[elsb]

I am currently using OE6 and have an intricate set up of folders both for messages and addresses. Is there an email client that I can import to that will keep the integrity of these folders intact?

[throoper]

You could give Thunderbird a try.
It will Import Messages to a subfolder under Local Folders named "Outlook Express Import" that will contain the same folder structure as is currently in OE.
The Address Book will do basically the same.

[elsb]

I did try it a few months ago, but I'll go back out to it and see what it was that didn't work for me.

[throoper]

T-Bird is very customizable and can be made to be very similar to OE.
If there's something in particular you don't like or a certain function you need, there's likely an extension or a way to work around it.
Let me know what you need and I'll see if there's something that can be done to solve it.

[egrizzly]

I believe Windows Live mail also has this capability.

[elsb]

I tried Live Mail a year ago, and the folders didn't import. But maybe it's changed?

I'll play around with Thunderbird and see if that might work. Thanks!

[elsb]

Throoper - I started to look at Thunderbird. Here are the initial questions I have:

How can I add a column in the email pane that tells me who the message is from?

In the message pane - rather than a drop down menu that lists to; cc; bbc; etc. Is there a way to have those options as lines like they are in OE?


Can I create message rules for email?

In the address book - I have a folder entitled 'mailing lists 2007 - 2010'. In that folder I have several groups of names. Is this an option? I noticed that all my groups are there, but can I put those groups into folders?

[throoper]

Originally Posted by elsb

How can I add a column in the email pane that tells me who the message is from?

At the far right of the column headers is a button that will give a list of the available columns to display.
The columns can also be dragged to the order you want them in.

In the message pane - rather than a drop down menu that lists to; cc; bbc; etc. Is there a way to have those options as lines like they are in OE?

Always displayed? No.
Once an address is added to the To: line (or whatever you set it to with the drop down), clicking below it will give you another line that can be set to a different criteria for other addresses.

Can I create message rules for email?

Yes. Tools>Message Filters will open the dialog to create new filters.
You can also right click an Address in a message window and get an option to create a filter from the message. That will prefill a lot of the lines in the rule dialog.

In the address book - I have a folder entitled 'mailing lists 2007 - 2010'. In that folder I have several groups of names. Is this an option? I noticed that all my groups are there, but can I put those groups into folders?

Mailing groups are done as Lists that appear in the tree as subitems of the Address Book.
TB doesn't use subfolders of the Address Book. To get a similar effect, you just create New AB's.

[elsb]

Thanks for all the info. I investigated everything you mentioned. The good news: The message portion of Thunderbird is workable. The bad news: The more I look at the address book, the more I can see it won't work without a lot of re-entering of data.

As a side- I run a continuing education program and have appx 3000 email addresses that I send ~4-5 mailings a year to. At some point, I need to investigate email marketing options.

[throoper]

Originally Posted by elsb

Thanks for all the info. I investigated everything you mentioned. The good news: The message portion of Thunderbird is workable. The bad news: The more I look at the address book, the more I can see it won't work without a lot of re-entering of data.

Good to hear on the message side. If there's something specific (layout, function, etc) that you want, let me know and I can likely figure how to get it.

The Address Book I'll take a guess that it's the moving groups into lists that's the problem.
You shouldn't have to do too much manual data entry if you have everything you need in OE as long as you map the fields when you do an Import.
If the groups have complete contact info in them (I can't remember how they Import from OE and display in TB), you should be able to create a new list and drag and drop the entire group onto it to add everything to the list.
Don't waste tons of time trying to type in each contact when you first create a list. Just name it and OK so it appears in the left pane tree.
As long as the list is a sub of the Address book where the contacts are, just open the AB and highlight the contacts (Shift+Click will do a large group of adjoining contacts), then drag them to the list in the left pane and they will add to it.

[elsb]

When I signed up for TBird, and it downloaded all my info. (a while ago - 2010), it took my student database, and dumped it into the Outlook Exp Address Book (that's the heading TB assigned). So, all 3000 names are mixed in with all my personal names (non student). It's just one big lump. There isn't a way to extract them unless I go through name by name. I am wondering if I should remove the TB software and download again? It sounds like there are ways to download other than the way I did it. (or not?) TNKS!

[lemuzz]

Originally Posted by elsb

Thanks for all the info. I investigated everything you mentioned. The good news: The message portion of Thunderbird is workable. The bad news: The more I look at the address book, the more I can see it won't work without a lot of re-entering of data.

As a side- I run a continuing education program and have appx 3000 email addresses that I send ~4-5 mailings a year to. At some point, I need to investigate email marketing options.

I also tried everything to import my address book from Outlook to T Bird but couldn't find a way so I re entered every thing

[throoper]

Originally Posted by elsb

When I signed up for TBird, and it downloaded all my info. (a while ago - 2010), it took my student database, and dumped it into the Outlook Exp Address Book (that's the heading TB assigned). So, all 3000 names are mixed in with all my personal names (non student). It's just one big lump. There isn't a way to extract them unless I go through name by name. I am wondering if I should remove the TB software and download again? It sounds like there are ways to download other than the way I did it. (or not?) TNKS!

I'm not sure what you mean.
Were the contacts in separate folders in OE when you Imported them and they all lumped together in a single AB? If so, that's it's normal behavior.
I had forgotten I had "tricked" the Import to keep my contact folders separate.
What I did was, in OE, Exported everything to a CSV file ( I also Exported to a WAB) as a backup that I could Import back into OE.
Then in the OE Address Book, I deleted everything except the folder I wanted to Import to TB.
I ran the Import from OE in TB and it came in as an "Outlook Express Address Book" and contained only the contacts in the OE folder that I left.

Then I Imported the CSV into OE to restore everything and then deleted everything again except for the next folder I wanted.
I renamed the Outlook Express Address Book in TB and then ran the Import again.
The next folder came in as an OE Address Book that contained only the next group of contacts.

I just kept repeating that until all the folders in OE were Imported as separate AB's in Thunderbird.

I'll do this again to be sure I haven't forgotten some little detail, but I know it was simple once I got going with it.
I'll post in in the morning to confirm that's what I did.

As far as any "mess" in the TB AB, as long as you have the source to Import from again, you can simply delete what's in the TB AB and try it again. There's no need to uninstall and reinstall anything.

[throoper]

Now I remember the "minor" detail.
Exporting the contacts from OE didn't work. When they are Imported back, it does the same as TB and piles everything in together without the folder tree.
I got around it by copying the username.wab from the C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book folder instead of doing an Export.
Instead of doing an Import into OE after removing all but one folder and Importing it into TB, I just deleted the username.wab and replaced it with a copy of the original I had made.
That restores the folder tree to the same state as when I made the copy.
Just be sure to only COPY it back so you have the original to keep doing it.

One other "minor" detail. The username.wab contains the address books that display in ALL Identities. When TB Imports it, it will get ALL the contacts for ALL Identities, so be sure to clear all other Identities of their contacts if you have more than 1 Identity.

[elsb]

I am not a very good computer guru. So, what you said above boggles my mind! I have to re-read it a few times. I may need to call my computer repair person to help me with this.

I think I would have to uninstall and reinstall because I have 5 email accounts in OE that update constantly. I didn't set up the pop server for gmail in TB, so I have no updated messages since the day I installed TB in 2010. I've also added new folders since then. Does that make sense?