Has anyone noticed what appears to be a filing inconsistency with Emailer 2.03? If you have, can you explain it, and if it is a bug, what can be done about it? The filing inconsistency behaves as follows.
I presently have Mail Actions configured to transfer my regular emails from my 'In Box' to a dedicated set of folders/subfolders thereby reducing the congestion in my 'In Box'. Miscellaneous emails and potential SPAM are transfered to a special folder for manual sorting or deletion. In >95% of cases the automatic filing system works perfectly. Launching the browser clearly depicts 'unread' emails in their respective folders and subfolders. This is indicated by 'bolded' folder/subfolder names in the browser folder list. Everything apparently normal? Not quite! Occasionally, clicking on a folder/subfolder containing 'unread' email reveals absolutely nothing - no email list - in the righthand side of the browser. But double-clicking the folder/subfolder opens a secondary window and listed there are the missing emails. Why are they missing from the righthand side of the browser??? Normally the browser list is identical to that in the secondary window. I know I have a problem when this discrepancy occurs. I have searched the various Emailer information resources, FAQs, etc. and I can only find one reference to this curious behaviour which is listed as 'Filing Wierdness' by the author. The suggested remedy of rebuilding the email database, either simple or advanced, has no effect. Neither does hitting F5 key to relocate the mail files. I recently thought I had found the solution but I only succeeded in creating another problem: the Orphaned Folder. My attempts at eliminating Orphaned Folders had a surprising result. When I encountered a folder/subfolder that Emailer indicated contained 'unread' email but the browser indicated was empty, I opened the secondary window, selected its contents, including 'unread' email, and dragged it onto the browser. This action left the secondary window empty but I thought this was unimportant. How wrong I was! Quite by accident I later discovered a number of Orphaned Folders in the folder list of the browser. Upon investigation I discovered that the Orphaned Folders contained the contents I had dragged from the secondary windows??? I assume Emailer created these Orphaned Folders in order to protect the emails I was moving from being deleted altogether. But what had I done wrong? I suppose the answer is that I should not have attempted to drag the contents of the secondary window onto the browser because the browser is not a storage entity - it is a folder viewer. Emailer must have understood my wish to move the emails but it disagreed with their final resting place; Emailer created a storage entity for me which it named 'Orphaned Folder'. It did this repeatedly, every time I attempted to correct the problem, hence multiple Orphaned Folders. Emailer, it seems, is smarter that the user? I tried deleting the Orphaned Folders and they disappeared but their contents were transferred to the Deleted Mail folder. Great, I thought! I next dragged the contents of the Deleted Mail folder back into their original folders and subfolders. Problem solved, I thought. No!!! I tried clicking and double-clicking the troublesome folders and subfolders to see what was in the browser and secondary window and to my surprise the browser was empty but the secondary window was not. I WAS BACK EXACTLY WHERE I STARTED!!! I have monitored this odd behaviour for several months and it seems that only a small number of folders/subfolders are involved. No matter what I do to correct the problem it does not go away. I have learned that Orphaned Folders are created when I drag the contents of the secondary window to the browser. No dragging - no Orphaned Folders! But I have not suceeded in resolving the original problem which looks like mis-filing. Or is it! I have used Emailer since the mid-nineties and I am confident that the Orphaned Folders scenario never arose during those early years. This phenomina seems to have arisen about the time I resorted to using Mail Actions to perform automatic filing. Is this a Mail Actions problem? In >95% of cases there is no problem so I must be using Mail Actions correctly. I can live with the problem IF it a real problem? But I need someone to explain what is happening. Is this, perhaps, an undocumented feature of Emailer? I have scanned the 'Claris Emailer Companion' (Claris Press) and the 'Getting Started' supplement but have not so far found an answer. I would be interested in hearing from other Emailer users who have encountered this problem and can explain to me what Emailer is doing when it creates Orphaned Folders. Furthermore, why do you need a secondary window and how do you interpret the situation when the contents of the secondary window and browser differ. I thought I knew, now I am not so sure. I still feel Emailer is a better tool than, say, Outlook Express. Regards Phil ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
