Steve, On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:40:41 -0500, Steve Abrahamson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I still have no idea *how* someone is supposed to get to a point where >they have two user environments or databases or whatever in PM, short of >just starting a new one from scratch (which really doesn't do any >intelligent separation other than "everything before a date." Can anyone >shed some light on this so I can at least try this out? OK, so if somebody makes an official pronouncement around here, he better live with the consequences ;-) The easiest way to go about this is to drag to the Finder those folders that you want out of your current database, and export them as PowerMail Exchange format. Once the export is complete, delete the said folders and repeat until done. Then compact your database; it will have shrunken considerably. Then, create a new user environment and drag the exported folders into it. Normally. indexing is enabled (check under preferences that it is) and you will have a secondary, indexed database with your archives. Select your original user environment again and resume work In order to enjoy "One-stop-searching" as you requested, just add your current and archived PowerMail Files folder to FoxTrot Personal Search's list of folders to be indexed, and you will have a single interface to search both the old and the current. Cheers, jean michel/ctm qa PS: I do have to say that another elegant feature in this arena, and one we have considered doing for years but not quite gotten around to, would be to "Clone" a user environment much the way one does in FileMaker Pro. This would produce a fresh user environment with the same address book, settings, filters, server-side database and folders - except with no messages or index. This way, one could cut off at any point and start anew, without any of the inconvenience spelled below. Alas, we don't have a Clone feature in PowerMail, so things are a bit more manual than that - but doable indeed; for one, I've done it, and itsa nota so bada. Here's how: ------------------------------------------------------------ Instructions on creating the equivalent of a database clone: ------------------------------------------------------------ 1) Use the assistant to Export "Your entire mail database". Once the progress indicator shows about 5% done, cancel the export 2) <INELEGANT HACK> Open the Exported mail file with TextEdit and Select/ Delete everything after the first occurence of "From [EMAIL PROTECTED]", inclusive </INELEGANT HACK> 3) If you wish to take along anything more than an empty database, select these folders and drag them towards the Finder. An export dialog will prompt you to pick a format. Use PowerMail Exchange as a format. 4) Create a new user environment in PowerMail. Quit PowerMail 5) Replace the following files inside the newly-created PowerMail Files folder with *copies* of the identically-named files/folders in your former PowerMail files: User Prefs Setup Database Server-side Database Address Database Custom Sounds Custom Scripts Custom Icons Custom Dictionary 6) Relaunch PowerMail. Drag your "Exported Mail" file into the folder pane, along with any of the exported files under point 3). 7) Important: make sure that all the folders are named the way you want them. For instance, if you moved your former In tray in Point 3), its new name will be In Tray 2 and you will need to transfer its contents to the In tray. 8) Last but not least: go through your filters and verify or set again the folder destinations for the filters of yours that move data (by default, these will be set to move to In tray). Voila, you're done ! Now I acknoweldge that this is a bit tedious, but one really should only have to do this when wanting to start from a clean slate, i.e. after having terminally reached the near 2-GB zone...
