powermail-discuss Digest #2867 - Monday, August 2, 2010

  Can't Export to other formats
          by "Tim Lapin" <t...@sympatico.ca>
  Re: Can't Export to other formats
          by "Michael J. Hußmann" <mich...@michael-hussmann.de>
  Re: Can't Export to other formats
          by "Mirko Kranenburg" <mirko-l...@xs4all.nl>
  Re: Can't Export to other formats
          by "Christian Roth" <r...@visualclick.de>
  Re: Can't Export to other formats
          by "Tim Lapin" <t...@sympatico.ca>
  Re: Can't Export to other formats
          by "Rene Merz" <r.m...@telquel.net>
  Re: Can't Export to other formats
          by "MB" <digital.disc...@gmail.com>
  Re: Can't Export to other formats
          by "Michael J. Hußmann" <mich...@michael-hussmann.de>
  Re: Can't Export to other formats
          by "Tim lapin" <t...@sympatico.ca>


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Subject: Can't Export to other formats
From: "Tim Lapin" <t...@sympatico.ca>
Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2010 18:10:04 -0400

Hello all,

I just tried to export my mail and found that only the "PowerMail
exchange" option is selectable.  All other choices (T-Bird, Apple Mail,
Unix...) are greyed out.

I even closed the browser window to see if having a window onto the
database was preventing it from working but no go.

Any ideas?


--
Tim Lapin
t...@sympatico.ca
Intel iMac    OS 10.6.4    PowerMail 6.0.5     4 GB RAM     250 GB HD


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Subject: Re: Can't Export to other formats
From: "Michael J. Hußmann" <mich...@michael-hussmann.de>
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 00:32:48 +0200

Tim Lapin (t...@sympatico.ca) wrote:

> I just tried to export my mail and found that only the "PowerMail
> exchange" option is selectable.  All other choices (T-Bird, Apple Mail,
> Unix...) are greyed out.
>
> I even closed the browser window to see if having a window onto the
> database was preventing it from working but no go.

That's what you get when you try to export the entire message database.
If you export just the selected messages (even when all messages in the
database are selected) you will find that all the export options are
available.

- Michael

Michael J. Hußmann

E-mail: mich...@michael-hussmann.de
WWW (personal): http://michael-hussmann.de
WWW (professional): http://digicam-experts.de


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Subject: Re: Can't Export to other formats
From: "Mirko Kranenburg" <mirko-l...@xs4all.nl>
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 00:33:38 +0200

Select a folder in your mail, then try again. If that works, you could select 
all your folders and export like that.
Exporting without a selection can only be done for the entire mail database to 
PM Exchnage.

Mirko

Op Aug 2, 2010, om 12:10 AM heeft Tim Lapin het volgende geschreven:

> Hello all,
> 
> I just tried to export my mail and found that only the "PowerMail
> exchange" option is selectable.  All other choices (T-Bird, Apple Mail,
> Unix...) are greyed out.
> 
> I even closed the browser window to see if having a window onto the
> database was preventing it from working but no go.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> 
> --
> Tim Lapin
> t...@sympatico.ca 
> Intel iMac    OS 10.6.4    PowerMail 6.0.5     4 GB RAM     250 GB HD
> 
> 
> 


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: Can't Export to other formats
From: "Christian Roth" <r...@visualclick.de>
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 00:37:44 +0200

Tim Lapin wrote:

>I just tried to export my mail and found that only the "PowerMail
>exchange" option is selectable.  All other choices (T-Bird, Apple Mail,
>Unix...) are greyed out.

Do not choose "whole database", but "selected messages and folders".
Select all desired folders beforehand.

HTH, kris


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Subject: Re: Can't Export to other formats
From: "Tim Lapin" <t...@sympatico.ca>
Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2010 22:37:03 -0400

On   Monday, August 2, 2010,   Mirko Kranenburg   sent forth:

>Select a folder in your mail, then try again. If that works, you could
>select all your folders and export like that.
>Exporting without a selection can only be done for the entire mail
>database to PM Exchnage.
>
>Mirko
>
>Op Aug 2, 2010, om 12:10 AM heeft Tim Lapin het volgende geschreven:
>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I just tried to export my mail and found that only the "PowerMail
>> exchange" option is selectable.  All other choices (T-Bird, Apple Mail,
>> Unix...) are greyed out.
>>
>> I even closed the browser window to see if having a window onto the
>> database was preventing it from working but no go.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>



Thanks for the tip.  It seems a bit absurd, though, to distinguish
between the entire database and selecting all the folders in the
database.  Also, is this distinction documented somewhere and if so, where?

--
Tim Lapin
t...@sympatico.ca


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: Can't Export to other formats
From: "Rene Merz" <r.m...@telquel.net>
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 12:21:52 +0200

Tim Lapin wrote:

>On   Monday, August 2, 2010,   Mirko Kranenburg   sent forth:
>
>>Select a folder in your mail, then try again. If that works, you could
>>select all your folders and export like that.
>>Exporting without a selection can only be done for the entire mail
>>database to PM Exchnage.
>>
>>Mirko
>>
>>Op Aug 2, 2010, om 12:10 AM heeft Tim Lapin het volgende geschreven:
>>
>>> Hello all,
>>>
>>> I just tried to export my mail and found that only the "PowerMail
>>> exchange" option is selectable.  All other choices (T-Bird, Apple Mail,
>>> Unix...) are greyed out.
>>>
>>> I even closed the browser window to see if having a window onto the
>>> database was preventing it from working but no go.
>>>
>>> Any ideas?
>>>
>
>
>
>Thanks for the tip.  It seems a bit absurd, though, to distinguish
>between the entire database and selecting all the folders in the
>database.
It's not at all! The "database" has his own proprietary format of PM.
Other _databases_ of many other programs have the same "problem" ...


>Also, is this distinction documented somewhere and if so, where?
See "Help", then you will get this ("Export"):
<http://www.ctmdev.com/powermail/manual/exporting.html>




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: Can't Export to other formats
From: "MB" <digital.disc...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 13:30:50 +0200

Rene Merz suggested:

>It's not at all! The "database" has his own proprietary format of PM.
The "database" for the typical use is all of the email messages and the
folders containing them, not the database format itself.
Would the typical user be led to believe that the features of the PM
database format is lost when export to say, Unix box format, and it was
possible to select other formats after having selected to export all of
the database? I think not.
Are there any features of the PM DB-format, except being able to keep
metadata for future import to another version of PM, that is worth even
contemplating?

I think the current interface for the export is more bewildering for non-
technical users, than if PM would regard export of the database as "the
complete selection of the folders and messages".



/MB

Technoids:
PM 6.0.5 build 4621 sv | OS X 10.5.8 | PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 | 4GB / 1.5TB

MB

Technoids:
PM 6.0.5 build 4621 sv | OS X 10.5.8 | PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 | 4GB / 1.5TB


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: Can't Export to other formats
From: "Michael J. Hußmann" <mich...@michael-hussmann.de>
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 15:39:15 +0200

MB (digital.disc...@gmail.com) wrote:

> Would the typical user be led to believe that the features of the PM
> database format is lost when export to say, Unix box format, and it was
> possible to select other formats after having selected to export all of
> the database? I think not.
> Are there any features of the PM DB-format, except being able to keep
> metadata for future import to another version of PM, that is worth even
> contemplating?

I'm not sure I get the point you are trying to make, but anyway: If I
remember correctly only the PowerMail format preserves the read/unread
status that one may want to keep.

Michael J. Hußmann

E-mail: mich...@michael-hussmann.de
WWW (personal): http://michael-hussmann.de
WWW (professional): http://digicam-experts.de


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: Can't Export to other formats
From: "Tim lapin" <t...@sympatico.ca>
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:09:30 -0400



On 02/08/2010 7:30 AM, MB wrote:
> Rene Merz suggested:
>
>> It's not at all! The "database" has his own proprietary format of PM.
> The "database" for the typical use is all of the email messages and the
> folders containing them, not the database format itself.
> Would the typical user be led to believe that the features of the PM
> database format is lost when export to say, Unix box format, and it was
> possible to select other formats after having selected to export all of
> the database? I think not.
> Are there any features of the PM DB-format, except being able to keep
> metadata for future import to another version of PM, that is worth even
> contemplating?
>
> I think the current interface for the export is more bewildering for non-
> technical users, than if PM would regard export of the database as "the
> complete selection of the folders and messages".
>
>

It's not merely a question of technical vs non-technical, I think.
Rather it is a case of what assumptions should one make and how clear is
the documentation regarding those assumptions.

Other apps don't require one to make the distinction between "all
folders in the database" and "the database" when exporting.  The export
just happens.  Any necessary massaging of the data is handled by the
export function.

The documentation on the website makes no mention of this subtlety
either.  It only says that one can choose the format of one's choice and
that's it.  I've written many a user guide in my time on a variety of
topics.  I know when something is missing and you can bet your bottom
dollar (or euro or yen or whatever you use) that somebody somewhere is
going to trip on that missing piece of information.

Here is the section of the online manual, the very section that Rene
pointed out in his mail as well:
--------------------------
> Exporting messages and addresses out of PowerMail to other e-mail
> clients
>

> Exporting the mail database: Select the messages or the folder(s) you
> want to export (if you want to export a subset of your database),
> then select the "Export" item from the File / Database submenu. We
> recommend exporting your mail as set of Netscape / Mozilla, or Unix
> mailbox files since these are the most commonly used formats for
> interchange, and to check the "include attachments" checbox if you
> want to also export the files that were attached to sent and received
> messages.
--------------------------

Unfortunately, Rene, it does NOT answer the question I had.  It should
have a sentence that states something like:
---
NOTE:  In order to export your entire database to a format other than
PowerMail Exchange, you MUST select the option for specific folders and
then select ALL folders from the list.
---

I know that the manual has not always kept up with the times but this
example seems more of a glaring omission than others.

Anyway, thanks to all who took the time to answer!  :-)

Regards,
Tim

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