Quick update ...  Thanks for all the helpful advice to date.  I backed up the mysterious 4GB folder onto an external hard drive then deleted the original.  I think it must have been a repository for all the deleted junk mail.  No sign on any ill effects on the functioning or contents of any of the existing mail folders and I now have an extra 4GB of space.  I've also now changed the deleted mail box to continue to show what's in it so can now happily clear that when necessary.

Cheers!  Have a good week..

         Philip   [:D]
 

One of the files (calling itself FOL03C3D.PMM, if that's any help) on my PC generated by Pegasus is now nearly 4GB in size.  This is too big to view the content, and the file name doesn't correspond with any of the mail folders.  What might be in this?  It's affecting the performance of the PC and I'd dearly love to delete it, but am worrried that it may be important.  Any bright ideas?

 Thanks,

Philip   (Bolton, North-West England)
 

[quote user="Philip"]

One of the files (calling itself FOL03C3D.PMM, if that's any help) on my PC generated by Pegasus is now nearly 4GB in size.  This is too big to view the content, and the file name doesn't correspond with any of the mail folders.

[/quote]

This is one of your email folders, in which you must have filed either lots of messages or lots of messages with attachments.

Pegasus automatically generates filenames for your mail folders and uses an internal configuration file to map them to the names you give them.

The best way to find out which folder it is (if you don't have a lot of folders) is to right-click on the largest mail folders, one at a time, and select "Folder Information" from the pop-up context menu. It should list the folder type, long name (the name you gave it), and the filename, among other information. Do this until you find "FOL03C3D.PMM".

Once you've identified the folder you can delete unneeded messages. When you close it Pegasus will reclaim the space from deleted messages and the file will be reduced in size accordingly. Note that when you delete messages they will be added to your "Deleted Messages" folder and you will need to also delete them from that as well if you are to save space. Using Ctrl-Del will delete messages without sending them to the "Deleted Messages" folder, but I don't like doing this myself -- to easy to make mistakes.

In fact, it could very well be your "Deleted Messages" folder which is so big! Try that one first...

I have created a general filtering rule called "Sixty Day Purge" (my name) which I've attached as a "folder close filter" on the deleted messages folder, so that when I open it I can still recover a message, but when I close it messages older than sixty days will be deleted. I use this filter on several other folders as well -- email lists that I don't need to retain a complete history, etc. When there is a message there that I need to save I "lock" it, and usually select a color to identify it. The filter skips over these.

To create a filter set, go to Tools, Mail Filter Rules, Create/Edit General Rule Set, then select "new", give it a nice long name and optionally a file name. At that point you can create, edit, and reorder filtering rules. Click the "help" button to get David's extensive help on creating filtering rules.

My "Sixty Day Purge" is one line, created by new rule, select "message age", then put in "60" for "message is older than ___ days", select "delete" for the action, and click "Ok". Save the rule set, and attach it to, for example, your "Deleted Messages" folder by right-clicking on the folder, select "Set Attach folder-close filter" and highlight the filter you created and click "Open".

Hope that helps. -- Alan
 

Thanks Alan...

 I was wondering whether it was the deleted message folder and this does seem likely. But right-clicking on the deleted message folder shows it to have a different filename - so I'm still a bit baffled. This folder empties itself (and disapears from view)  each time I shut down Pegasus - but from what you're saying, it sounds like it simply empties into another folder that is never properly empties.  I've thinned out the other oversized folders and do this fairly regularly. 

 The filter rule looks like a helpful way forward, but I'm still concerned about how to free up the 4GB.

mmmm!?

 Philip

 

[quote user="Philip"] I was wondering whether it was the deleted message folder and this does seem likely. But right-clicking on the deleted message folder shows it to have a different filename - so I'm still a bit baffled. This folder empties itself (and disapears from view)  each time I shut down Pegasus - but from what you're saying, it sounds like it simply empties into another folder that is never properly empties.  I've thinned out the other oversized folders and do this fairly regularly. [/quote]

Sorry, I forgot that I have Pegasus set to keep deleted messages between sessions (under "Advanced settings" in "Options"), which is not the default.

Did you try checking the information on each folder to find the match? If you're comfortable and have a good backup of your Pegasus mailbox, you can see how Pegasus maps the folder names.

Go to Help, About, click on Info, and select and copy the path for "Home mailbox location:", eg "C:\PMAIL\MAIL\ashea" and paste this into Windows Start, Run. This will open that folder in windows explorer. Locate the file "HIERARCH.PM". I would advise you make a copy of it first: click once, then make a copy of it with Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, and go to the end of the file list to find "Copy of HIERARCH.PM". Open this with Windows Notepad -- type "notepad" in Start, Run, and then drag the file into Notepad. Search for the filename that is at issue, FOL03C3D.PMM - use Ctrl-F or Edit, Find. The long name will be on the far right of the same line. 

That should allow you to identify the oversize folder and thin it down. (I have emails going back to 1993 and my entire mailbox is only now approaching 900Mb, so 4Gb is excessive!)  

If you don't find the file, then it has been orphaned and you will have to get Pegasus to re-discover existing folders. Close Pegasus Mail, then delete the file "CACHE.PM" and "NEWCACHE.PM" (if it exists). Restart Pegasus -- this will take some time, depending on how many folders you have and the size of your newmail folder.

I must stress that if you start mucking about with Pegasus files like this you are in great danger of really corrupting your setup -- make a backup! You MUST close Pegasus before doing any of this. I've been using Pegasus for thirteen years, so I'm quite comfortable with this, but you shouldn't exceed your comfort level based on my advice. =)

The problem with your large folder could be a corrupted file that has been allocated more space than it should have -- have you run chkdsk or scandisk? This is more likely to happen on a FAT32 volume than on an NTFS volume (check the disk properties from Windows Explorer). If you are on a FAT32 volume in Windows 2000 or XP, you can run "%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\convert.exe c: /fs:NTFS /v" to switch from FAT32 to NTFS on the next reboot, but be aware that this will make the disk inaccessible from Windows 95/98/ME or other systems...

-- Alan 

Go here http://www.lexacorp.com.pg/mailsoft.html and get the Pegasus Mail Address Folder name resolver.  Put it in your mail folder and execute it.  It will show the names of your folders and their sizes.  Cheers.

Good reminder - I had forgotten about that utility! Thanks.

-- Alan