The pine resource file is the most important file used by Pine. This file contains the configuration options settable by a user. See Section 7.3.1 and Section 7.6 below for details.

Users can have address books in pine, with nicknames for long addresses or mailing lists. See Section 7.3.2 below for details.

When using pine to read news group messages, a file is required listing the names of news groups you read; by default, pine uses the file PMDF_INIT:NEWSRC. See Section 7.3.3 below for details.

When reading MIME messages, pine uses a mailcap file to determine how to display the message parts. See Section 7.3.4 below for details.

When sending attachments, pine consults a file to determine what MIME labelling to use on the attachment parts. By default, the file consulted is PMDF_INIT:MIME.TYPES, or as specified by the mimetype-search-path option setting in the pine resource file.

Pine also has other optional configuration files to control filtering incoming or outgoing message text, etc.