OE Classic discussions and updates

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by FanJ, Apr 10, 2017.

  1. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    (April 24, 2021)
    - New version of OEC available. Another fix (/ workaround (??)) for the IMAP program code. I have read that not all IMAP servers (fully) comply to the (standard ??) IMAP protocol.
    - The file "OecSMapi.dll" has become larger in this build.
     
  2. Buddel

    Buddel Registered Member

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    The developers have announced "more good news (and new features)". I wonder what they will come up with next.
     
  3. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - (April 27, 2021): New version of OEC v3.2 PRO available:

    [2021-04-27] MAPI support (e.g. Send to - Mail recipient)

    Still have to find some GOOD information on what precisely MAPI is all about. Any suggestions anyone ?
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2021
  4. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    April 29, 2021: OEC's Facebook page gives more details on what MAPI is all about now support for MAPI has been added to OEC. And how it benefits users of OEC who want to use the "Send to" feature in Windows.

    We're on fire! Only days after implementing "Set as Default" feature we figured out how to add MAPI support and today's release has that feature as well! The latest update of OE Classic - v3.2, 2021-04-29, https://www.oeclassic.com/ - brings you:
    New features
    • [2021-04-27] MAPI support (e.g. Send to ➔ Mail recipient)
    This new feature allows you to do several things:
    • You can right mouse click one or more files and choose "Send to" ➔ "Mail recipient". This will open a new window in OE Classic with those files already attached and ready to send.
    • It should be possible to "scan to email" where scanner software supports this feature, without saving file first and attaching it later.
    • You can also resize images before emailing them - if you want to send smaller version of photos by email - right click them and choose "Send to" ➔ "Mail recipient". Windows will open a new prompt and ask you the size you want to send from smaller to large. After choosing a desired size, images will be resized to temporary files (original images remain intact) and those temporary files will be sent to OE Classic as attachments again, ready to send.
    • A dedicated "email" button on multimedia keyboards should also work now to open OE Classic.
    Note that in order to use the above features you must set OE Classic as default MAPI program (email messaging program) using the Options / General (shown in the screenshot above). This cannot be done from Windows 10 - there is no such an option only options to set as default for .EML files and for mailto: protocol. So it must be done from OE Classic's Options window.
    • [2021-04-29] Set as default option in Options/General
    Bug fixes
    • [2021-04-24] IMAP fixes for unrecognized message lists (3 fixes)
    Another bug when listing IMAP message list is now history (Gmail "Chats" folder usually).
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2021
  5. honey46222

    honey46222 Registered Member

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    I know this post isn't specifically about OE Classic, but I didn't want it to get lost in another category because I have discovered it is an amazing backup and restore tool for OE Classic. I know OEC has its own backup and restore functions, but this is soooo easy that I really wanted to share it. It's called Hekasoft Backup and Restore. It's free.

    It is already a great program to easily backup just about any browser out there but you can also create "modules" to backup and restore other software. I just made a bob-boo and deleted some emails permanently from one of my folders. No problem. I'll just replace the mbx and data base file for that folder with my 1-1 backup copy. But THEN I DID IT AGAIN! I deleted the "good" copies in the backup instead of the corrupted one. What now? I used Hekasoft to restore my backup that I'd made this morning. It worked like a charm and only took seconds. I did have to re-download the couple of emails I'd gotten later today, but that was no problem. There is a full description of what this little gem can do at:

    https://www.hekasoft.com/hekasoft-backup-restore/

    It also has a portable version.
     
  6. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - Does anyone of the users of OEC have problems with the "Send to --> Mail recipient" feature ? It seems some users have a problem with adding that feature to Windows.
    - I know that for this (MAPI) feature to work, OEC needs to change some entries in the Windows registry. But these changes could be prevented as a result of having the wrong permissions. Perhaps running the program as an "Administrator" could make these changes possible ?

    From OEC's Facebook page:
    Apparently, on some copies of Windows (10 or 7) "Send to" ➔ "Mail recipient" item is missing from the "Send to" menu. It appears to be an issue on some copies of Windows and not on others. Mani of the solutions on the Internet point to navigating to shell:sendto and then creating "Mail Recipient.MAPIMail" file with the contents "Mail". However in some copies of Windows we've encountered the file properly appears there and yet, there is no "Mail Recipient" in the "Send to" list.
    On our copy of Windows this is not the case, we have this item in the menu, so it is only specific to some installations.
    If someone encounters the same problem and manages to find a solution, please share so we can provide the solutions to users who have the same issue.
     
  7. Buddel

    Buddel Registered Member

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    No problems here. This feature seems to work well for me (Win 10 Pro).
     
  8. honey46222

    honey46222 Registered Member

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    Willy2, I did the usual File Associations change and the set as default in the Programs from the Control Panel. I also experienced something not working right, but I can't remember exactly what it was. I went about going through all of it again, but then something told me to look a little deeper in the Default Programs. I had just checked the top automatic setting to default. So I looked at the second option to set default programs associations. I don't remember what wasn't unchecked, but once I checked all of them in the bottom picture everything seems fine now.


    control panel.jpg control panel 2.jpg control panel 3.jpg
     
  9. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - Agree. The user has to change that setting. OEC won't do that by itself.
    - But it seems that in spite of that a number of users still have problems with the "Send to" option.
    - I still use Windows 7 and have learned that in spite of A LOT OF updates, the OS still has a number of flaws in the program code.
     
  10. honey46222

    honey46222 Registered Member

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    That's strange. I'm using a "special" version of Windows 7 with no updates past May 2017 and OEC is working fine for me. I do have the Pro version though.
    (My Win 7 is legit but it has been configured differently.)
     
  11. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - OEC also works fine on my Win 7 system. Although OEC still needs (what I would call) "more polishing" and these are predominantly GUI problems. There are here and there some tiny, small (and smaller) things that need be to "ironed out" but don't have a "High Priority" status for the developers.
    - The tiny (!!!) flaws I talked about are in Win 7 and are "Non Fatal" flaws. These tiny flaws don't rise above the level of "Annoying". And I have no indication that these tiny Win 7 flaws have a (major) impact on OEC.

    - I have a few questions for all the readers of this thread: As we all know the program is still under developement. What features are you still missing in OEC ? What needs to be improved ? What has the highest priority for you ?

    - My personal opinion is: with support for IMAP, MAPI & "default email client" implemented I can't think of any feature that needs to be added. That's why I think it's time to expand (& improve) the already existing features, like message rules, newsreader, (expanded) support for IMAP. Especially IMAP still needs - IMO - a fairly huge number of major updates/improvements.
     
  12. Buddel

    Buddel Registered Member

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    Broadly speaking, I like OEC the way it is. However, I would like to be able to add notes to emails in OEC. I find it pretty difficult and time-consuming to manage hundreds of emails in my OEC mail folders. Being able to add notes would undoubtedly help to organize my emails. Notes could be visible in a small box, for example, when you hover over an email. This saves time because you don't have to re-read each and every email in your mail folders.
     
  13. honey46222

    honey46222 Registered Member

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    @Willy2:
    I found OEC while looking for a replacement for Windows Mail (not Live). The people at sevenforums have been able to make it work. But I have a friend who is not computer savvy at all and she started receiving emails from me in red fonts which she couldn't read. Long story short... tried to figure it out for months and I was about to give up and try Thunderbird again (hate it) or Outlook (hated it even more) or other 3rd party programs. They all had more functions than I needed or were completely primitive with nothing more than plain text; take it or leave it. I started out with Outlook Express and it was all I have ever needed.

    Now OEC has also been developed to offer a lot more bells and whistles than I need, but its basic GUI is my old friend, Outlook Express. So at this point, I can't think of any way it could be made better for my needs. However, I do have to say that new function to send pictures to an email recipient AND resize them automatically is something that surprised me and I think that is really nifty!
     
  14. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - The new "Send pictures to email recipient + Resize" feature is - to be precise - not something in OEC but it's a feature / API already available in Windows and it's called "MAPI". To be able to make use of MAPI a program (like OEC) needs (extra) program code. The program must be able to "hook into"/ make use of MAPI.
    - And it also works with scanners. The scanner software I use also is clever enough to take advantage of MAPI. After scanning a picture, I can "send" the scan directly to (in this case) OEC (thanks to MAPI).
    - There are 2 types of MAPI: "Full MAPI" & "Simple MAPI". OEC currently only supports "Simple MAPI".
    - I have read some stories that "don't encourage" me to use Windows Live. But there is no need to. I use OEC.
    - Agree, some programs have (way) too much bells & whistles. But I wouldn't put OEC in that category.
     
  15. honey46222

    honey46222 Registered Member

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    I was speaking for myself and my limited requirements when I do emails. It is just nice that OEC "hides" most of what I don't need to use automatically by default. OEC is definitely a great program for every level of usage.
     
  16. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - New version of OEC PRO available. This is an "Alpha" version which still could contain bugs
    - The user has to go out and manually download this version.

    From the OEC facebook page:
    We've had it! For years we've been using a third party component for displaying or editing HTML messages. While the component did work it also had presented us with a number of limitations such as inability to customize it according to your feature requests, memory leaks (memory being allocated but never released), inability to move to newer compiler and much more. So we decided - it is time to bite the bullet and create our own implementation. It took us weeks of painstaking work. What we have at the moment as a result is an alpha version available to download on the page https://www.oeclassic.com/user
    While you can download and use it today, please note that this is not yet a production quality software. It needs more testing. A lot of code has been changed internally in the program itself. Good news though is that the functions which are responsible for reading or writing data to disk haven't been touched, so data loss should not occur. It may even work well, but it still requires more testing, which is why it is an alpha release. It is not offered in the built in automatic updater, only on the above web page.
    Here is what is available and what has been changed:
    New features
    • [2021-06-04] Complete rewrite of the HTML display component which fixes its bugs, limitations and memory leaks
    • [2021-06-04] Drag and drop of attachments to the message editor
    • [2021-06-12] Separate popup menus for images, hyperlinks and normal text in the Message Editor (supported but incomplete, only single popup menu is shown at the moment)
    • [2021-06-12] CTRL+drag-and-drop to the Message Editor to copy text from a text editing application or normal drag-and-drop to move text
    Bug fixes
    • [2021-06-04] Dragged text object no longer covers drop location in the message editor
    • [2021-06-04] Mouse wheel scrolling no longer shifts keyboard focus to the HTML viewer or editor
    • [2021-06-12] Improved detection of modified message in the Message Editor (untested yet)
    • [2021-06-12] Possible fix of image downloading access violation bug in the Message Viewer (untested yet)
     
  17. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - New OEC PRO Alpha version available. No details available about what has changed.
     
  18. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - New OEC PRO Aplha version available. Release date: july 4, 2021.
     
  19. FanJ

    FanJ Updates Team

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    OE Classic Pro 3.2 beta (13 July 2021) released

    New feature

    [2021-07-09] Complete rewrite of the HTML display component which fixes its bugs, limitations and memory leaks
    [2021-07-09] Drag and drop of attachments to the message editor
    [2021-07-09] Support for separate popup menus for images, hyperlinks and normal text in the Message Viewer/Editor
    [2021-07-09] CTRL+drag-and-drop to the Message Editor to copy text from a text editing application or normal drag-and-drop to move text

    Bug fix

    [2021-07-09] Dragged text object no longer covers drop location in the Message Editor
    [2021-07-09] Mouse wheel scrolling no longer shifts keyboard focus to the HTML viewer or editor
    [2021-07-09] Improved detection of modified message in the Message Editor
     
  20. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - I went back to the previous version. Because there is still a very nasty "OLE bug" in this version. Don't know if this is Windows 7 related ?
     
  21. Buddel

    Buddel Registered Member

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    Windows 7 is dead, so I don't use it. However, a new version of OE Classic has just been released (15 Jul 2021). A change log has not been provided yet (as far as I know), so it's hard to say whether or not the latest version of OECl has addressed this "OLE bug".
     
  22. FanJ

    FanJ Updates Team

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    Thanks Willy and Buddel.
    If you guys have more info from Facebook, then please post it.
    Yes, the changelog (the ReadMe file) is the same.

    PS: I hope you guys (and others here) are safe with all that disastrous flooding in Germany, Belgium and NL. Ohh dear ...
     
  23. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - Yes, in the new release this "OLE bug" has been fixed. The user is able to right-click on the "Preview pane" and then a number of options are available. In the previous version OEC would get stuck there and would keep generating some kind of "OLE" error messages. The only way to close the program was killing the OEC process with Task Manager. I am sure there were more users with this problem.
     
  24. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    - The parts that are flooded in those 3 countries are predominantly (fairly) mountanous regions. Luckily I live in a part that's not mountanous at all.
     
  25. Willy2

    Willy2 Registered Member

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    July 25, 2021:
    - New version of OEC v3.2 PRO available. No new details provided on Facebook or in the readme.txt file. It's unusual to have an update for OEC released on a sunday ...........

    - Seems the developers keep coming across new bugs in the program code that supposedly have been fixed. Frankly, I am not surprised because "rewriting the HTML display component", used for the 1) Message Editor, 2) Message Viewer & 3) Preview pane, looks like to be a very complicated task. I also know that, in one regard, the behaviour of 1) is slightly different from that of 2) & 3). That also needs to be solved or - at least - I hope that issue will be solved as well.
    - Microsoft is removing - bit by bit - support for Internet Explorer 11. E.g. new versions of MS Teams will - starting in august 2021 - only be tested to work with MS Edge. MS then no longer will give a guarantee that it will (flawlessly) work with IE 11. And I assume that that will have consequences for OEC as well.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2021
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