pedro, on 2/12/01 7:27 PM, wrote:
> I missed the original post but here's a simple way to archive email ...
> Simply drag a mailbox to the desktop and you get a text file in the UNIX
> .mbox format. This can be opened or read in any text editor or word
> processor.
It should be pointed out that .mbox very basic info in a very simple format,
which is not saved with separate records per message unless you use a email
reader like Eudora (hey, I'm an Entourage user) or a special small program
that can search the text file and may display them as separate records.
This is fine for archiving a small number of messages, but it quickly loses
out when you find that you can't do the kinds of searches and sorting that
databases like FMP and HyperCard can do, to mention only a few efficient
features. I often do successive searches in FileMaker Pro to narrow down a
few messages in a huge database, and each message field can be searched on
separately.
I happen to get a lot of mail from mailing lists and newsgroups, and have a
database about one topic, a couple sources on a particular philosophy, which
has long messages and 75,000 messages in it, and that is just one of the
topical databases I maintain. Keeping them unprocessed in text files would
make them virtually useless. Such databases don't get old very quickly, and
the messages keep coming in. I access them a lot.
So do some business people. They depend on fast access.
NewsWatcher used to file my newsgroups in a text file per subject thread,
but that resulted in a lot of files, and searching for a particular person's
messages in different threads was a nightmare! I never looked at them again.
Now I use Entourage to filter and file them for archiving into those
databases.
Most archivers do this, and eMA and eMA let you select once which folders to
archive automatically into that topical database, how old they should be to
be archived, and several status filters; they also delete from the email
program's database(s) just the messages they archive. Dragging a full folder
keeps you from archiving just the older messages, or from manually doing any
filtering at all. Dragging a selection results in a separate document per
message.
And if you have a lot of folders (I have over 90) it takes a lot of manual
work. What do you do with the archived folder, with both yesterday's and
last year's mail? Delete it all, or leave them there (which is just backing
up the folder, not really archiving it)?
Other simpler archivers require a lot of manual work, too. Each folder is
done by you manually with them, not automated at all. Lately a few others
have added some degree of automation. It is really needed for heavy users.
If you just have a small amount of email, say from friends, why archive at
all? Just leave it in the email program and backup regularly.
Of course there in a big gap between their and my needs, and all those users
in that gap should be careful to make sure that they are using an archiver
that really satisfies their needs.
What looks easy (what is easier than dragging?) often soon becomes
innacessible groups of unfiltered files that requires an inordinate effort
to find a specific message or topic.
There are very good reasons that people like databases.
Just my two cents.
Cheers,
John
--
John Carlsen http://homepage.mac.com/eMK/
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