External folders for email

[Duane1]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel Email Client: pop I have several questions that may be related. Under "On My Computer" I have the regular folders (Inbox, Sent Items, etc) and I can create other folders. 1st question, where do these folders "live" on my hard drive? 2d question, the mail I want to save is starting to fall into 2 categories 1) that mail I want to keep on my computer so I can always access it and b) the mail I would like to keep on an external drive that I can access when I connect my external drive at home. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can create folders that "live" on the external drive so I can drag email to either a folder on the laptop hard drive or to a folder on the external drive? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Diane_Ross_MVP]

I have several questions that may be related. Under "On My Computer" I have
the regular folders (Inbox, Sent Items, etc) and I can create other folders.
1st question, where do these folders "live" on my hard drive?

Entourage stores it's info in a database. You cannot see these files. This
link covers some of the basics you need to know.

Get Started Using Entourage

2d question, the
mail I want to save is starting to fall into 2 categories 1) that mail I want
to keep on my computer so I can always access it and b) the mail I would like
to keep on an external drive that I can access when I connect my external
drive at home. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can create folders that
"live" on the external drive so I can drag email to either a folder on the
laptop hard drive or to a folder on the external drive? Any help is
appreciated.

I'm not sure I quite understand what you are trying to do. I suggest that
you change from POP to IMAP. This way any changes you make are the same on
any computer accessing that account.

It sounds like you are wanting the emails out of Entourage. I don't suggest
that as it will be difficult to find what you want.

You might want to check out using EagleFiler to archive mail that you want
to keep.

Archiving your e-mails with EagleFiler (The Entourage Help Blog)
<http://tinyurl.com/bykryx>

Archive Your Data
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/archive.html>

 

[Duane1]

Regarding 1st question, where do these folders &quot;live&quot; on my hard drive? Thanks for the confirmation. I thought this was the case from what I had read, but it is good to get the confirmation.

Regarding the 2d question, the mail I want to save is starting to fall into 2 categories 1) that mail I want to keep on my computer so I can always access it and b) the mail I would like to keep on an external drive that I can access when I connect my external drive at home. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can create folders that &quot;live&quot; on the external drive so I can drag email to either a folder on the laptop hard drive or to a folder on the external drive?

You responded: &quot;I'm not sure I quite understand what you are trying to do.&quot;

Basically all I am trying to do is to move a message into a folder that I created but not have that folder be in the database on my hard drive. Here is a typical situation right now.
1. An email comes into my Inbox.
2. Once I read it, I move it into a folder called Personal that I created
3. The message is no longer in my Inbox, but it is now in the Personal folder

As I understand it, this Personal folder is also in the same database on my Mac's hard drive as the Inbox.

What I am trying to figure out is if there is a way to have that Personal folder on my external drive while the Inbox is on my Mac hard drive.

If this can be accomplished, then I would only be able to add emails to the Personal folder when my external drive was connected to my Mac. Also, I would guess that I would also only be able to read the emails in the Personal folder when the hard drive is connected.

I hope this clarifies what I am trying to find out.

You also responded: &quot;I suggest that you change from POP to IMAP. This way any changes you make are the same on any computer accessing that account.&quot;

If you could send me some links to material about this, I would appreciate it. Would the change to IMAP help solve the issue I described above?

You also responded: &quot;It sounds like you are wanting the emails out of Entourage. I don't suggest that as it will be difficult to find what you want.&quot;

I don't want the email out of Entourage as much as what I am hoping to do is to find out if Entourage can access 2 Entourage databases at the same time.

And finally you responded: &quot;You might want to check out using EagleFiler to archive mail that you want to keep.&quot;

I have just been using the database backup feature in Entourage, but I will look into EagleFiler. Does it do something that the database backup feature does not do?

I appreciate the timely response and assistance.

 

[Diane Ross]

Basically all I am trying to do is to move a message into a folder that I
created but not have that folder be in the database on my hard drive. Here is
a typical situation right now.
1. An email comes into my Inbox.
2. Once I read it, I move it into a folder called Personal that I created
3. The message is no longer in my Inbox, but it is now in the Personal folder

As I understand it, this Personal folder is also in the same database on my
Mac's hard drive as the Inbox.

That's correct.

What I am trying to figure out is if there is a way to have that Personal
folder on my external drive while the Inbox is on my Mac hard drive.

No! I think your concept of how messages are stored is the making this
difficult for you. It's nothing like how the OS stores files and folder.
It's all in a database. Even Mac Mail which is totally different would not
work to do what you want.

If this can be accomplished, then I would only be able to add emails to the
Personal folder when my external drive was connected to my Mac. Also, I would
guess that I would also only be able to read the emails in the Personal folder
when the hard drive is connected.

I hope this clarifies what I am trying to find out.

Yes, it helps to have details. If you switch to an IMAP account you can
better manage your mail on two computers.

You also responded: "I suggest that you change from POP to IMAP. This way any
changes you make are the same on any computer accessing that account."

If you could send me some links to material about this, I would appreciate
it.

Share one account with multiple users and/or computers (The Entourage Help
Blog)

<http://tinyurl.com/9rpbdj>

POP & IMAP Accounts

Would the change to IMAP help solve the issue I described above?

Yes, if I understand you correctly.

Simply uncheck your POP account for "Include this account in Send & Receive
all". This disables the account but would allow you to easily switch back if
you didn't like IMAP.

You also responded: "It sounds like you are wanting the emails out of
Entourage. I don't suggest that as it will be difficult to find what you
want."

I don't want the email out of Entourage as much as what I am hoping to do is
to find out if Entourage can access 2 Entourage databases at the same time.

No, Entourage can't see another database.

And finally you responded: "You might want to check out using EagleFiler to
archive mail that you want to keep."

I have just been using the database backup feature in Entourage, but I will
look into EagleFiler. Does it do something that the database backup feature
does not do?

It imports Entourage emails and allows you to search using Spotlight in the
Finder. Since you have described more what you want, I'm not sure this is
what you are wanting.

I appreciate the timely response and assistance.

You're welcome.

One last tidbit.

Using Time Machine to backup Entourage basics:

It's advised by the developers not to let Time Machine backup your Entourage
database. If the database is copied while being used, the backup could be
corrupt. You can set the Time Machine to exclude the Microsoft User Data
folder and create an iCal event to copy it over at night while not in use so
you get one backup daily in Time Machine.

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/01/alternative_method_to_use_entourage_
and_time_machine.html>

Select a good backup strategy using these articles to find a solution that
works for you.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/articles/backup_articles.html>

 

[Duane1]

Thanks for the help. It answered all my questions.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

Basically all I am trying to do is to move a message into a folder that
I created but not have that folder be in the database on my hard drive.
Here is a typical situation right now.
1. An email comes into my Inbox.
2. Once I read it, I move it into a folder called Personal that I created
3. The message is no longer in my Inbox, but it is now in the Personal
folder

You are describing Personal folders saved in .pst files. This is a
feature only of Windows Outlook. No other mail application for Mac,
Windows or any other platform has this feature.

This feature stands a chance of being in the next version of Office for
Mac, which will include a version of Outlook for Mac. If Outlook for Mac
has feature parity with its Outlook for Windows cousin then you may be
in luck. See this for what's been announced:

<http://www.officeformac.com/blog/Ready-for-Snow-Leopard>

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
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