hawker wrote: > On 8/23/2012 2:48 PM, Ken wrote: >> Chris Ilias wrote: >>> On 12-08-23 10:02 AM, Ken wrote: >>>> I have a 93 year old stepmother living 1000 miles from where I >>>> live. She actually does amazingly well on the computer and >>>> Internet, but >>>> occasionally has problems. Sometimes it is inadvertently clicking on >>>> something, and that changing the way her browser or mail works. >>>> She is >>>> using the latest version of SeaMonkey, as am I. When she >>>> encounters a >>>> problem, I get her on the phone and while both of us are on the >>>> computer >>>> try to picture what she is encountering, and see if I can correct her >>>> problem. Listed below is her latest problem and her description >>>> of it: >>>> ______________ >>>> "I have a question. When I am reading my new emails, the note >>>> appears, "Compact Now?" I just discovered if I say yes it deletes >>>> all >>>> the messages that I have read, and I did not want them deleted. >>>> In fact, I think that may have been why I lost all those emails, >>>> because >>>> I thought I was supposed to say yes, that it was a good thing to >>>> do. I >>>> have not been saying yes, but today I decided that maybe I should >>>> "compact"---whatever that means!!!!!!!!!!, and that is when I >>>> couldn't >>>> find the email I had just opened. Do they go to Trash?" >>>> ______________ >>>> In her text above she cites "those Emails" from a previous >>>> incident >>>> where she lost her messages in ALL folders, based upon her >>>> comments. I >>>> intend to call her again tonight and walk her through the settings >>>> for >>>> her SeaMonkey Email program and see if she has something set that >>>> could >>>> explain why her messages in her INBOX were moved or deleted when she >>>> compacted her folders. I also intend to ask her if she allowed the >>>> compacting to complete before she did something else? >>>> >>>> Does anyone have a possible explanation as to how messages could >>>> have been moved or deleted during the compacting of folders?? I feel >>>> confident that she did something or has set something that caused it, >>>> since I have been using SeaMonkey for years and have never >>>> experienced >>>> that type of problem. Thanks. >>> >>> It's a bug in which messages get temporarily removed from view after >>> you've compacted the folder. If you select another folder then switch >>> back, you should see the messages. >>> >> >> Thanks to all for the advice, I shall contact her tonight and >> report back on the progress I made. > > If it is the bug mentioned above then perhaps her box is huge. > When mail boxes get very large they can take over 30 min to compact. > What I do to avoid this is never let a box be over 1 year (and in some > cases even less) worth of mail. So if I have box > "Grandkids" or "inbox" I make a "grandkids_2011" or "inbox_2011" and > move all the 2011 mail to that box to start fresh in 2012. It keeps > the box size small and quicker to compact. Also helps in searching etc.
I highly recommend this practice! Compacting is quicker for folders with fewer emails, plus you avoid the potential loss of all old e-mails if the compacting process is somehow interrupted and the entire file is damaged. File damage is still possible, but much less likely if the compacting process isn't taking forever because it's re-compacting ancient emails -- and, if damage does occur, fewer emails are at risk. I began doing this after TWICE losing valuable archived emails due to power surges related to lightning strikes... _______________________________________________ support-seamonkey mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/support-seamonkey
