Losing 7.1 Mail Labels on PC Transfer

For years I have used 4.74, and moved mail effortlessly between three computers (all using Windows 98) at my California office, my home and a "vacation" home/office (in Ohio), using Second Copy and a removable hard drive (to move everything of importance from one site to another, allowing me to continue to work on anything without missing a beat). I recently upgraded to 7.1 in Ohio, and enjoyed immensely the capacity to add colored labels to my messages, to help me keep track of what to do and what to follow up on (etc.). I had been somewhat unhappy at the complex path to the mail folder, but didn't pay it much mind.

On my return to San Diego I was dismayed to discover (via Netscape's paid telephone help line, about which I won't comment for fear of breaking the posting rules) that there was no way to subvert the .slt system (i.e., end up with identical paths to the mail folder on all three computers, thus facilitating the Second Copy procedure I had used for years). Nevertheless, I found a way to work around that minor inconvenience with Second Copy. However, a much grimmer discovery awaited. I found that, on copying my mail folder from Ohio onto my computer here, after having installed 7.1, the "Ohio" MSF files were not "honored" by the computer here, and new summary files were built. After much research (for someone not familiar with the innards of Netscape) (on the computer, not the internet) I found that, although the Read/Unread marker and the "Flag" marker information is stored in the X-Mozilla-Status line of the message file itself, the Label information (and, I believe, priority information, although I didn't examine that directly) is stored in the corresponding MSF file ( "^8A=" for labels). When the new MSF files are built, all ^8A values are set to 0, and the lovingly created label information is all lost. (It's still present in the files I carried with me from Ohio on my removable hard drive, but I don't know how to read the MSF files to understand which ^8A tag goes with which message.)

I've tried just about everything I can think of to "fool" the system into accepting the "Ohio" MSF files. I know it's possible, within the CA computer, to create an MSF file (say for a file with a labeled message), move that file elsewhere, remove the label and have 7.1 create a new MSF file, and then replace the new MSF file with the old one, thereby "restoring" the label. However, I haven't been able to do that (MSF file replacement) using MSF files generated on the Ohio computer. I've noticed that the MSF "header" section is different in the "Ohio" MSF files and the "CA" MSF files: For example, the "header" in the Ohio Inbox.msf file ends with "(AD=junkscore) (AE=junkscore origin)> ", whereas the CA Inbox.msf file ends with "(AD=foldername) (AA=viewType) (AF=viewFlags) (B0=sortType) (B1=sortOrder)>" (after identical other such information). The Ohio Drafts.msf file ends with "(AD=charSetOverride) (AE=charSet) (AF=folderName) (B0=viewType) (B1=viewFlags) (B2=sortType) (B3=sortOrder) (B4=imageSize) (B5=junkscore) (B6=keywords)> ", whereas the newly built CA Drafts.msf file ends with "(AD=sortType) (AE=sortOrder) (AF=viewFlags) (B0-viewType)> ".

It occured to me that perhaps I had created different settings in prefs.js or elsewhere when I set up the account in CA, and that I may have established some differences in where flags, etc., were displayed. Therefore, I did what I thought would be the "maximum" possible to recreate the Ohio environment in CA: namely, I deleted all of the folders beneath the .slt file, except for Cache and Cache.Trash, and replaced them with the Ohio folders and files, being careful to replace the Ohio .slt file name with the CA .slt file name in the downloads.rdf, panacea.dat, prefs.bak and prefs.js files (the only ones that showed up with the .slt file name on search). No luck: 7.1 still discarded all of the MSF files copied from Ohio, and rebuilt its own MSF files -- remarkably, still with different endings to the "headers ", as noted above (though I'm not sure whether the headers were the same as before the "complete" Ohio copy). In any event, that's about as far as I can think to go to try and "rescue" my label information from Ohio. (I did try to search the Netscape Program files to see if the .slt name would show up, and conceivably be subvertable, but I didn't find it -- although it is present in the registry.dat file under Mozilla, but I don't know whether that is "controlling" [hard to understand why the information would be so readily accessible to an intruder, if the whole point of the .slt files is protection, but that's another issue].) It's a puzzle to me why the MSF file structure (including the details after the headers as well, which I didn't mention) would be different on the CA computer in this setting where all preferences are the same as in Ohio. It appears to me that 7.1 has a great "immune system ", and rejects any MSF files that it views as "foreign" . . .

I then thought that this is the end of my computer-hopping life (with much sadness), if I want to stick with 7.1 (which I'm motivated to do, largely because of the nice "label" feature, but also because I was really tired of 4.74's not being able to handle quoting messages from newer e-mail programs [the ones with little yellow symbols interspersed] without collapsing everything into a single paragraph). The only alternative seemed to be to graduate to a portable computer, which I would carry from place to place (not a preferred choice for a variety of reasons, although probably doable).

But then I realized that that would not solve my problem either: When I came to transfer my mail to the putative new portable, I would face the same loss of information! Moreover, every time I ended up changing portable computers (or conceivably upgrading the Netscape program), the "labile" label information would be lost.

What to do? Do you have any thoughts that could help? (Having the label information stored, as the Read/Unread information and Flag information, in the message file itself would seem to be a better way for Netscape to go! Unless there is some way that I haven't discovered to recreate the environment to be identical from computer to computer with the [presumed] result that MSF files of identical fundamental structure would be generated and therefore not viewed as "foreign" to the discriminating program.)

I apologize if I've missed a posting on this subject -- I searched under "labels ", and didn't come up with anything relevant.

 

Welcome to the Forum, pls!

Hi pls,

I understand your frustration, as I have spent a good deal of time today trying to manage MSF files! I have not been successful in retaining the labels when moving the Mail information from Profile to Profile. Each time I think I am successful, when I see the labels in the Mail Folder, but once I restart Netscape, the MSF files are rebuilt, and the labels are gone. I also copied Mail Folders to an older PC, with the same results.

I have a strong suspicion that this is hard coded into the program. I did find some information which may be of help to you:
Mozilla Mail Documentation Architecture.

I'll post back with any further information, and hoping you will do the same.

Ramona

 

Hi pls,

I was successful in copying Mail folders from Profile to Profile with Mail labels intact. Our inhouse Netscape aficionado, captjlddavis was able to get this to work, and after a few more twists and turns, I was able to do the same.

I labeled several emails in the default Mail account Inbox, then closed Netscape.

I created a new Profile called Test (very creative, no?).

Opened Netscape, set up an email account, selected all other Preferences, closed Netscape.

Opened Windows Explorer
Went to the new Profile Mail folder, and renamed Inbox and Inbox.msf files.

Went to default Profile Mail folder, and copied the Inbox and Inbox.msf files (with the labels) and pasted them into new Profile

Opened Netscape with new Profile
Labeled files show up in new Profile Mail
Closed NS, and reopened new Profile Mail - Labels are still there.

I don't know why I couldn't do this without the new Profile. On the other hand, captjlddavis didn't create a new Profile, and was able to retain the labels from Profile to Profile.

I hope this works for you...

Ramona

 

Ramona --

Thanks for following up on the label transfer problem. I'm tardy in my reply as I was out of the office yesterday.

Although I hadn't tried (as far as I can remember) copying message and MSF files from one profile to another within the same ". . . Mozilla\Profiles" directory on a single computer, I recall that I had no difficulty replacing MSF files within a single profile on a single computer (i.e., where the "new" files had been created initially using that profile). It sounds to me from your posting as though the same thing may apply to messages and MSF files created by Netscape 7.1 within the same computer environment and ". . . Mozilla\Profile" superdirectory. The problem that I have been having is in copying mail and MSF files from one computer to another. Will either your or captjldavis' methods work in that setting as well?

Although I should perhaps ask only a single question here, I will add two more, since they're related:

1. What controls the restriction of the program to recognizing the specific .slt file name that is generated when Netscape 7.1 is installed? Is it embedded within the program files themselves (and hence unassailable), or is it the information in the registry.dat file that controls the recognition? If the latter, then modifying the registry.dat file might permit a change in the .slt file names so that the .slt file names on the different computers would be the same. This question, of course, would only be relevant if the solutions you have found will not translate to the cross-computer setting. (The underlying question here being whether, if the entire WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\Profile Name\xxxxxxxx.slt\Mail\Mailbox folder names and contents were identical from machine to machine, then the "good old" method that worked with 4.74 might conceivably work with 7.1 as well.

2. What will happen with the label information in 7.1 if (as just plain happens from time to time) 7.1 locks up and has to be closed by Control-Alt-Delete (or worse, as has happened, a cold boot)? My experience has been (in both 4.74 and now with 7.1) that summary files need to be rebuilt after an unscheduled shutdown. Indeed, that happened to me just today. The Inbox summary was rebuilt, and there were no labels showing in the Inbox after that happened. The only thing I'm not sure of is whether I had had any labels set before the lock-up, and whether any information was indeed lost. I can play with that at home another time (doing a cold boot in midstream -- though with some trepidation), but I don't want to risk loss of data in my only currenly live version of the program here.

Let me know what you think!

Thanks.

 

Hi pls,

Understood... and yes, it will work, copying from one PC to another. Let me stress that it is not necessary to create a new Profile.

I just completed copying my "profilename" folder from my Dell PC to my Aptiva PC. I copied the profilename folder from the Profiles folder, and copied it to Zip disk.
(C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\myprofilename).

On the receiving PC, I removed the existing profilename folder from the Profiles folder, and pasted in the profilename folder from the Zip disk.

I had a different Profiles folder location on the Dell PC, so it was necessary for me to edit the prefs.js file on the receiving PC. I had to change every instance of the path from:
C:\\WINDOWS\\APPLICATION DATA\\Mozilla\\Profiles
TO
C:\\WINDOWS\\Mozilla\\Profiles

Labels were intact in all folders, including Newsgroups... Opened and closed the browser several times, and labels are retained.

O.K., having gone thru the drill of moving the entire Profile from one PC to the other, and moving on to your question #1., this is where your problems lies, and I'm sorry that I didn't catch this on my first read of your original post. I was too intent on moving the MSF files!

You've nailed it right here. As I've already shown you, this is the way to go, as long as you're not doing a "Clean" install, and having no problems. Just plug it in, plug it in!

Try removing the existing profilename folder from the receiving PC. Move it to any backup folder. Then plug in the profilename folder that you have copied for the purpose of the update. When you open your Mail accounts, you will also need to change the path to your Mail folders: Edit | Mail & Newsgroups Accounts settings | Server Settings. At the bottom of the page, look at the Local directory path and edit to point to the correct salted folder.

Once you have the same profilename\salted folder in each of the three PC's you are trying to sync, then it will be a no brainer to sync your three PC's hereinafter. Your information from Netscape's paid telephone help line that there is no way to subvert the .slt system (i.e., end up with identical paths to the mail folder on all three computers) is that word you couldn't use for fear of breaking the posting rules!

The registry.dat file does indeed contain the pointer to your profile.

Question #2. Yes, data is frequently lost, and MSF files corrupted when Netscape or Mozilla experiences a crash/freeze. Then you are in a bind, unless you do frequent backups.

This was a lot of territory to cover, and I hope that I have been able to give you the answers you need. If I've overlooked anything, or the details I've given are unclear, please post back with questions.

Ramona

 

7.1 Mail Labels on PC Transfer

Ramona --

Thank you, thank you! I am so grateful for your help! I was indeed able to create a profile on my home computer that matches the profile at the office -- including the office .slt filename! (The process was a little complicated, as I had to create a new profile using the Profile Manager so that the "office" profile name [and path] would be recognized; then I had to create yet another profile using a profile name that ultimately [when I finish the configuration on all three computers] will be identical on all three; and then I had to get the program to accept the MSF files for the last half of my mail files using this new profile [I've got over 750 files, and I think it just plain exceeds 7.1's capacity to digest all of the MSF files when creating a new profile and copying over the mail files -- even though, for some reason, that wasn't a problem with the first "new" profile . . .] by clicking individually on all of the files with "??? ". [Fortunately, I was able to edit the MSF file for my Sent file (deleting the last several lines), to make it identical to the one I was copying, and got the program to accept it -- since that file has a bunch of labels.] I'm not going into great detail here -- the bottom line is, complexities aside, I've got things going!)

I should withhold vindictiveness, but I would have been a lot happier over these past couple of weeks if the paid Netscape Help people had been able to tell me what you have. Granted, they are at the mercy of what Netscape teaches them in the course that they take. But I just didn't (foolishly) question the definitiveness with which I was told that having identical .slt files on different computers was impossible . . . Actually, probably just as well -- I would have ended up copying over the entire . . .\Mozilla subdirectory -- though who knows, maybe that would work, too . . .

There may be some other semi-related questions that I might have as I finish things up. But I will post them separately, since they would have new "topic" headings.

Thank you so much again!

 

Hi pls,

That is definitely the kind of feedback that makes my day! Glad you have your three PC's in sync now.

Let us know if you have questions, or further issues with this transition.

Ramona

 

Ramona --

It's nice to end the thread on your last reply, and I was tempted to start a new thread for this question, but thought it would be best just to ask it here, in context.

Given the "unexpected" success of copying profiles from one computer to another using the very simple method you have come up with, I'd be curious to know if, indeed, one could just copy the entire C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla subdirectory from one computer to another, and avoid even the minor inconvenience of moving out the old profile, copying in the new, and getting the names adjusted? Having gotten things working finally, I'm reluctant to experiment any further -- so, if you are in an experimental mood at any point, I'd be curious to know if this potentially "even simpler" method would work.

Thanks again for your help and support!

 

Hi pls,

Keeping your question in context is super!

I'm curious about exactly what you did, to get the names adjusted. All you should have had to do is remove the existing Profile Name folder on the receiving PC, and then change the Local directory path in the Mail Server settings, yes? Did you have to do more?

I did successfully move the Mozilla Folder to my other PC! I was experimenting on the cautious side, when moving only the Profile Name folder, because the registry.dat file is in the Mozilla folder.

O.K., here's what I did:

Copied the Mozilla Folder, using a different Profile, to Zip Disk on PC#1.

On the receiving PC#2, I moved the existing Mozilla folder to a backup folder. Edited my Desktop Icon to remove the existing profile name and add the new profile name from PC#1.

Pasted in the Mozilla folder from PC#1 to the receiving PC#2.

Here's the catch, and why I didn't try this on the first experiment. I wasn't at all sure how the registry.dat file, located in the Mozilla folder, would behave, and really didn't want to recommend an edit.

On this first attempt to start Mozilla, the Profile Manager prompted for a Profile name, altho I had edited the Desktop icon to reflect the new Profile name. I went ahead and entered the new Profile name "mona ". No dice, Mozilla would NOT start, it was dead in the water. Had to ponder this, as I was certain it had to do with the registry.dat file, as that is the pointer. I did try to edit the registry.dat file, even though it is not a text file, but I have beau coup backups, so what the hey! The edit to change all references to the correct path for the new Profile was a total bust, as I kind of figured it would be.

How I finally made it work:

In the new Mozilla folder, I renamed the registry.dat file to Xregistry.dat. Then I copied the registry.dat file from the OLD Mozilla folder, and pasted it in the new Mozilla folder. It worked! I was then able to start Mozilla.

I did one extra step, so I would have a pristine registry.dat file with this Profile. With Netscape open, I deleted all registry.dat files, then closed Netscape.

Netscape writes to that file each time it is closed, so now the registry.dat file is consistent with the new Profile.

Wow! This definitely sounds like a shaggy dog story, but I wanted to go into detail for you, if you plan to try this. Frankly, you have a working profile on each PC which is synchronized. I wouldn't fix what isn't broken.



Ramona