Saving Communicator 4.8 email folders for transfer

[Blurondo]

I have hundreds of emails preserved in about 30 different folders. Soon I
will be getting a new computer and I'd like to take many of these folders and my address book along. How do I do it? Will they (the emails and the address book) copy from 4.8 to a newer version of Netscape?
Thanks for any assistance.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

[Don_HH2K]

Well, here's what you can do to archive your Netscape 4.x profile:

Navigate to your install directory (under most circumstances, this is [tt]c:\Program Files\Netscape\[/tt]. You will need to copy the USERS directory in your Netscape folder to a removalble medium.

On the new computer, place the USERS directory in [tt]c:\Program Files\Netscape[/tt]. You can directly upgrade to a later Netscape or Mozilla without having to install Netscape 4 first. Netscape or Mozilla will then attempt to convert your profile to Mozilla format. After that, you'll be all set.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (un-AXed)

[Blurondo]

Thank you.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

[Antony]

Well, here's what you can do to archive your Netscape 4.x profile:

Navigate to your install directory (under most circumstances, this is [tt]c:\Program Files\Netscape\[/tt]. You will need to copy the USERS directory in your Netscape folder to a removalble medium.

On the new computer, place the USERS directory in [tt]c:\Program Files\Netscape[/tt]. You can directly upgrade to a later Netscape or Mozilla without having to install Netscape 4 first. Netscape or Mozilla will then attempt to convert your profile to Mozilla format. After that, you'll be all set.

Post on behalf of rnfolsom.
That message (about not needing to install NS Communicator) may be
correct, but it conflicts with "Migrating from Netscape Communicator"
at
http://www.mozilla.org/docs/end-user/gu ... ml#oh-yeah

which says that it IS necessary to have Mozilla installed when
converting from Communicator 4.x to Mozilla.

A semi-reconcilliation of these conflicting views may be that
converting from Communicator 4.x to Mozilla and to Netscape 7.x or 8
may be different.

Or, maybe they are not different, and mozilla.org is wrong.

I don't know. But since I can't post the question, I hope that you can
do so.

Thanks.

Cordially, R.N. Folsom

P.S. With regard to moving from Communicator to Mozilla/Netscape,
Moderator "Ramona" has cited with approval and linked to message. I read her message yesterday, but today I cannot find it
(my fault, not the website's or Ramona's; I should have bookmarked
it).

To rnfolsom:
Your account is now active. Please log in.
We only ban two free email services, those are hotmail.com and excite.com.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/416.12 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/416.13

[rnfolsom]

Antony:

> Your account is now active. Please log in. <

It worked! Thank you, very much.

If I find an answer to the discrepancy about transfering email, now I'll be able to post it here.

My wife's reaction when she saw your shark icon was that you must be a lawyer (as she is). Then she noticed that you were in Australia. <grin>

Cordially, R.N. (Roger) Folsom

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915

[rnfolsom]

. . . .
On the new computer, place the USERS directory in [tt]c:\Program Files\Netscape[/tt]. You can directly upgrade to a later Netscape or Mozilla without having to install Netscape 4 first. Netscape or Mozilla will then attempt to convert your profile to Mozilla format. After that, you'll be all set.

Unfortunately, my experience with transfering Communicator 4.8 email to Mozilla 1.7.12 differs from Don's: With Communicator NOT installed on the new computer, Mozilla refused to transfer the Communicator 4.8 email files to Mozilla.

But after installing Communicator 4.8 on the new computer, Mozilla DID transfer the Communicator 4.8 email files.

In short, my experience was consistent with "Migrating from Netscape Communicator" at http://www.mozilla.org/docs/end-user/gu ... ml#oh-yeah

which says that it IS necessary to have Mozilla installed when converting from Communicator 4.x to Mozilla.

But Don's statement may be correct for Netscape 8, which although it is based on Mozilla, is not identical to it.

My apologies for taking so long to post this information.

Cordially, Roger Folsom

P.S.: Although HTML is on in my preferences, I don't know why HTML is Off for this post. I am very new here.
I also don't know what BBCode is.

[Edit by profman: I turned BBCode "on" for your post. HTML is always "off" at SillyDog for security reasons. See Formatting and Topic Types: What is BBCode? Can I use HTML?. 1/4/2006]

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915

[Fulvio]

Roger,
you are correct about automatic conversion from the 4.8 to the 7.x format, which are different. You must have both programs installed. But, nothing forbids you to do manual transfer of the mail files, since the files with no extention are completely interconvertible. In such case, you wish to leave the old stuff in the Users folder, but you can make a copy of the Inbox, or Sent files, rename the copy to, let's say, 4.8Inbox, and copy that file, and paste it in the 7.x mail account folder. When you open 7.x, you will find a folder called 4.8Inbox, with your old mail.
I had uninstalled 4.8, last October, but, i just went to the Users folder, and was able to copy/paste an OldInbox mail folder, which had mail since before I got this WinXP, in early 2004. And, it has become an extra folder of a totally unrelated account.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050914 K-Meleon/0.9

[rnfolsom]

You are correct about automatic conversion from the 4.8 to the 7.x format, which are different. You must have both programs installed. But, nothing forbids you to do manual transfer of the mail files, since the files with no extention are completely interconvertible. . . .

Fulvio:

I think, but am not completely sure, that you are saying that to transfer files automatically from Communicator into Mozilla (and also into Firefox?), both programs must be installed --- But that in case Mozilla is installed but Communicator is not installed, one can avoid installing it simply by doing manually what an automatic transfer would have done if Communicator had been installed.

I think the manual transfer steps would be:

a) Exit Mozilla if one is already in it;

b) Copy the Communicator email folders and files to a new folder (e.g. CommunicatorMail) located anywhere;

c) From the new folder (e.g. CommunicatorMail), delete the *.snm files;

d) Move the new folder (e.g. CommunicatorMail) into Mozilla's ????????.slt\Mail folder, where ??????.slt is the random foldername that Mozilla generated when it was installed.

Are my steps correct? If not, please tell me how to fix them!

When Mozilla is next opened, does it add an .sbd extension to the new folder (e.g. CommunicatorMail)?

The [mail] files with no extention are completely interconvertible.

That's a key piece of information that I hadn't understood. Thanks.

I have just noticed that the Communicator Mail folder has a popstate.dat file of 2kb. In my step c), should popstate.dat also be deleted, along with the *.snm files? I notice also that Mozilla 1.7.12's mail folder contains a popstate.dat file, but although it has today's date it contains only two lines, both of them comments:
# POP3 State File
# This is a generated file! Do not edit.

I have searched Sillidog to find out what the popstate.dat file does, but although popstate.dat is often mentioned, I didn't find an explanation of its purpose.

I'm also curious about what Mozilla's *.msf files are, and whether they are analogous to Communicator's *.snm files (which I never understood either).

. . . [I] was able to copy/paste an OldInbox mail folder. . . . And, it has become an extra folder of a totally unrelated account.

My apologies for being dense here, but I don't know what you mean by "totally unrelated account." In my wife's Mozilla, after she automatically converted her Communicator email to Mozilla 1.7.12 email, her Communicator email appeared in "Local Folders\Communicator 4.x Mail.sbd."
Is "Local Folders" account what you meant by a "totally unrelated account"?

Thanks very much for all this help.

Roger Folsom

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915