Integrating Mail

[jfwilson]

I know my Macs are way behind the times ... and I AM ready for some new machines ... but please bear with me re: the Mail integration problem I'm experiencing with my current G4 and G3 ...

We (the family) use an old G4 desktop as our main home computer, and rove around the house with an ole iBook G3.  So all of our mail normally sits on the G4, using Apple's Mail program.

When on vacation recently, for a month, travelling extensively (new city nearly every day!), we took the iBook along, and used it for all e-mail starting at that point.  We e-mailed extensively during that period, again, using Apple's Mail program -- maybe not the best, most elegant choice, but nevertheless, that's where we are today ...

I'd like to integrate the Mail from the iBook into the G4's Mail.  I've done some investigation, but the only way seems to be via $99 software that I'd only use once (and who knows how well it works, ramp-up speed, etc.).  I wonder if there are other possibilities.  For example, when I used to use Windoz at the office, Archiving mail in Outlook created a separate file.  If I could create an independent file through a means such as that, I could simply copy it into the appropriate folder handling the Mail on the G4.  But I don't know if this is possible ... I mean, Mail is not very feature-rich ...

Any thoughts as to how I can solve this problem, and end up with a seamless sequence of e-mails that include that portion from the iBook?

Thanks, John

[Dan Millar]

Mail does include an archive function, but only in the more recent versions. Select the mailbox or mailboxes you want to archive, and control- or right-click the selected mailbox to see the archive mail command. You can alternatively select Archive Mailbox... from the Maibox menu in Mail. Either way, you end up with an .mbox file, which you can then import into Mail using the Import Mailboxes item under the File Menu. Choose Mail for OS X as the source, point it at the .mbox file you already created, and presto - a new folder will appear in your list of mailboxes. You can then drag the messages into other mailboxes as you like.

Don't remember when they added the archive function, so let us know if this won't work for you.

By the way, MBOX files can be created from most Windows or UNIX/Linux mail programs and then be imported the same way, in case that's useful to others...

Happy Mac'ing

Dan

[jfwilson]

Hi, Dan.  Thanks for your response.

Sounds like a great method.  However, I must have an older version of Mail (v2.1.3), since it doesn't have an Archive option in the menu.  I subscribe to software upgrade notifications and install them almost immediately ... and am running Mac OS X 10.4.11, so don't know why I don't have the version of Mail you're referring to ... is this not part of the OS? or is it now packaged separately?  or is this new version only in 10.5? (which my old G3 and G4 won't support!)

I'm interested in your thoughts on one possible alternative, if the above can't work for me ...

A couple of days after I sent out my call for help, I was looking at the Mail file structures, and discovered that it is not the single humongous file I had thought it was -- each mail item has its own file.  (I don't know if this is a change since I looked at it years ago, or whether my memory's failing me.)  At any rate, one possibility might be to drop these mail items into the other Mac's Mail folder -- however, I don't know how it builds its directory (dynamically, when started, or saved to a static file somewhere), so suppose it could cause corruption ... the other potential problem with this is that there are likely duplicate file names for different mail items from the two Macs ...

Is this a sensible alternative to explore, or do you have other ideas?  ... or can I somehow get the latest Mail version on my old Macs?

Thanks again for your help!

John

[Dan Millar]

You're right - Mail 2.1.3 corresponds to OS X 10.4.11, and does not seem to have the archive function - damn! I guess it's a Mail 3.x/OS X 10.5.x feature! However, you're not out of options yet! To create an mbox copy of a mailbox, drag the mailbox from the mailbox list to your desktop. Then use the same procedure - Import as Mail for OS X and Bob should be your Uncle....

Happy Mac'ing

Dan

[jfwilson]

Hey, Dan.  Thanks for the help with this.

I know it's been awhile since we corresponded about this ... but I finally bought my 24" iMac.  It arrived a few days ago and after getting it up & running, it was time to combine platforms, bringing together e-mail on 2 old platforms, then migrating it to the iMac.

As you indicated, it was pretty easy.  But it was great to have your guidance, so I knew what I was up for ... or not :) .  At least I knew it was going to be possible before I dug myself into a deep hole.

Cheers, John

[Dan Millar]

Congrats on the iMac, pretty sweet machines. You're very welcome, I learned some stuff along the way, so thank you for the question!

Happy iMac'ing

Dan