Brief Introduction of Apple Mail

Emails are the most secure way of communication. Every email client has their own specifications and compatibility factor. In Mac system default email application client is Apple Mail. Let’s have a complete overview of Apple Mail. In previous time, Apple Mail is known as ‘Mail.app’. Firstly ‘Mail.app’ email application is launched by NeXT as ‘Next Mail’ later on it was adapted by OS’X Mail application.

Introduction of Apple Mail

    Apple Mail provides supports for all basic protocol like SMTP, POP3 and IMAP and can easily work with all popular email client i.e. Yahoo mail, Gmail, AOL Mail, Mobile Me , ioS and Exchange. Additional benefits of using Apple Mail are its Active Sync support and its icloud account connectivity that makes it more flexible for users. Latest version of Apple Mail is Version5 introduced with Mac OS Xv10.7.

 

File Structure of Apple Mail:

Email applications has their own procedure to save emails as well as respective folders associated with user’s profile like sent items, Notes and inbox. Apple Mail supports for MBOX file format in their old versions (before 10.4) but in new versions (10.7), Apple Mail follow .emlx file format. The basic difference that lies between MBOX file format and .emlx file format is their storage structure. Let’s have a look on these file formats.

Introduction of MBOX files:

MBOX files store all messages in a single file. MBOX is abbreviated as Mailboxes. In MBOX file structure, all messages are concatenated in a single plain text file. 

Default files location of MBOX file:

 “/User/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/ directory”

NOTE: Location of MBOX file differs from client to client.

Introduction of EMLX files

In new versions of Apple Mail, .emlx file format is supported. EMLX files are abbreviated as Mail messages. EMLX file format messages can be separated in to single files and thus become easily available on searching. User can easily view their .emlx files in text editor.

Default files location of .EMLX file:

"~user/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/[mailbox]/Messages/"folder."~user/Library/Mail/[account]/INBOX. Mbox/Messages/" folder. 

Remarkable Features of Apple Mail

Multimedia Support: Apple mail provides support to multimedia messages. User can easily send video clips and photos to receiver. Additionally user can easily apply drag and drop option to attach multimedia file to the emails. It saves user time. Additionally user can use inbuilt tools to adjust the settings of image.

Manageable Inbox: Apple Mail has manageable inbox. User can adjust the settings of their mailboxes. They can easily change their font settings, color choice and text size and many other settings. User can also set the priority of emails according to their use.

Advance Calendars: Apple Mail has advance calendars settings options. User can see multiple calendars in a single window. Moreover user can also get time to time update (change in meeting schedule etc) via emails. User can also create invitations and can invite their other friends via emails.

Support Multiple Mail Account: Apple Mail supports for multiple mail accounts .User can also configure their multiple mail accounts with Apple Mail and (list is mentioned above) avail benefits.

Mail Connection: Mail connection feature is present in Apple Mail. Sometime user is not able to send mail to their respective client. User doesn’t need to get resolve the problem as Apple mail is automatically enriched with features of “Connection doctor”. User must click on “Connection doctor” button to resolve this error.

 I hope all above information is quite helpful to know about Apple Mail.

Switch without any hitch from Outlook Express to MS Outlook

Outlook Express and MS-Outlook both email applications are child of same parent i.e. Microsoft. These two application use DBX and PST file to store information. I have already introduced about DBX and PST files in my previous post. Although both these email applications are same, the only difference lies between their functionality and technical architecture i.e.  

Ø Outlook supports for Voice support features

Ø Outlook  provides connectivity with Exchange server

Ø Outlook supports for features like personal calendar, contact management etc these features are missing in OE

Including these differences still there are few scenarios that make user to upgrade their email application from Outlook Express to Outlook. These common scenarios are:

Circumstances:

Ø Change in work environment

Ø Up-gradation in OS (Operating system)

Ø Better Email Features

These are the common reasons for switching of mail client from Outlook Express to Outlook. Here, I will explain the complete procedure for accessing Outlook Express data in Outlook. But these steps applicable to application installed on same computer.

This process will complete in two steps:

1) By Importing data

2) Set default email application client

Steps to Import all messages, account settings, addresses book and rules for Outlook versions 2002, 2003 and 2007

For Mail settings:

Open Outlook mail application and target for Import and Export.

Now, select for option entitle as “Import Internet Mail Account Settings”

 Move to Outlook Express and proceed by clicking on NEXT.

Enter name and email address in the text box

  

NOTE: Make sure about the name because user's profile is shown by this name only.

Now, check for incoming and outgoing mail servers also ensure about account log in credentials.

Reminder: Enable the check box entitles as Secure Password Authentication (SPA) and then log on. This will work for version 2.5 POP mails.

Now, select the method to connect to Internet and proceed

Import easily all your email account settings.

For Outlook Express messages, address book and rules

Open Outlook mail application and target for Import and Export.

Now, select for option entitle as “Import Internet Mail & Addresses”

Select method according to Outlook version:

For Outlook 2007, Select Outlook Express 4.x, 5.x, 6.x

For Outlook 2003, Select Outlook Express 4.x, 5.x, 6.x.

For Outlook 2002, Select Outlook Express 4.x, 5.

NOTE: Make sure all check boxes are selected for labels “Import Mail, Address Book and Rules”. Import the data in to one of the following i.e. Contacts Folder of Outlook or the Personal Address Book.

Ø Select the option to handle duplication issue during Import process

Ø Select the option to handle duplicity during import

Ø Click Finish

Another Option:

B Set Default email application-client: There are two methods to select default email application client.

Option 1: In Outlook mail application in the Tool menu select Option and select the Other Tab

Now, choose check box entitle as “Set Outlook as a default program for E-mail, Contacts and Calendar.

Steps to Import all messages, account settings, addresses book and rules for Outlook versions 2010

For Mail Accounts:

ü Open Outlook 2010 application and select the Menu

ü Open the “Import and Export Wizard” by clicking on Import tab

OR

ü Open Outlook 2010 application and select the Menu

ü Open advanced tab to Export. This will open the Import and Export Wizard

Further procedure is same as describe for version (2002, 2003, and 2007)

For Outlook Express messages, address book and rules:

All procedure is same. But make sure of underwritten points:

·        User can't import rules to version Outlook 2007 and 2010 as these rules subset has been extended and blessed with more features as compare to earlier version.

·         Set User can import data to Outlook Contact folder only.

Another Option:

Default email application-client:

·        Open Outlook 2010 application and select the File > Menu in the Ribbon.

·        Select the General tab and proceed

·        Now, choose check box entitle as “Set Outlook as a default program for E-mail, Contacts and Calendar.

Above mentioned is the procedure to access Outlook Express data in to Outlook. There is also one more option to access data easily i.e. use of third party converter tools to convert DBX file to PST file format. The DBX to PSTfile converter tool is well equipped with advance technique that is more secure and safe.

          

PST File Size Limit Solution

Previous version of Outlook is followed by “ANSI” file format that used binary values to store information and made PST file a non -Unicode data file. This data file had a hard weird limit i.e. 2 GB. With such file size limit, it became tough for a user to maintain their PST file.

Microsoft resolves this trouble in newer version of outlook by following “UNICODE” file format blessed with UTF-16 endian and 64 bit pointers. This overcomes the problem of 2 GB file size. In previous version (2003 to 2007), PST file size limit was widening up to 20GB while in latest versions (2010 and 2013), limit extends to 50 GB. But the main problem is still same when user starts to use newer version PST file in old version of Outlook because it is beyond the size limit defined by UNICODE file format

To resolve this problem, Microsoft provides several options to minimize the file size limits for Outlook data file.

1. By doing editing in Windows Registry
2. By reducing the size of PST file by splitting it in to small size PST files.

NOTE: To reduce the PST file size of newer version to open with older version, user has to export the data from reduce PST file to new PST file. Here are all steps to perform export operation:

Steps to export the data from reduce PST file to new PST file

1. In the first step, user has to start Outlook 2010. User can also start Outlook 2013 later but with a condition i.e. Outlook contains user original.pst file limit with 20GB file size.
2. Indicating on File menu click on info.
3. Move to Cleanup Tools and then
4. Hit on Archive and it will results in opening of an “Archive dialog box”.
5. After opening of Archive dialogue box do the underwritten changes:

• Open “Archive this folder and all subfolders and Enable” them.
• Now, user sees a list of all folders and will select the .pst file to archive.
• This will open a drop-down list of all Archive items.
• Now, user will select the date on the basis of items archived. Make sure user will select date on which maximum items are archived.

NOTE: Selection of date also depends on too many factors.

• Now, after performing all these steps, user has to archive the messages. To archive message, user has to select the path of destination .pst file.
• There may be condition user has to archive email messages in large amount. If true then it is advised to create a new.pst file.

Remarkable Point: To identify the age of an item Outlook (2010 and 2013), user should use the modified date on messages during the archive process. There is also possibility that archive process will not archive messages according to user needs.

In this situation, user is helpless as archive process will not work anymore to play down the Outlook data file size (.pst) to less than 20GB. What a user can do to minimize the size of outlook data file? User can perform splitting operation on .pst file. After completion of operation, move the messages manually from large .pst file to another .pst file. To save time in moving folders take on these steps:

Steps:

• Open large sized .pst file and destination .pst file in Outlook.
• Select the large sized .pst file folder
• Do right click on messages to migrate them to new small .pst file
• Now, Move folder
• After moving folder a “Move Folder dialog box” will appear
• Choose the destination.pst file
• Process is complete.

By using above mentioned steps, user can easily split large PST file in to smaller size PST files.

How to resolve Outlook Error “Can not create file”?

Outlook email user’s generally facing an error while opening and saving an email attachment in Outlook: "Cannot create file". The root cause behind this error is “Temporary Internet files folder”.

These files are saved on server just because of this, user is not able to do modifications in these files as they don't have administrator permission and result in error.

Error message:

To resolve this problem, Microsoft provides two options to user. Either user can download the software from website or user can fix the problem by their own.

Steps to resolve problem with the help of Microsoft:

It's a simple procedure to resolve the problem, user has to download the software's .exe file and run the file simply and must follow all the instructions present in the “Fix it Wizard”.

Remarkable Point:

• Instruction manual is provided in English. If user wants to follow different language then user can choose different languages.

• May be user is not able to download this software on system. Not to worry! User can save this software in any hard drive or CD and install software on the affected system.

Steps to resolve problem manually:

In this process to save temporary files Outlook will use folders entitle as:

“temp” folder. Problem can be fix by doing modifications in Windows Registry key. Remember while doing modifications in windows registry make sure user has a backup of their register because any wrong step will lead to re installation of Operating system.

For user's of Outlook 2000

• Open Registry Editor
• Now, Locate the registry key:
• After allocating registry key hit on underwritten link:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security\Outlook SecureTempFolder

• In case, if user's MS Outlook is configured with terminal server then use the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\TerminalServer\Install\Software\MICROSOFT\Office\9.0\Outlook\SECURITY\OutlookSecureTempFolder

• To modify or edit registry open the Menu and apply Edit Command
• After applying Edit command click on Modify
• Now, Enter the underwritten value:

Value data: Path and name of the folder that you want to use

• Now, Exit Registry Editor.

For user's of Outlook 2003

• Go to My Computer
• Targets drive C and do double click.
• Point to File menu click on New and then proceed for Folder.
• Give the folder a name as “temp0”.
• Come to start option
• Point to Start hit Run
• In the text box type text as regedit, and proceed
• Locate the registry key and Click OK:
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security\
• Now, open the right pane and do double click on Outlook Secure Temp Folder.
• Now. Open the field entitle as Value Data field
• Enter the following text: type C:\temp0\
• Close the Registry Editor and restart computer.

For user's of Outlook 2007

All above procedure is same for Outlook 2003. Difference lies between only Locations of registry. i.e

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security

For user's Outlook 2010

• Go to My Computer
• Target drives C and do double click.
• Point to File menu click on New and then proceed for Folder.
• Give the folder a name as “temp0”.
• Come to start option
• Point to Start hit Run
• In the text box type text as regedit, and proceed
• Locate the registry key and Click ok:
• Locate and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Security\

• Now, open the right pane and do double click on Outlook Secure Temp Folder.
• Now. Open the field entitle as Value Data field
• Enter the following text: type C:\temp0\
• Close the Registry Editor and restart computer.

Aforementioned steps will easily resolve the error. If the user still found the error then user has to contact Microsoft customer support to resolve the error.

Key factors that lead to MBOX to PST file conversion

Emails are considered as most simplified way of communication because of their speed, security, and robustness. In world of email application, there is lot of email application clients available like Thunderbird, Pocomail, Eudora, Apple Mail, Outlook and many more. Mostly users prefer email client which is easy to handle, free of errors & no need of technical expertise. Let’s discuss these email clients one by one: 

 

Thunderbird Email Application Thunderbird is the mail client designed by Mozilla. Thunderbird email application supports for MBOX file format expanded as mail boxes. These MBOX files maintain all messages associated with user’s profile in a plain text file

Pocomail Email Application: Poco mail was designed by Poco systems to work on Microsoft Windows system. Poco mail used their own scripting method to prevent spam. Pocomail does not provide support for JavaScript. File format supported by Poco mail is .mbx files. Default location for Pocomail files are:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Pocomail\Mail

Eudora Email Application: Eudora mail client is designed to work on Apple Macintosh system as well as on Windows operating system. Additionally Eudora mail client has also support for Palm Operating systems. File format supported by Eudora mail client is MBX files.

Apple Mail Email Application: Apple mail was developed to work as a default email client with Mac OS. In apple mail separate .mbox files are generated to store different email folders. Apple mail does not support for calendars, contacts and Address Book

Outlook Email Application: Ms-Outlook email application is designed by Microsoft. The whole information of user profile along their mail boxes is stored in a PST file. PST is basically known as Personal Storage Table having a limit of 50 GB. Although size limit of PST file is depend upon the Outlook version used by user. PST follows the B-tree structure with 512 bytes nodes and leafs. Storage location of PST file is user’s hard disk. 

 

Most of us choose Outlook as our email application client because of its flexibility & supports all above points. 

 

There are some other reasons that force users to switch from MBOX file format to Outlook file format. Here, are few key points that are enough to explain the reasons behind conversion of MBOX file to PST file

Reasons that make User switch from MBOX file to PST 

 

File Structure: As I explained above all email applications have their own file format. PST file format is easy to understand as compared to other file formats such as MBOX, MBX file etc. Also MS-Outlook is easily available in Office suite form which can be downloadable from the site of Microsoft. MS-Outlook can also be used in both mode i.e. online mode as well as offline mode.

File Locking System: Thunderbird email application is introduced with a feature named as “file locking” feature. Although this feature adds more security to the user’s data but have a disadvantage too. This file locking feature is not compatible with other applications such as Lotus Notes File. To read a MBOX file in safe mode, user must lock the MBOX file as this file show corrupt message in case if file is unlock. This system is not supported by PST file.

Extensive Features: Outlook is bless with vast and extensive features like connectivity with social media profiles, Attachment reminder, User friendly interface, Support for Exchange account and many more features . Facility to create to-do-list and many more advance features that make user switch from MBOX file to PST file.

Saving multimedia file: One more advantage of using PST file is that PST files are capable of saving multimedia file whether this facility is not supported by MBOX files. 

 

PST File is easy to manage: It’s easy to use and store PST files as compared to MBOX files. The main difference lies in their structure as MBOX file is a single file concatenated all messages in form of a string. It becomes tough for user to sort out a particular message while this is possible in PST file because of its flexible file structure.

Change in Work place: One more common reason behind switching from MBOX file format to MS-Outlook mail application is change in work environment. MS-Outlook is common email application used by every organization so it is also consider as a key factor in changing email application client 

 

OS Support: MBOX file format does not support for Windows Operating system. We all are aware of fact that most of us use Windows operating system because of its user friendly interface. 

 

All above explained reasons are quite enough to explain why there is need to perform MBOX to PST. After reading above, user will surely search for an option to convert MBOX file to PST file. Let me aware user there is no direct method to convert MBOX file to PST. To convert MBOX file to PST file, user has to use third party tools. Check this presentation to know more about MBOX to PST file conversion:

How to convert MBOX file to PST? from aidajolley

 

Brief Introduction of Thunderbird Mail Application

Electronic mails are the fastest way of transferring information in every field. Although there are a number of email client applications available for sending and receiving emails. Every email application client has their own features. From the list of email application clients, I am introducing Thunderbird email application client. 

Thunderbird Mail Application: - Thunderbird mail application is a mail client designed by Mozilla. Basically it’s an open source cross platform used as newsgroup, newsfeed, chat purpose and for sending and receiving emails. Along with POP and IMAP, Thunderbird also supports for LDAP account (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) that is an additional benefit. Moreover Thunderbird also supports for different operating system that is another great advantage for user. List of Operating Systems on which Thunderbird is operated i.e.

• Windows
• Linux
• OSX
• Open Solaris
• Free BSDOS/2 and ecomStation

Default location of Thunderbird in Windows Directory is:

• For users of Windows 2000/XP/2003:

C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Thunderbird

• For users of Windows NT

C:\WINNT\Profiles\[userName]\Application Data\Thunderbird

• For Windows 98/98SE/ME

C:\Windows\Application Data\Thunderbird

NOTE: Run windows on default "C:\" drive or partition

• For Mac OS X
• ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/.

For user of Linux

• Linux/UNIX~/.thunderbird /xxxxxxxx.default/.

Mail Messages Format of Thunderbird Application:

Mozilla Thunderbird files are stored in profile folder associated with user profile. User’s mails are stored in mail folders in the MBOX format. To find these mailboxes, user can open their profile folder

The profile folder contains all configuration files of Mozilla Thunderbird. To find out the location of mail, follow these steps:

1. Point to Tools menu apply command entitle as Settings.
2. Now, select the desired account.
3. Open option entitle as “Server settings”.
4. Folder named as “Local directory” will open.
5. Now, copy the information you receive from the Local directory and paste it in to the Windows Explorer.

By using these steps, user will able to see their mail folders

Thunderbird supports for three types of mail format. File Format that are supported by Thunderbird are:

• Mbox
• Mork
• Sqlite

Let us discuss in brief about the MBOX file format which is of common use.

MBOX FILES:

MBOX files are basically collection of all electronic mails present in a mailbox. These files contain all mail messages in form of a single plain text file. In MBOX files, all messages are concatenated in a single file in form of string. These messages start with a line consist of five letters i.e. "From" and followed by a space in sender's e-mail address. To append the message with other mail, a blank line is added at the end of every message.

Modified Formats of MBOX Family: Mbox files are associated with four types of formats i.e

• mboxo,
• mboxrd,
• mboxcl,
• mboxcl2.

Example of Mbox file

From MAILER-DAEMON Sat Aug 12:08:34 2012

From: Aida <aida@demo.com>

To: amanda < amanda @ demo.com>

Subject: Demo message

Body of the message

>From()

How to configure your mail

From MAILER-DAEMON Sat Aug 12:08:34 2012

From: Aida <aida@demo.com>

To: amanda < amanda @ demo.com>

Subject: Demo message part2

This is the second body.

Location of thunderbird files i.e.

Here tilde character (~) indicates to Home Folder of current user

Supporting Clients for MBOX files are:

Supporting clients for MBOX files are Thunderbird, Eudora, Apple mail, Entourage, Mac Mail, Spice bird, Pocomail. The main reason behind popularity of MBOX file is their email structure that is in text form. These files can be read easily by using text processing tools and also help in saving email messages. 

 

I hope after reading above article, user is aware of Thunderbird application and file formats associated with them.