[quote user="voxmagna"]

Thanks Thomas. I missed off something important on my post:

I always set PMAIL to defer sending mail which I do manually once my messages are in the queue.

So the issue is not my host, because the message with large attachments never goes out, It's still being transferred to PMAIL's cache or stops during it. It's in this 'lockup' state when the PC appears hung that things are going wrong. I can't unblock PMAIL if it's still writing out to its cache file and stopping the PMAIL service manually leaves the partial cache files in a mess from which I can't easily recover.

 It's easy to check, just attach a really big file to a pmail message and try sending it to yourself. If your PC doesn't hang forever like mine, then I know I have to be looking for something else. I'll look into the content control options. My original issue was it is too easy to drag and drop a very large image file by mistake into PMAILs attachment window, hit Send All Mail and get it screwed up.

How big a file are you talking about?  I send 5-6 MByte files on a regular basis using the built-in mailer.  It does take a bit to encode the attachment but it's about 30-40 seconds max (which seems like forever when you are setting there looking at the screen) and it always has no problems sending.  Now if the receiving host can't handle a message this size and bounces it then that's definitely going to cause a problem when it gets back to my mailbox.  I always verify what the receiving system can accept before sending huge files like this via email.

I always know which file is the one locking PMAIL from restarting, because it's the biggest and newest because PMAIL won't run and no more mail files can be created after the lockup. I can't I create new messages or read saved mail either.

Thanks for your help, I'll go see if I can set message size restrictions for outgoing messages to stop PMAIL hanging.

[/quote]

I hope somebody can help or offer advice. I have had this problem with all the latest versions of PMAIL and operating systems from Win98SE to XP.

 In todays digital photography world with cameras taking higher resolution/larger file pictures I have stupidly attached large files to messages without checking which has locked up PMAIL. Closing the App and trying to re-open fails and there is no access to any messages.

The only way I have found around this, is to hack into the file structure, find the largest most recent dated folder files when the hang happened, which seems to be cache files, back them up and delete them from the Pegasus directory. I'm using V4.41 so would appreciate a simpler answer.

 Does anybody know the attachment file size limit when this hang up happens, I get nervous for anything over 5Mb. which is fairly small these days.

 Thanks

The limit is set by your relay host / mail provider that you put in the SMTP (sending) details.  Find out from them what is acceptable - 5MB seems small, 15/20MB is quite common.

The files to search for are newmail (.CNM) if it is a reject message, or a ready to send (.PMX possibly with a corresponding .PNX).

> I hope somebody can help or offer advice. I have had this problem
> with all the latest versions of PMAIL and operating systems from
> Win98SE to XP.
>
>  In todays digital photography world with cameras taking higher
> resolution/larger file pictures I have stupidly attached large files
> to messages without checking which has locked up PMAIL. Closing the
> App and trying to re-open fails and there is no access to any
> messages.
>
> The only way I have found around this, is to hack into the file
> structure, find the largest most recent dated folder files when the
> hang happened, which seems to be cache files, back them up and
> delete them from the Pegasus directory. I'm using V4.41 so would
> appreciate a simpler answer.

Move all of the *.CNM files out of the new mail directory and try again.  It should now open normally.  You can then put the messages back one at a time until you find the problem message.  

It's probaby going to be a really large message.  If you are using content control then I'd recommend that you set a limit on the message size so you are not scanning these large files with encoded attachments.

1.    Use  Tools | Spam and content controls | Content control...

2.    Select and edit the control definition

3.    Select the "Message tests" tab.

4.    Enter 8000 in "Check at most this many bytes in each message"

>
>  Does anybody know the attachment file size limit when this hang up
> happens, I get nervous for anything over 5Mb. which is fairly small
> these days.

But it's way beyond many SMTP hosts limits and you'll just be getting hung up again.  There are many places to post photos on the web for free and you might want to look into using them.  HP's http://www.snapfish.com/ allows you to do this for free.  Once they are on the web then it's easy to let people know where to find the pictures.  If you need to send a picture though zip it up and attach the zip file.  Remember though that when you attach a 4 MByte file the actual message is going to be from 5-7 MBytes.

>
>  Thanks

Thanks Thomas. I missed off something important on my post:

I always set PMAIL to defer sending mail which I do manually once my messages are in the queue.

So the issue is not my host, because the message with large attachments never goes out, It's still being transferred to PMAIL's cache or stops during it. It's in this 'lockup' state when the PC appears hung that things are going wrong. I can't unblock PMAIL if it's still writing out to its cache file and stopping the PMAIL service manually leaves the partial cache files in a mess from which I can't easily recover.

 It's easy to check, just attach a really big file to a pmail message and try sending it to yourself. If your PC doesn't hang forever like mine, then I know I have to be looking for something else. I'll look into the content control options. My original issue was it is too easy to drag and drop a very large image file by mistake into PMAILs attachment window, hit Send All Mail and get it screwed up.

I always know which file is the one locking PMAIL from restarting, because it's the biggest and newest because PMAIL won't run and no more mail files can be created after the lockup. I can't I create new messages or read saved mail either.

Thanks for your help, I'll go see if I can set message size restrictions for outgoing messages to stop PMAIL hanging.