Small correction to the explanation on format of a folder.  Each message is terminated by a x'1A' byte. The header line is correct. The individual lines of a message are terminated by a CRLF  (x'0D0A') sequence

Martin

Hi,
I have two different Windows computers and would like to merge the saved message folders with their files from one computer into the other. Each is running Pegasus v 4.70. Both computers have PMail loaded on the C:\ drive. PMail includes the Programs and MAIL folders.

A second question follows. Where can I find a list of the MAIL folder and saved mail 3 character name extensions and their meaning?

Best regards and thanks for any help that can be supplied.
eug4not

Mailbox merge is here:

http://community.pmail.com/forums/post/14522.aspx

File names and extensions:

http://www.vandenbogaerde.net/pegasusmail/pf_pmfiles.html

Mail merge is here:

 http://community.pmail.com/forums/post/14522.aspx

File names/extensions:

 http://www.vandenbogaerde.net/pegasusmail/pf_pmfiles.html

[quote user="caisson"]

Mailbox merge is here:

http://community.pmail.com/forums/post/14522.aspx

File names and extensions:

http://www.vandenbogaerde.net/pegasusmail/pf_pmfiles.html

[/quote]

That work around is really not a merge. That is a lot of manual labor that you even can't be certain will work. Already when you add the other mailbox two things will happen. Second mailbox will blend into the original mailbox to some extend (never found out what determin that), some folders will stay outside but you will loose all structure (probably also a consequence from some containers moving to the original mailbox) and some mail folders will not be there at all (something aorund handling duplicate names). So it is messy messy.  Beside you have lost all the importet structure.

I wish that the next version of Pmail when you attach a mailbox that it keep its structure and that it does not blend in the first one. Then the manual work will be much more easy and secure to perform.

Physically merging two mailboxes requires manually copying messages from added mailbox folders to folders created in the Pegasus Mail instance that you are merging into.

IMHO, rebuilding the lost tray structure in the added mailbox and leaving it as an added mailbox is the way to go.  Gradually merging messages into the other mailbox could be done on a per folder basis as the need arises.

I have never seen content of an added mailbox blend into the other

mailbox.  Could you describe what you are seeing that indicates blending

occurring?

[quote user="Brian Fluet"]

Physically merging two mailboxes requires manually copying messages from added mailbox folders to folders created in the Pegasus Mail instance that you are merging into.

IMHO, rebuilding the lost tray structure in the added mailbox and leaving it as an added mailbox is the way to go.  Gradually merging messages into the other mailbox could be done on a per folder basis as the need arises.

I have never seen content of an added mailbox blend into the other

mailbox.  Could you describe what you are seeing that indicates blending

occurring?

[/quote]

Yes I could have... if I just had done a few screen shots before I began to try to go another way. But to outline what I am in: I used to run a Novell server and was at the same time roaming a lot on my laptop(s). Then I decided (! - well acted foolish several times in a row) to trash and crash (or maybe the other way around) that Novell server. And I believe the HD controller has gone, so I have stepped almost 2 years back, but I do have a full mailbox from medio 2013 with structure etc. The laptop holds mails from later but just in messy folders.

So gave up on having a server myself, became hosted but still running Pegasus on my laptop. So what I want to accomplish is to merge my original server structure with the content of the messy stuff from the laptop.

And adding one mailbox to the other goes unpreditably bad. As I already mentioned some folders show up in the main mailbox (despite they are not in that directory), most are in the added, and finally I believe some are not shown at all. And then I do remember something about that name has to be different, but I am not sure.

Then I tried anyways to move one folder from one box to another. Impossible. That is really strange as this is so simple (moving two files and make a proper correction in the hierachy file).

Alternatively: Make a new folder in the one box and copy content from the 2nd box folder to this folder. Turns out to be impossible at least if the content are sufficiently large. Pegasus just hangs after moving like 150 or so. In general I have learn that Pegasus does not like to move too many mails from one mailfolder to another. The process is faster if you move smaller amounts several times.

What I try to do at the moment is to copy my folders from one subdirectory to another in windows explorer. That at least moves the folders to the proper spot. And it is fast. Also it seems that Pegasus picks up the mailfolder and then it is easy to move them. Well that seem to be working for most folders - troubles comes if the names are the same. Either filenames (rename and then that is fixed) or mailfolder names (rename inside Pegasus).

But about all the blending in... well I can't show that at the moment. When I am done merging I may go back to my copies of the original two folders and make a screenshot, so until then for what it is worth: It happens.

You have a good understanding of all of the problems and can see why adding a mailbox directory as an added mailbox and then copying message to folders in My Mailbox is the best way to go.  Neither easy or quick though when a large number of folders and messages are involved. 

There is a utility called PMRestArch that can solve the problem of duplicate internal ID's.  It was designed for restoring archived mail folders but is useful in any situation where the potential for duplicates exists.  It might be worth checking out.  Find it at http://www.lexacorp.com.pg/lexacorp_utilities.html about two-thirds down the page.  It also changes the .PMM/.PMI filename but there is no reference as to whether it changes the folder name.  I assume it would based on its purpose but don't know that for certain.  Hopefully another community member can chime in on that.

A lovely tool. I still had a few folders I had left out, and this was a no brainer to get them back in the game, thanks. I wish I had know that before I began.

So now the process looks like this.

1) Use the restore tool to merge two or more folders.

2) Use Pegasus to more content from one folder to another. That is the tedious part. I have tested a little and it may be faster to work on an empty new mail folder, then move mails from a folder to new mail, and then move from there into the target folder than it is just to move between folders. But then there is more manual work to perform. Anyways this part is where a tool would be handy.

I have been wondering what will happen if I just (in windows) merge two PMM files and then let Pegasus reindex it. Any post in a PMM file ends on 0D 0A and they begin at 0080 the file is self ends on a 1A so the merging it self is easy. And I believe if nothing else a reindex of the folder will take care of the rest. But I did not test it.

In the same direction I would like if there was an auto-reindex tool of a lot of mailfolders. It is very often needed for the next step.

3) Use the duplicate remove tool to remove all duplicates

And voila.