SillyDog701

[Silverstreak]

I recently added an XP to our home (D-Link) network, and installed 7.1. My old mail system is a Win98 running 4.76 and is also on the network. The new XP will be the only system used for mail. 7.1 / XP is set up and running fine with 2 of us already having sent and received mail (logged on as separate XP users.) My wife is a newbie so has no old profile to import. I was able to export / import and copy my address and bookmark files but I have been unable to import my existing mail files from 4.7 / win98. The import utility does not provide a directory option when importing from 4.7 and the files appear to be in a different format. I tried copying my 4.7 User directory into the Mozilla directory hoping that's where 7.1 would look, but to no avail. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for the brilliant and insightful comments that I am sure will be forthcoming.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax)

[Fulvio]

The mail files do not have any extention, and they can be copied, as long as you know where the profiles are located. I never tried to do anything across network, so you are one step ahead of me.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; AOL 9.0; Windows 98; Avant Browser [avantbrowser.com]; Net M@nager V4.00 - www.vinn.com.au)

[thomdanicki]

What you're trying to do, Silverstreak, sounds very similar to what I've been working on for some time now. I don't know much about Netscape profiles & am not too concerned with them because I'm the only one using Netscape on my PC. This is what I've done:

I found the location of my current e-mail directory on my new PC running XP by looking on Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings, Server Settings. I then looked at the Server Settings location on the older PC. Next, I copied my entire Mail folder from the older PC to the Shared Documents folder on my new PC via our wireless network.

Next, I renamed the Inbox file in the Shared Documents folder to Inbox2, then moved it to the same folder as my current e-mail directory. When I then opened NS 7.1 Mail & Newsgroups Client I had both an Inbox & an Inbox2 folder where all of my older messages are. I don't know about different e-mail formats in earlier versions of NS. In my Inbox2 folder on my new PC I now have messages going back to 1998. I similarly have older messages in my Sent2 folder & numerous other folders which I manually transferred to my new PC.

I hope my experiences have shed some light on your situation for you.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax)

[Fulvio]

Excellent description. I was almost falling asleep at the time, and I wanted to keep things to a minimum. Anyway only the Inbox, and Sent files are active. Any renaming will form an archive file. It is a good idea to archive mail, anyway, because it is safer. The address book should be saved as an .ldif file. That's another way to cack up useful information. The .ldif file can be imported from 7.1 mail, and converted to a proper address book.
By the way, the profile in 7.1 should be located in a directory like this: C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename\xxxxxxxx.slt
NOTE: These files are hidden by default.
To see hidden files:
1. On the Tools menu in Windows Explorer, click Folder Options
2. Click the View tab
3. Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax) (CK-SillyDog)

[Silverstreak]

A little trial and error seems to have solved this issue. I use several layers of subdirectories or subfolders in my mailbox and none of them are within the Inbox. General folders such as Friends, Family, Vendors, Other, etc contain sub-folders for the individuals, which may also contain sub-folders about specific topics. I move all correspondence (both sent and received), for each individual into the appropriate sub-folder so that all correspondence is threaded.

I found that in 4.1, the folders have .sbd extensions and the subfolders (depending on the level have .sbd or .snm extensions. For some reason 7.1 would not recognize any of the .sbd folders (when I copied them into the proper directory (through Windows) and would only recognize the .snm folders. When I reloaded Netscape Mail, the individual folders showed up with ???? in the Total columns. When I clicked on the folder name, it fixed the totals and everything showed up as it should. When I exited the program and examined the hidden directories, I discovered that 7.1 had created new folders with an extension of .msf but left the original folders with .snm extensions in those hidden directories. I then deleted the obsolete .snm files through Windows. Life is good. Thanks again Thom & Fulvio. (from Silverstreak near Windsor, Ontario)

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax)

[Fulvio]

The .snm extentions of 4.x are what the .msf extentions are to 6/7 and recent Mozillas. They are header files which should not be copied. New header files will be formed by whatever program you have. I think that the .sbd folders are subfolders, and one should be able to see the appropriate files. I never tried to do that, but deleting the .snm files should force the subfolder file to create a useful folder in 7.1

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax) (CK-SillyDog)