Netscape 7.1 Inbox disappeared

After being away for two days, I opened Netscape 7.1 email and found my inbox empty of everything before February 15th. That means about 2000 emails gone, including important work files, photographs, etc. I always thought one of the great things about this program was that everything that came in stayed forever (or until I moved it out), so I just kept everything I wanted in the inbox. Now what? Is there any way to retrieve what I lost?
-Judy
P.S. Am I the only person in the universe still using Netscape 7.1 email client?

 

Welcome to the Forum, judyfz!

Judy,

Maybe not the last person, but...

Open Netscape Mail
Click on: Edit | Netscape Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings
Highlight Server Settings
Scroll down to the "Local directory" field
Ensure that the path in this field does point to the correct location on your HDD, of your Mail Account folder. It should be similar to this:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename\xxxxxxxx.slt\Mail\pop.isp.net

Let us know if this helped.

 

Thanks, Ramona. There's good news and bad news: the good news is that I found the file, the bad news is that I can't figure out what program to open it with so it's not enrypted. Also, there are two sets of files: one with just the name (inbox, trash, junk, etc.) and one with the name .msf. The .msf files are very small so it would appear that they were created anew when I lost the original inbox. However, when I attempted to open the inbox, despite the fact that the message I saw was encrypted, the header had Feb 17 as the date. What I'm missing is before Feb 15.

 

You don't open the files, you make sure that the Server settings are set for your account, not the individual files. When you hit the Browse button, you should be presented with your accounts (if more than one).
I think that you understand this, but Ramona gave a general account name: i.e. pop.isp.net. Just look for yours. Select it, and see what happens.
You, probably have only one account, but don't try to point to just one file. It won't work.
As a summary, Incoming mail is in the Inbox, sent mail in the Sent file, etc. the .msf files are the so-called header files, i.e. the ones you see listed. The ,msf file can be deleted, with NS closed, and, will be recreated on reopening NS.
Older mail should not disappear, but don't hang on everything in the Inbox, which is not designed as a storage file. Bad things happen when you approach 1 GB. I, rarely, keep 100 e-mails in the Inbox, and, constantly move e-mail in specially created subfolders. And, the Trash should be emptied, as well as the other folders compacted, because deleted Trash will remain associated, in the background, contributing to bloat.

 

Judy,

Use Notepad or Wordpad to open the Inbox, Sent, etc.

Each mail folder (Inbox, Sent, etc.) is stored as two files; one with no extension (e.g. INBOX), which is the mail file itself (in "˜mbox’ format), and one with an .MSF extension (e.g. INBOX.MSF), which holds an index of the mail.

In your Mail Account Folder, do you have more than one account listed, e.g.,

mail.comcast.net
mail.comcast-1.net
mail.comcast-2.net

If so, the Mail Account folder without an added digit is the original Mail Account which should hold all your Mail.

Let us know what you find...

 

Dear Ramona and Westside: Thanks for your input, although some of your information was contradictory.
Westside: the Server settings are correct, the browser button gives me Program Files, not account info (although I only have one). How can I see how much space I have used up? Clearly, bad things HAVE happened, so maybe I was approaching 1 GB.
Ramona: I tried both Notepad and Wordpad and got the same result: the mail from Feb 15, 16 and 17 is readable (although surrounded by code), and everything before that is entirely encrypted.
Despite having used this program for 8 years, I clearly never had adequate information or instruction. Where can I find out about creating custom folders and compacting them? And/or is it time to succumb to the Dreaded Outlook?

 

Judy,
I don't think that I, ever, implied that the browser button would give anything but the browser. In fact, I have no idea what you are referring to.
If you select Window (top toolbar), you will get Navigator, for browser, and Mail and Newsgroups, as well as Address book. There are similar items at the bottom
toolbar, at the left.
Many things have changed, and Ramona gave you the correct path for the Profile, where mail is located, if you have WinXP. If you say that you are seeing an Inbox in Program Files, it is not the Inbox of Netscape7.1.
And you say that you have been using Netscape for 8 years. Sure, it is possible, but there was a Netscape 4.x (most likely), eight years ago. Not sure when, but 7.1 has been around for, perhaps, four years.
And, you can look at the contents of the Inbox, but it is not the way to do it.
If you are looking at the correct files, you should be able to see how large they are (I do it by mouseover, but you can right click|properties).
I don't think that it is so difficult to get things done correctly, but you seem to have problems following the directions. It comes a time when one may as well use Microsoft mail. It takes less understanding, perhaps.
I missed commenting on your question about NS7.1. A few people do not like or can make changes, so, they are using NS7.1. NS7.2 is better, but if you have problems with 7.1, you will have them in 7.2.
I, personally, have stopped using any Netscape, at least one year ago.

 

Judy,

If you will read Westside's post again, you will note that he said "Browse" button, not Browser. The "Browse" tab is on the right side of the Local directory path, in the Server Settings, which I referenced.

By opening Windows Explorer, and then browse to the Mail Account folder. File size will be listed for Inbox, Drafts, Sent, etc.

When you looked in your Mail Account Folder, did you find numbered accounts like the example?
mail.comcast.net
mail.comcast-1.net
mail.comcast-2.net

To compact your folders:
Open Mail & Newsgroups
Click on: File | Compact folders

To create custom folders:
Highlight the Account name in the left panel, e.g., judy@someisp.net
Right click the Account name and select: New folder
Type the name of the folder
It will then be listed below the Trash folder

There are too many other options for you to choose from than Outlook. There is SeaMonkey which is almost identical to Netscape 7.x, both in looks and that it is a suite consisting of Mail/Newsgroups, and Composer. There is also Firefox, a standalone browser, and Thunderbird, a standalone mail client. They are excellent programs, and certainly more secure than the now obsolete Netscape 7.x.

 

I actually mistyped that--I meant to type "Browse." The misunderstanding was also due to the fact that I don't think I'm looking at the same screen you are. When I look at "Server Settings," I have to scroll down the list on the left to "Local Folders" to see the directory path, and once I have that screen there is no "Browse" button at all. Yesterday I got that directory path and went into "My Computer" with it to find the Inbox file; when I tried to open the file and was given a list of potential programs with which to try to open it, the "Browse" button also appearred and led to Program Files.

I realized also that when I follow the directory path to the Inbox file, it shows me how big it is, and I can't understand why I had this problem: it's not small (6361 KB) but it's not that huge either.

No.

I did, by the way, begin using Netscape with 4.x eight years ago, and then upgraded to 7.1 when it became available. I knew about it because I actually received an email from Netscape with a link to upgrade, which I did. In the same way, I received emails from Netscape when new versions of the Browser became available. I am now running 8.1.3. When I got 9.0 I couldn't understand why it had no provision for accessing webmail and spoke with someone at Netscape who suggested I stay with 8.3 until future versions were released which would rectify that and would also include a new stand-alone email client to replace 7.1. That was the last I heard from Netscape, and because I assumed I would be notified when there were any new releases, I didn't know there was a version 7.2, and I also didn't know until last Sunday when my Inbox disappeared that Netscape had become obsolete and was no longer being supported!

So I guess I will look into other mail options (thanks for the list of suggestions). And I guess I will stop using Netscape as a browser as well.

But I do wish I could recapture that inbox.

 

My Mail has 10 accounts set up. My ISP is Cox, and I have five Cox accounts, named Cox, Cox2, etc. I also have two AIM.com, two AOL.com, and Yahoo.
In addition, I have "local Folders ". My Local Folders are mostly irrelevant, as they have mainly Sent mail from some of the oddball accounts. But Local Folders, and each of the other ten accounts have their Server Settings, and after clicking on that, the bottom of the small page is called "Local Directory ".
Under it, I have a long line, and there is a Browse button to its right. If I click on that Browse button, I will see my list of accounts in Mail, and should I want to do it, I could change the path of one account with another. Can you imagine the mess? But, it is possible that you don't have any account set up, although the hard drive has the info. All you need to do is to create your account, anew, and then hit browse, and make sure that your mail points to it. Once, for no good reason, I had one account in My Documents, and it worked.
Now, of course, it is possible that NS7.1 does not make your life so easy. I have not used it for years, but I find hard to believe that there is no way for you to get a single account. You don't need to go to the hard drive, and try to open the Inbox. If you create a new account, even with the same information as the other, you will have two folders, of the type:
mail.comcast.net
mail.comcast-1.net as Ramona mentioned. The top one has your old mail, and the bottom one the new mail. I, just found this, from Ramona's website . It shows that you are correct, 7.1 does not make your life easy. Ramona has some nice screen shots.

I have never seen anything like that. Navigator9.x was excellent, and I don't see why you would have all these problems with it.
I did not dare suggesting that while Netscape development has ceased, it was based on Firefox for browser, and Thunderbird, for mail. You have too many problems to try anything like that.
But, no matter what, you may or will have to do some manual transfer

 

Judy,

O.K., I understand your confusion now. In Version 7.0 and 7.1, there was no Browse tab. The user can change the path by simply typing the correct path to the Mail Account Folder, rather than browse to the correct Mail Account folder. It has been a very long time since using 7.1, and I overlooked this detail. See this Screen Shot which shows the Local directory location, in the lower right panel.

When given the list of programs, you should select either Notepad or Wordpad.

My advice is to never let your Inbox grow that large (6.2 MB). As suggested earlier, start creating subfolders, and moving the Inbox messages to the appropriate subfolders which you create. I also advise against compacting the Inbox until you have it to a much smaller size, or until it is empty. This is because the compacting of the large Inbox may crash Netscape, and you risk losing all your Mail. Either that or the compacting will simply loop until Netscape freezes.

I never allow my Inbox to grow beyond 1 MB, if that. I use the Message Filter feature, which automatically sends the incoming messages to the correct subfolders of the account.

Bottom line here is to ensure that the "Local directory" path, which is shown in the Screen Shot, does point to your Mail Account folder. Let us know if it does.

I'm unsure of the "encryption" that you reference, however. Does it look similar to this:

Code:

From - Wed May 23 18:36:00 2007
X-Account-Key: account1
X-UIDL: <4654C70C.10109@mchsi.com>
X-Mozilla-Status: 0011
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
X-Mozilla-Keys:                                                                                 
Return-Path: <jons@mchsi.com>
Received: from aa08.charter.net ([10.20.500.160]) by mtai04.charter.net
          (InterMail vM.7.08.02.00 601-2086-121-20061213) with ESMTP
          id <20070523233034.TMPN1549.5tai03.charter.net@aa08.charter.net>
          for <louisb@charter.net>; Wed, 23 May 2007 19:30:34 -0400
Received: from sccmmhc61.asp.att.net ([204.136.200.213])
          by aa08.charter.net with ESMTP
          id <20070523233034.EXJD2940.aa08.charter.net@sccmmhc21.asp.att.net>
          for <louisb@charter.net>; Wed, 23 May 2007 19:30:34 -0400
Received: from [192.168.1.104] (12-218-158-85.client.mchsi.com[12.218.168.77])
          by sccmmhc21.asp.att.net (sccmmhc91) with ESMTP
          id <20070523225751m9100d2u18e>; Wed, 23 May 2007 22:57:51 +0000
Message-ID: <4654C70C.10109@mchsi.com>
Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 15:58:20 -0700
From: jonson <jons@mchsi.com>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.2) Gecko/20070222 SeaMonkey/1.1.1
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: louis <louisb@charter.net>
Subject: Re: greetiing stranger.
References: <46349245.1049901@mchsi.com> <4654886C.4100004@charter.net> <4654A128.3060300@mchsi.com> <4654BE0A.4090309@charter.net>
In-Reply-To: <4654BE0A.6070309@charter.net>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
 boundary= "------------090604050207030001020602 "
X-Chzlrs: 0

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------090604050207030001020602
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

The text of the messages would begin here.....

 

I checked your screen shot and it looks like mine with one exception: I don't have the local directory line on it. In order to get the local directory line I have to go to local folders. It's there, although then I know the right path to my mail is everything it says except "\localfolders\" at the end, which I delete.

Here are two examples of what I find in the Inbox. The first is an email surrounded by code. All of the emails from last weekend look like this, i.e. legible but with code:


From - Sun Feb 17 21:04:25 2008
X-UIDL: 11520-1162414218
X-Mozilla-Status: 0011
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
Received: from asp-1.reflexion.net
by vms172055.mailsrvcs.net
(Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006))
with SMTP id <0JWA00JT5AM82ZKC@vms172055.mailsrvcs.net> for
judyfz@....; Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:22:59 -0600 (CST)
Received: by asp-1.reflexion.net (Reflexion email security v5.30.2)
with SMTP; Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:26:42 -0500 (EST)
Received: (qmail 25589 invoked from network); Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:26:40 -0600
Received: from static.... with SMTP; Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:26:40 -0600
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:27:00 -0500
From: ....
In-reply-to: <4....>
X-Originating-IP: ....
To: Judy ....>
Message-id: <....>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: multipart/alternative; boundary=B_3285912422_61247
User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/....
> This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.
--B_3285912422_61247
Content-type: text/plain;
charset= "US-ASCII "
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Judy:
Page 2 note made. So today I am pursuing the Blashfeld scan from Kelly...hoping Rita gets and is OK with the Edwards scan and the new Abbey scan....hoping and confident that the Steranko shoot will go just fine.
Worrying about the photographs...will the scans be OK.
Revisiting the budget.
Terry


Then everything before February 15th is encrypted. Here's a piece of it at random:
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See what I mean...?

 

P.S. As per Westside's last posting, I tried creating a new account but although it looked like I had done it, no mail came into it when I tested it.

 

Judy,

The code you are seeing looks like the code for an attachment. Did the message have an attachment?

You can see the Local Directory field by catching the corner of the Server Settings window with your Mouse pointer, and pulling down on the corner. This is one of the bugs in Ver. 7.x.

Can you see the local directory field now?

 

Ramona, and Judy,
if the Inbox is only 6.0 MB or so, it is not so bad. Any of my Inboxes have fluctuated between 2-5 MB, going over 10, occasionally.
In such cases, I move the larger e-mails to subfolders, or different folders.
But, I know of people who had an unbelievable 1-2 GB, and the Inbox will come to a grinding halt.

This tells the reason for the apparent encryption. And, photographs will not be be viewable.
Once again, I will ask this question. May be I did not spell it out.
When I go to Edit|Mail and Newsgroups| I get a box smaller than the entire page. It is labelled Mail and News Account Settings ( on upper left). For simplicity sake, let's assume that I have only one account, and it is call whatever comes up, if you don't rename it, like I do.
So, are you saying that there no Account Name, but only Local Folders?
It looks like I will have to download and install NS7.1 to see what it is like.
Was mail imported from Outlook Express? I would go into Local Folders.
I will let you know what I find.

 

It did not have an attachment, but again, all of the mail from Feb 15-17 I got normally, so I'm not worried about those. I just sent that email as an example of what I meant by "encoded" (as opposed to "encrypted" which was the other stuff I sent below it).

Aha! Yes indeedy. However, what I see is the path I found under local folders, minus the \localfolders\ at the end.

No, there is an account name there, but only the one.

No, I've never used Outlook Express. I use Netscape 7.1 from my primary computer, and webmail when I'm away from it (all my email comes to webmail and thence to Netscape).

 

Judy,

Do you make frequent backups of your Profiles folder?

If so, and you do have a current backup, then do this:

With Netscape and Quick Launch closed:

Rename the prefs.js file to Xprefs.js
This file is located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename\xxxxxxx.slt

Next:
Copy the prefs.js file from your most current backup, and paste the files into the xxxxxxxx.slt folder.

 

I am using Netscape7.1, and I set up a profile of its own, for the purpose.
When I first set it up, it tried to set up a netscape.net account, but it would not work. Instead, I set up an aim.com account, which has the same username/password as netscape.net. I set up a Cox account, from scratch. The IMAP account had the same mail as when it was first set up in June 2005.
The Cox account has all the mail which was still on server.
The Local Directory of the the aim account has this path: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\username\APPLICATION DATA\Mozilla\Profiles\default\xxxx3xxx.slt\ImapMail\imap.aim.com
The Cox account is: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\username\APPLICATION DATA\Mozilla\Profiles\default\xxxx3xxx.slt\Mail\pop.central.cox.net, and, finally the Local Folders have this path: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\username\APPLICATION DATA\Mozilla\Profiles\default\xxxx3xxx.slt\Mail\Local Folders
As you can see all three have in common this part: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\username\APPLICATION DATA\Mozilla\Profiles\default\xxxx3xxx.slt, i.e. the only difference is in the type of mail (IMAP or Mail| account name).
Again, to me it does not mean much what I have in the file itself., since I see all the HTML. But I took a look at one e-mail, which had, in part this:

Content-ID: <image001.jpg@01C86C92.ADC14A50>
Content-Type: image/jpeg; name=image001.jpg
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD/2wBDAAoHBwgHBgoICAgLCgoLDhgQDg0NDh0VFhEYIx8lJCIf
IiEmKzcvJik0KSEiMEExNDk7Pj4+JS5ESUM8SDc9Pjv/2wBDAQoLCw4NDhwQEBw7KCIoOzs7Ozs7
Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7Ozv/wAARCAC5Aa8DASIA
AhEBAxEB/8QAHwAAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQFBgcICQoL/8QAtRAAAgEDAwIEAwUFBAQA
and several more pages of it. As you can see it refers to a jpeg file.
My emphasis on the encoding.
My 7.1 works, as expected, and I copied some old mail, after renaming the old Inbox to Oldinbox, and pasted it into the new account folder (with 7.1 closed).

 

Are you saying that this is the AOL Web Mail Account where the mail has disappeared?

Did you close the program, then reopen?

 

I haven't had the chance to respond to the posting before this latest one, but this one I can do immediately: it's NOT aol, it's Verizon netmail, and yes, after creating the new account (same email address as Westside suggested) I closed it and opened it several times but it didn't function.