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[Lauren]

Reviewing Old Mail - HOWTO (KMail, Mozilla, Evolution and Outlook Express)

I began this safari of how to review old saved mail when I decided the things I didn't like about KMail and Mozilla required looking for something different. So, I installed Evolution. Then I realized this reviewing of old mail was a big issue, and I didn't know how to do it in Evolution. I asked the question in "Off Topic" and got a response for KMail (Thanks Ipbbear!), but none for Evolution. The blocks all started to fall in place when I got a response from Mark Gordon of Ximian, which was surprising in itself. (I perceived these "firewalls" around the castles of "FreeSofwareDom" to be impenetrable unless you were on the team etc. - maybe I was wrong!)

Now I know how to review saved mail for all of them - KMail, Mozilla, Evolution, and Outlook Express. If I'm the only one who didn't know this, then I'm sorry I wasted the space, but - then shame on you for not answering my question!

The nice thing about what I found is that links can be used with all except Outlook Express. Maybe they also can be with OE, but since I don't know (or maybe it's "remember") how do do Windows links, I didn't pursue it. It may be that links are the only thing that will ever be used (I think it's all I'll ever use), but I will include the file copying method also.

Rev. 1, 2-17-03: Not Necessarily true! See, for example, Mozilla File Manipulation for revision. Rev. 2, 1-9-04: Revised again! I am including the using of links for a new "Account" also.

KMail is probably the easiest:
1) Using Links: The subject is covered in the KMail FAQ's #6.26, and is as follows:

Simply create a symlink in your ~/Mail directory using ln -s /somewhere/Mail/mymailboxfile ~/Mail/remote. When you start KMail you will see a new folder with the name remote that contains the mails in your remote folder. If you want to add a whole remote mail directory use ln -s /somewhere/Mail ~/Mail/.remotedir.directory. For that case you also need to create a new empty folder named remotedir with KMail. The folder remotedir will then contain all remote mailbox folders as subfolders. Simply create a symlink in your ~/Mail directory using ln -s /somewhere/Mail/mymailboxfile ~/Mail/remote. When you start KMail you will see a new folder with the name remote that contains the mails in your remote folder. If you want to add a whole remote mail directory use ln -s /somewhere/Mail ~/Mail/.remotedir.directory. For that case you also need to create a new empty folder named remotedir with KMail. The folder remotedir will then contain all remote mailbox folders as subfolders

2) File Manipulation: As pointed out by ipbbear in "Off Topic -> File backups in general", with KMail closed, rename or move the /home/username/Mail directory to a temporary file of your choice. Then copy the mail directory with files you wish to review to /home/username/Mail. Reopen KMail, and the old mail should be there to review.

Mozilla Mail:
The Mozilla mail files are in the hidden directory ~./mozilla/default/{a number}.slt/Mail/userFolder. In each folder, whether Local Folders or a userFolder, there are 2 files for each of the mail box types that exist, for example, Inbox or Sent. One file has no extension, the other an .msf extension. Only the non-extension file is manipulated, the .msf file can be ignored. The following steps assume you have previously saved one of these non-extension files at a remote location.

Rev. 2, 1-9-04: Two concepts are discussed – First to add a new mailFolder or folders within an existing userFolder; Second to add a new userFolder

First: A new mailFolder within a userFolder (an existing "Account"):

1) Links: In Mozilla, click on the userFolder in which you want the new mailFolders to exist. Create a new mailFolder or folders for the mail you want to review (OldInbox, OldSent, OldDrafts, etc.) using "File -> New -> Folder". Be sure you see your userFolder listed under "Create as a subfolder of:" Enter the name of your mailFolder. Click OK, and you will see your new folder. Open the X-File Manager and find your new file. Delete the (empty) one with no extension. Click on the userFolder of the file.* Links can be made in at least 2 ways: Using "File > Create Symbolic Link" provides a browser to reach your remote file, which means you don't have to type the directory. After selecting the mail box to link, click OK. Another method is to open a Console using "Tools -> Open Console Window". You will see that it is located at the correct directory. Create the link to your saved mail. It will look something like this (assuming your file is on a zip drive):
"ln -s /var/autofs/zip.1/zip.1/MailFiles/Mozilla/savedmail OldxxBox".
(Note there is a space before "OldxxBox".) Verify the link by entering ls -l. Close the Console. Now return to Mozilla Mail. Your saved mail should now be available in your new "OldxxBox". I found it was not necessary to close and relaunch Mozilla Mail.

To delete this mail, delete the link using X-File Manager. Then, in Mozilla, copy any e-mail into it. You can then delete the folder by right-clicking on it and selecting "delete folder". NOTE: You may not be able to save mail containing links.

2) File Manipulation: Follow the steps for "Links" above down through the *. Now, open a Console using "Tools -> Open Console Window". You will see that it is located at the correct directory. Enter mc (Midnight Commander). Route to your saved file in one panel, and the userFolder in the other. Clicking File -> Copy, copy the saved file to the file you've created, making certain you enter the correct name after the Target File folder. Return to Mozilla Mail, and you should find your saved mail in place.

Note that I recommend Midnight Commander for 2 reasons. I do not see any way in File Manager to copy a file to a different file name as you can with "mc" (so I had to change the name of the source file), and I had some mixed success with the File Manager. That means after copying, the mailbox wouldn't open.

Rev. 2, 1-9-04: Second: A new userFolder (a "New Account"):

In Mozilla Mail, create a new account with a name of your choice. Use this name for both the Account and the Server Name. Doing this will make both the name of the account and the file name under the /Mail directory the same. This will, of course, create a new set of mailFolders – for example, Inbox and Sent.

1) Links: Link the mailFolders to your remote mail file as described in "First" above for an existing userFolder. This remote mail file would be, for example, your mail stored on a CD.

2) File Manipulation: At the OldMail (backup) location, using XFM, select all files in the folder to be viewed and copy them to the new folder you just created. You should now be able to review the old mail.

When you are ready to delete the old mail account, click on the account and then select "View settings for this account". Click "Remove Account", then "OK". This does not delete the directory, however. Go to the X-File Manager and delete the directory. If you do not delete the directory and create a new account of the same name, it will create a new directory named "my.files-1.net".

Evolution:
The following information is based on a response I received from Mark Gordon of Ximian in answer to my question of how to access old mail that was saved remotely.


The Evolution files are in the directory ~/evolution/local. Each mailbox has its own folder, and there are up to six files in each one. The ONLY one you have to be concerned with is mbox, and there is an mbox file in every mailbox folder. The following steps assume you have previously saved this file for each of the folders you wish to preserve at a remote location.

1) Links: In Evolution, click on "File -> New -> Folder". Enter the name of the folder you are creating for your old mail. Be sure "Folder type" is "Mail". Click on the container folder for the mailboxes (e.g. "Local Folders" or etc.). Click OK. There should be a new entry for this new folder. Open an X-File Manager, delete the mbox file, and click on the new folder where you will view the saved mail.* Open a Console by clicking "Tools -> Open Console Window". You will see that it is at the correct directory. Create the link to your saved mail. It will look something like this (assuming your file is on a zip drive):
"ln -s /var/autofs/zip.1/zip.1/MailFiles/Evolution/mbox mbox".
(Note there is a space between the two words "mbox".) Verify the link by entering ls -l. Close the Console. Now return to Evolution. Your saved mail should now be available in your new "OldBox". I found it was not necessary to close and relaunch Evolution.

2) File Manipulation: Follow the steps for "Links" above down through the *. Using the X-File Manager, copy the applicable saved "mbox" file to the new mail folder you have created. Return to Evolution. You should now be able to review your old mail. (For Evolution, this might actually be the easiest method!)

Outlook Express (OE):
The mail files for Outlook Express have the extension .dbx. They are contained in the directory
c:\windows\Application Data\Identities\{a long number}\Microsoft\Outlook Express.
The following steps assume you have previously saved these files you wished to preserve at a remote location before deleting mail from OE.

1) Links: No instructions for linking.

2) File Manipulation: (With Outlook Express closed.) Copy present, active, mail (all .dbx files) to a safe (temporary) place. Copy the .dbx files from the stored area to the OE directory noted above. Launch Outlook Express. Review old mail. Close Outlook Express. Delete the old mail from the OE directory. Copy the recent (active) mail from the temporary directory back to the OE directory. Launch Outlook Express.

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It may be that there are glitches in the above. If so bring them to my attention, or note them below.
Lauren

[Lauren]

I have edited the above HOWTO to expand on the Mozilla Mail section. I had hoped to find a way to directly link at the "Account" level. At this point I have not been able to accomplish that, so I have expanded the section to describe creating a new account and then linking (or copying) the various mail boxes withing that account.

If anyone comes up with a way to directly link at the "Account" level, let me know!!

[moshman]

Good tip.

One thing that has been very useful for converting saved emails from one email client to another is to set up an IMAP sever and use it to transfer the emails between the two clients. Using this technique I was able to perfectly convert a couple thousand messages from Outlook Express 6 to Evolution. It took about an hour to do, but was pretty straightforward.

What I did was set up a simple IMAP server configuration on one of my spare windows machines using Pegasus Mail's free "Mercury Mail" email server:

http://www.pmail.com/overviews/ovw_mercury.htm

It has a typical windows installer and can be set up pretty easily, which is why I used it. I'm sure any number of other IMAP servers could be used instead. I just wanted to get it going quickly and that one seemed to fit the bill.

Once it was set up, I went into Outlook Express and set up an IMAP mail account pointing to my server. I then created folders under that account that matched the email folders in OE. I then copied the email messages from each local folder to the matching folder under the IMAP account. Then I told Outlook Express to sync everything up.

Once all my old mail was copied up to the server, I went to my xandros box and fired up Evolution and did just the opposite procedure. I added the same IMAP server account to Evolution that I connected to using OE and 'voila' all my old emails were there waiting to be copied into my local Evolution folders. I copied them over, one folder at a time and then removed the IMAP account. All the old mails are there and it even brought over the correct read/unread status and all the attachments. It really worked great.



This approach should be feasible to transfer mail between any mail clients that both support IMAP. I strongly recommend it if you don't mind the somewhat manual conversion process.

Hope this helps,
--Brian

[Lauren]

That's pretty slick - makes me want to set up a network. Pretty hard to do with just one computer tho. Well, at least I suppose it is. As you can tell, I'm ignorant about networks!

[Orapunzel]

Brian,

God bless you man! You just saved me a lot of heartache!!!

I've been vexing and trying every single thing under the sun to get my thousands of email msgs from Eudora in to Kmail.

I tried so many different scenarios of importing and exporting messages from Eudora to Outlook or OE or to Pegasus to Moz Mail... you name it, I tried it, nothing worked.

Then I tried your way. I've never done IMAP previously. So, this was a learning curve. I put the Mercury Mail server on an old puter running win98se. Then I had imported the messages successfully from Eudora (it didn't seem to matter which version of Eudora to those reading by the way - how I know is a long story that I won't post here) to Outlook Express. The version on my Win2k machine was version 6. (Though ver 5 will do it, too.)

I read and re-read your post a few times to get what you meant in certain sentences b/c I didn't have a frame of reference. Then finally, I got an AHA! Once I figured it out, BAAM!

I fired up Kmail on my Xandros laptop, created the IMAP account, started creating folders but... I didn't need to as the server created folders for me of ones I had yet to do manually once I started "checking mail" as kmail does it. (It doesn't have a sync icon/menu selection, so right clicking and choosing to check mail did the same function. Btw, in setting this account up to receive mail, I made sure that it did not auto-check. I did it manually.)

Anyway, mine, too kept all read and unread notifications. The only thing it did not do well was the transfer of all my "out" mailbox messages (aka "outbox" in outlook or "sent-mail" in Kmail). While I got all the messages over, the dates don't show in the message list window. You have to open the message and read in the code what the date was. Oh well, better than nuttin'!

I moved all the messages from my IMAP account folders in Kmail to the local folders and it automatically deleted them from my Mercury server. Done.

You know, I've been arguing with this whole scenario for days (coming back to it now and then). Then, I found your post yesterday in the middle of trying yet another scheme. Finally, I relented and did it right this morning. It took me a tad longer - just from the learning curve basis but now that I know what to do... the next time I need this, it will only take me minutes to get it done.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

I couldn't be any happier than a pig in slop right now. Honestly.

Warmest,
Rapunzel

[Beacon]

This has been an interesting discussion, but it seems quite technical for a novice. I believe the original question that started things off was how can one copy e-mails to disk so that they can be retrieved in case of breakdown. I am still in the dark. Is it possible, and how is it done?

[Lauren]

[Beacon]

Thank you Lauren. Before I go further into your tips, I wonder if you could clear up one thing for me. You say: In the first place, I don't move my emails to disk in case of breakdown - I have my backup for that.

Please could you tell me what that backup is and how one does it. I am only concerned because on several occasions I have lost all e-mails, have been unable to retrieve them, and have suffered a good deal of inconvenience as a result. If I can backup in a simple manner, I think that would solve the problem.

I use Xandros 3 and Thunderbird 1.0.2.

Regards

[Lauren]