Instructions for using Github with email

Hello,

On the Silver TF call today I offered to write some instructions for 
using Github issues by email. There's quite a lot of information in this 
email, but I hope it helps - particularly if you're someone who finds 
the Github website difficult to use.

You can read and reply to comments on Github issues using email. You'll 
need to change your account settings on the Github website, but after 
that you'll be able to take part in Github discussions without having to 
use the Github website.

Github sends you a notification when something happens on a repository 
you're watching. There are two kinds of notifications: web and email.

Web notifications mean you have to go to the Github website to find 
them, and you have to respond using the website too.

Email notifications mean you get an email, and you can respond using 
email too.

So you'll receive an email when someone adds a comment to a Github 
issue, and if you reply to that email your comment will be added 
automatically to the Github issue.

To turn on email notifications for issues, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Github website:
https://github.com/

2. Activate your profile photo (visually it's in the upper right corner, 
its alt text is "View profile and more").

3. Choose "Settings" from the menu that opens.

4. Choose the "Notifications" link from the Settings page.

5. Move to the "Notifications" heading (it's an h2).

6. Move to the "Participating" heading (it's an h4).

7. In this section, put a check in the box for "Email".

8. Move to the "Watching" heading (it's an h4).

9. In this section, put a check in the box for "Email".

10. Move to the "Email notification preferences" heading (it's an h2).

11. In this section, make sure there is a check in the box "Comments on 
issues and pull requests".

12. In this same section, put a check in the box "Include your own 
updates" if you want to receive emails when you post a comment.

Github automatically remembers the changes you've made to your account, 
so you're all set.

If you've been given contributor or team access to a repository, you'll 
automatically receive all issue notifications for that repository.

If you're not a contributor or team member for a repository, you can 
watch the repository and choose when you want to receive issue 
notifications. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to the homepage for the Github repository you want to watch. For 
example:
https://github.com/w3c/silver/

2. Activate the "Watch" button.

3. Choose "Watching: Be notified of all conversations" from the menu 
that opens.

Note: the "Watch" button has now changed to "Unwatch".

You'll now start receiving email notifications for issues on that 
repository.

The subject line for email notifications has the name of the 
organisation/repository, then the title and number of the issue. For 
example:

[W3C/Silver] Write Github email instructions #67

You can use this information to filter emails into different folders. 
How to do this is beyond the scope of these instructions, but the help 
information for your email programme will explain how to create filters.

Note: the subject line uses square brackets around the name of the 
organisation/repository.

If you receive too many emails, you can either mute a particular issue 
or change when you receive notifications.

To stop receiving notifications for a particular issue, use the "Mute 
this conversation" link from the email of any notification you've 
received for that issue.

To reduce the number of email notifications you receive, follow these steps:

1. Go to the homepage for the Github repository you're watching. For 
example:
https://github.com/w3c/silver/

2. Activate the "Unwatch" button.

3. Choose "Not watching: Be notified when participating or @mentioned".

You'll now only receive email notifications for issues on that 
repository when you're mentioned, or when you've already participated in 
a conversation. Github uses the same way to mention someone as Twitter, 
you put an @ sign before their username.

There are some important things to remember when using email to post 
comments on Github issues:

1. When you reply to an email, your email programme will automatically 
include a copy of the original in your reply. You need to remove 
everything (including your signature) before you write your reply and 
send it. The only thing you want to have in your email is the comment 
you want to appear on the issue on the Github website.

2. If you want to quote something from the original email, copy it from 
the original email and paste it into your reply with a "greater than" 
sign at the start and end. For example:

 >This is some quoted text.>

3. If you want to include some code in your reply, there are two ways to 
do it:

For a block of code, put three back ticks at the start and end of your 
code. For example:

```<section>
<h2>A heading</h2>
<p>Some content.</p>
</section>```

For inline code, put a single back tick at the start and end of your 
code. For example `<img src="picture.png" alt="A picture">`.

4. If you want to put a list in your reply, there are two ways to do it:

For an unordered list, use an asterisk as the bullet point. For example:

* Bananas
* Apples
* Oranges

For an ordered list, use numbers. For example:

1 Do this
2 Do that
3 Do something else


-- 
Director @TetraLogical TetraLogical.com

Received on Friday, 16 August 2019 21:06:14 UTC