How I Archived Old Mail for a Clean Start in 2008

A

aRKay

Using Entourage 2004 11.3.6 and Mac OSX 10.5.1

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

You may want to disable your modem, DSL, cable or whatever before you
really begin to stop incoming messages while you are messing around with
the good stuff.

1. I already have a mail subfolder called "Archived Mail' with a sub
folder for the previous year. The first step is to create a new sub
folder called "Mail 2007" by highlighting the Archived Mail folder then
use the File/New/New Sub Folder and name it "Mail 2007."

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

3. Now drag the two new mbox files into the newly created "Mail 2007"
folder. I then changed the filenames to Inbox-2007 and Sent Items-2007.

4. Check that these files are good copies of your current Inbox and Sent
Items in the new Mail 2007 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 Inbox and use the
"Select All" and Delete Key to create fresh file that will contain your
new 2008 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 2006 and it contained mail folders for my old Eudora mail and
separate folders for 2002, 2003, 2004 2005 and 2006 Entourage mail. I
just logged in as a the Archived Mail 2001 to 2006 user and changed the
name to Archived Mail 2001 to 2007 then created a new subfolder for 2007
and dragged in the the two files from desktop to the 2007 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 2006 mail in the Archived user's mail, I deleted
the 2006 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 2007 and 2008 are active.

Please let me know if something needs clarification.

Happy New Year

arkay
 
A

aRKay

aRKay said:
Using Entourage 2004 11.3.6 and Mac OSX 10.5.1

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

SNIP


Please let me know if something needs clarification.

Happy New Year

arkay

Any guess what will happen to the above when Entourage 2008 is released
in January 2008?
 
A

aRKay

aRKay said:
Using Entourage 2004 11.3.6 and Mac OSX 10.5.1

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


Please let me know if something needs clarification.

Happy New Year

arkay

My setup has been working great for a few days; however, I did notice
something really weird this morning. I started to delete the Deleted
Items folder and found 16,000 messages. I have no idea where they came
from but I said YES and it took some time to clear out the messages.

All works well and none of trashed messages are missed. It looked like
a year of trashed messages

No comments from anyone so I must be the only person that likes to start
each year with a clean out Inbox.

Happy New Year
 

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