prefer to have more fine-grained control of how postie checks
for mail, you can also set up a crontab. This is for advanced users only.

Setup a cronjob to pull down the get\_mail.php - note that every time you access
get\_mail.php Postie will run - it is like clicking Run Postie on the Admin screen.

= Linux =
If your site runs on a UNIX/linux server, and you have shell access, you can
enable mail checking using cron. 

Examples:

*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/lynx --source http://blog.robfelty.com/wp-content/plugins/postie/get\_mail.php >/dev/null 2>&1

This fetches the mail every five minutes with lynx 

*/10 * * * * /usr/bin/wget -O /dev/null http://blog.robfelty.com/wp-content/plugins/postie/get\_mail.php >/dev/null 2>&1

This fetches the mail every ten minutes with wget 

= Windows =
You will need to install [wget](http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/wget.htm) or [curl](http://curl.haxx.se/dlwiz/)
Then use the Task Scheduler control panel to call wget or cron.

