I sorted it out. I was using MS-Excel to edit the file (removing duplicates, double @@'s, spaces etc from the addresses), and when saving as a text file it was saving it as unicode. After I opened the txt file and saved it as an ANSI text file, Mercury could import the addresses. Phew!

Thanks to Thomas Stephenson's reply to my question about importing a list of addresses for use in a mailing list, I have used the BuildMLF utility found here: http://mysite.verizon.net/jameshaley/pmail/. My next question is how to get Mercury to use an existing .mlf file?

I have created a folder and placed the .mlf file in it. I create a new list and navigate to the folder and select the membership (.mlf) file. When I click 'Save' Mercury asks if I want to replace the file because it already exists. If I respond 'no', then I cannot proceed. If I respond 'yes' then the file is overwritten and no addresses are in the list.

I tried specifying a new name, saving it, then editing the membership path so that the file I created was used, but the membership list remained blank.

Does anyone know how I may use the .mlf file I have created with BuildMLF.exe please?

You simply put the file in the expected location.  You might be required to restart Mercury/32 to see it.  I hope you ate not using long filenames here since I'm not sure anything but 8.3 is supported.

Thanks, Thomas

I added a new list and specified the name of the file BuildMLF.exe made (htlnl.mlf) from the text file containing the email addresses (the htlnl.mlf file was not present in the folder when I added the list). The mlf file was not created in the folder by Mercury when I added the new list, so I copied the htlnl.mlf file I made to it. The addresses were not present when I managed the list, so I restarted Mercury but the addresses were still not present.

Does the utility work with the present version of Mercury? The BuildMLF.exe file has a 2003 datestamp.

Am I doing this correctly? Or is there something missing?

I really don't want to manually add several hundred email addresses.

Thanks

Am I doing this correctly? Or is there something missing?

Without looking at the MLF file and testing it I can't tell you.  However, I've built a number of mailing list from Excel files I have saved as text files so I know this does work.  FWIW, I always create the MLF in the mailing list with a couple of users for testing first and then replace it with the new list later.

I really don't want to manually add several hundred email addresses.

Agreed, that's a real pain.  That said, make sure that all of these names and addresses are valid in format.     You can send a copy of the MLF to techsupp@tstephenson.com for analysis if you wish.