On Wednesday, September 13, 2000, 4:47:03 PM, ztrader wrote:
> I'd like to save old mail messages in TB format.
> (1) If I do that, is it possible to save only the message file and
> not the index file? If I then try to read the message file by
> itself, will it work without the index?
Yes, TB would recreate the index. Beware though all information
stored in the index file would be lost (e.g., memo). Also remember
to compress the folder before doing that, otherwise all deleted
messages would be "undeleted". I also found doing so some (but few)
read messages would be marked unread when the index is recreated.
Since we don't know exactly what's stored in the index file, I would
advice against it, especially considering that the index file is
relatively small anyway.
> (2) The files would be renamed (date, etc added to name). If I do
> this, can this file be read back easily, or does one have to set
> up another folder for it? (I DON'T want to mix old and new
> messages at a later time - just look at old ones only).
Put the .tbb (and .tbi if you save the index file) in a directory of
its own under your "home directory" (the one with your account
information), then press ALT-CTRL-SHIFT-L in TB, and TB would "find"
the "lost" folder and add it to your folder tree.
> (3) Is it easier to save as a Unix file instead? I'd prefer this
> as I then could strip off extra headers and save a bit of space.
If you don't care all the extra information (parked, flagged,
colored, replied marks and memo, etc.) which would be lost. Also,
when you reimport the unix mailbox file, the "received date" would
be changed to the date/time when the import occurs.
> (4) In a Unix file format, what are the MINIMUM required headers
> so TB can read it OK?
The absolute minimum is the starting "From" (no colon) line, which
is used in unix mailbox format to mark the start of a message, and
in fact not part of the message header.
Generally you would at least want to save the "From:" (the real
"From" information), "To", "Date" and "Subject" fields. If you want
keep the threading, then the "References" field is necessary.
> Last, but not least, is there a better way to manage old Bat mail
> :-)?
I put old mail in a sub-folder under the regular folder (E.g., I
have a "The Bat" folder for the two mailing lists, and an "Old"
folder under it). When the sub-tree is collapsed, this "Old" folder
won't show in the folder tree pane, so no extra space is taken. It
won't take extra resources and won't slow down regular operation. It
sometimes takes a little more time to start TB should it needs to
refresh to folder message count, but it doesn't happen often for the
information should be stored in the index file (I've no idea exactly
when TB would do this). Even when that happens, the delay is hardly
noticeable (my computer is old and I've tones of old mail).
The old mail folders aren't updated everyday (I move old mail over
once per week, month, or several months, depending on the speed new
mail accumulates for a folder), so it won't take extra backup space
for my daily incremental backup.
The upside for this approach is I can easily search mail in the
parent folder (new mail) only, the sub-folder (old mail) only, or
both.
--
Best regards,
Ming-Li
The Bat! 1.46 Beta/6 | Win2k SP1
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