How I Archived Old Mail and Started 2007 Clean

[aRKay]

Using Entourage 2004 11.3.2 and Mac OSX 10.4.8

There are other ways to archive your old mail files; however, the
following is what I did to get ready for the new year.

1. I already have a mail subfolder called "Archived Mail' with sub
folders for the previous years. The first step is to created a new sub
folder called "Mail 2006"

2. I then used the standard Entourage tip to drag my current "Inbox" and
"Sent Items" to the desktop. This created two mbox format files. It
takes a few minutes so please do not rush.

3. Now drag the two new mbox files into the newly created "Mail 2006"
folder. I then changed the filenames to Inbox-06 and Sent Items-06.

4. Check that these files are good copies of your current Inbox and Sent
Items in the new Mail 2006 folder are correct. Check that they look like
your current Inbox and Sent Items. If not correct, repeat steps 2 and 3
until you get it right. Save the two files on your desktop for later
use (see step #7 below).

5. Once you are satisfied (step 4), open your primary mbox and use the
"Select All" and Delete Key to create fresh file that will contain your
new 2007 mail. Do the same thing with your Sent Items file.

6. After you finish the above I recommend rebuilding the database by
starting Entourage with the Option key held down. The cool thing about
this procedure and the reason I use it is I have almost instant access
to the previous year mail files.

7. Last year I created a new Entourage identity called Archived Mail
2001 to 2005 and it contained mail folders for my old Eudora mail and
separate folders for 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Entourage mail. I just
logged in as a the Archived Mail 2001 to 2005 user and changed the name
to Archived Mail 2001 to 2006 then created a new subfolder for 2006 and
dragged in the the two files from desktop to the 2006 folder and change
the names, like in step #3.

8. I then changed identity back to the primary identity and double
checked that everything was working correct. Since I already have a
saved version of my 2005 mail in the Archived user's mail, I deleted
the 2005 folder and then deleted the two mbox files on the desktop as
well as some of the old backup database files from the "Office 2004
Identities" folder.

I have probably made this sound too complicated. It is not! All I did
was save and store the old mail and started the new year with a clean
file. Entourage is snappy with the clean file. Mail from prior years is
archived under another identity and mail for 2006 and 2007 are active.

Please let me know if something needs clarification.

Happy New Year

aRKay

 

[jakeeagle]

I appreciate your posting. I'm curious about your objective. For
example, do you want to have immediate access the all email from 2006
and 2007...and are willing to open a new identity when you want access
to earlier years? It sounds like that's where you ended up.

Would you apply the same approach to your calendar, just be able to
access two years worth of appointments, and put the rest into a
different identity?

My Entourage file is about 600 MB and I'm wondering if I should be
concerned about this?

Finally, I got lost in step 5 when you wrote about opening your
"primary mbox," and I'm wondering if you could clarify.

Thanks,
Jake

 

[aRKay]

I appreciate your posting. I'm curious about your objective. For
example, do you want to have immediate access the all email from 2006
and 2007...and are willing to open a new identity when you want access
to earlier years? It sounds like that's where you ended up.

Jake,

You got it.... as the primary user I now have a clean Inbox and Sent
Items folders for 2007. If I drop down and click on Inbox-06, all of my
2006 mail will be displayed. If I need access to mail from earlier
years, I have to switch identities.

Would you apply the same approach to your calendar, just be able to
access two years worth of appointments, and put the rest into a
different identity?

Sorry, I don't really use the Entourage calendar.

My Entourage file is about 600 MB and I'm wondering if I should be
concerned about this?

Mine was really big until I archived some of the mail. My primary user
folder is now 8.9 GB but it contains all of my 2006 mail... including
attachments. In a few months I may go in and use the Entourage option
to Remove All Attachments.

Finally, I got lost in step 5 when you wrote about opening your
"primary mbox," and I'm wondering if you could clarify.

Thanks,
Jake

FYI
------------------------------------
5. Once you are satisfied (step 4), open your primary mbox and use the
"Select All" and Delete Key to create fresh file that will contain your
new 2007 mail. Do the same thing with your Sent Items file.
-------------------------------------

I should have said "primary Inbox" rather than "primary mbox".... sorry
about that. This is the only way I know to strip the contents of the
Inbox so you can start with a clean slate. This is the same way you
get rid of Deleted mail. You will recall we copied the contents of the
Inbox to the desktop then copied back into a new Inbox-06 folder.

Someone may know a better way.

BTW, don't trash anything you do not have backed up so you can put
Humpty-Dupty back together again...... if necessary.

aRKay

 

[scottc.melendez]

Your method doesn't seem to preserve folder structure, and (if I'm not
mistaken) mail in the alternate identity is not indexed by Spotlight.

I have an extensive folder structure, with rules that automatically
file mail in these folders. The ideal situation would be to make an
"empty" copy of my Entourage database (with folders) and keep the old
one "offline". To re-create the folder structure manually would be
exceptionally time consuming.

Any thought on how to accomplish that?

 

[aRKay]

Your method doesn't seem to preserve folder structure, and (if I'm not
mistaken) mail in the alternate identity is not indexed by Spotlight.

I could care less about the OSX Spotlight. In my opinion it is useless
and I used Spotless.app to ditch the spotlight.

I have an extensive folder structure, with rules that automatically
file mail in these folders. The ideal situation would be to make an
"empty" copy of my Entourage database (with folders) and keep the old
one "offline". To re-create the folder structure manually would be
exceptionally time consuming.

Any thought on how to accomplish that?

Sorry I can't help.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Hi Scott,

Your method doesn't seem to preserve folder structure, and (if I'm not
mistaken) mail in the alternate identity is not indexed by Spotlight.

I have an extensive folder structure, with rules that automatically
file mail in these folders. The ideal situation would be to make an
"empty" copy of my Entourage database (with folders) and keep the old
one "offline". To re-create the folder structure manually would be
exceptionally time consuming.

Any thought on how to accomplish that?

Perhaps something like this? Quit Entourage, duplicate your current
identity in the Finder. Rename the duplicate to Archive Whatever. In the
current identity, delete all sorts of old mail. I'm not very good at
Entourage, but I suspect some sort of custom view based on date would
make this easier?

I also hate Spotlight, and have no idea how that will interact. The old
index should still be there, but I don't know if renaming the identity
will break it.

 

[William Smith]

Hi Scott,



Perhaps something like this? Quit Entourage, duplicate your current
identity in the Finder. Rename the duplicate to Archive Whatever. In the
current identity, delete all sorts of old mail. I'm not very good at
Entourage, but I suspect some sort of custom view based on date would
make this easier?

I also hate Spotlight, and have no idea how that will interact. The old
index should still be there, but I don't know if renaming the identity
will break it.

That's what I did. After reading the beginning of this thread I thought
this was a perfect time to archive my 2005 mail. (I'll keep my 2006 in
my current Identity for reference until next year.)

I set my dupe Identity to work offline and then used an Advanced Find to
search for all items less than 365 days old, cleared the newer messages
from my 2005 archive and then did the opposite for my current Identity
(find items greater than 366 days).

After removing my old messages and compacting my database I went from a
1.5GB database to a little less than 400MB. Niiiice.

bill