OE Classic discussions and updates

Hi Carol, Just to be on the safe side, you should get in touch with the develpers of OE Classic, who ususally respond within a couple of hours.
Contact page: https://www.oeclassic.com/help

 

Thanks, @Buddel . I have already done so. Zvonko Tesic is extremely responsive and seems like a super guy/gal.

I just purchased the program. I've read so much about this program and feel so comfortable with it that I'm not going to even mess around with the free version. Now that I have access, I just perused the "Vote for New Features" list and among them is "Outlook Express WAB import: Import data from Outlook Express WAB files, including folders and contact groups." So there you have it. It is included in the WIP (work in progress/process) list.

Now I'm off to install this thing and get it all pretty for my mother.

Carol

 

There is still a long WIP list, but new features are regularly added to the program (including features not mentioned in the WIP list). I'm sure your mother will like her new email client.

 

I completed the setup and import yesterday to Outlook Express Classic (OEC) on my mother's new computer. It took time, but went almost flawlessly. Screen shots (printscreens) of the old OE folder structure and address book groups were my best friend throughout the process. I would highly recommend that anyone getting ready to do this take screenshots in their old OE of those.

I began by importing her old DBX files. She and Dad had used Outlook Express for as long as I can remember and have an enormous file structure. It brought in all of the folders - the structure was close to identical (but not exact) - but a few of the folder names arrived with funny changes. "Missionary friends" became "Missioonary friends". I have no idea why, and there were very few like this. I had moved Sent messages over the years into separate Sent folders so the original Sent folder wouldn't get too big. I had created sent message folders named "ZZZ Sent 2005", "ZZZ Sent 2006", "ZZZ Sent 2007", etc... so they would appear at the bottom of the folder list and be out of the way (folders sorted alphabetically). They all imported without the "ZZZ" as "Sent 2005", "Sent 2006", etc.

Next I imported her address book - again, huge, after many, many years of use. I realized immediately that my mother's address book was a big enough mess (duplicate entries, missing first or last name, or no name at all, just an email address) that I was going to have to clean it up before import. OEC will only import from a CVS (comma separated value) file. It will not import from the WAB (Windows Address Book) file format. One of the quirks of old OE is that it had a field called "Name" (not "First name" nor "Last name" nor "Nickname", but another filed that is a conglomeration of first and last called plain old "Name"). Many of my mother's contacts had a name in only that field - nowhere else. Well, "Name" is the only field not imported by OEC - and no option to add or match any additional fields! Rats! So I had to parse the field in Excel into First Name and Last Name prior to the import. Once that was done, the import was totally flawless. And by the way, OEC does a much better job of matching up the fields before import (which you can change, if you want) than Thunderbird (TB). TB does a terrible job of guessing that "Work Phone" = "Business Phone", etc. OEC actually had them all matched up perfectly - including "Notes" - and therefore I had to make no field changes before import. Again, though, for anyone getting ready to do this... OEC does not have the field "Name" that old OE did.

Also note that the OEC address book does not import any Groups or Distribution Lists. (Those are on the OEC wish list.) The address book now looks great.

Ooops - family emergency. I will write about the set up of the email account later.

Carol

 

Looking forward to it.
Thank you very much for your detailed report. I'm sure it will be useful for future reference.

 

I'm back.. family emergency was not anything terrible.

The last big step in setting up my mother's email on Outlook Express Classic (OE Classic, OEC) was to add her email account. Before adding it, I wanted the program to be offline (not start checking for emails) until I was ready. Per instructions from one of the programmers, I went into Tools > Options and disabled two settings:
- Uncheck “Send and receive messages at startup”
- Change “Automatically check for new messages” to “Never”
This effectively puts the program in “offline” mode.

I added her POP3 account information (you can only have POP3 email service in OEC. IMAP is not yet available... the programmers are working on it and maybe soon). I enabled the settings that had put it offline and it started downloading email. In the old OE program, I had it set so that it would leave a copy of messages on the server for 90 days. So (obviously) there are 90 days worth of messages on the email server. That equates to 1,002 email messages in my mother's server Inbox. OEC would connect, download 100 or so, and then time out with an error message. I lather, rinsed and repeated several times, each time after lengthening the time out time. Still, no go. I then went to the server and deleted all but the last month's of emails which equaled around 200 messages. (After all, she already has all of those old messages in the DBX files from the old OE program.) I did that and ran Send/Receive two more times, the second time without error, and it downloaded all 200 messages. I then cleaned up the OEC Inbox and removed all of the duplicates. (Each download attempt resulted in new copies of the same messages.)

The program is functioning beautifully. I delivered the new computer to my mother. We sat down together for a lesson on her new email, OEC. She LOVES it! She loves the interface (with which she is quite familiar, because she had OE), she loves the address book, but here are her favorite things: 1) that her folder structure was imported almost completely intact, and 2) the colored folders! She absolutely LOVES the colored folders (and I do, too)! That is a feature that did not exist in OE but has been added to OEC... you can right-click any folder and change the background color and/or the font color. It is a nice little feature.

For age 86, my mother is an amazing lady. She has taken to this new PC like a fish to water - in only two days!

I highly recommend OEC for anyone who knew and loved Outlook Express and would have difficulty making the transition to today's email programs that are full of bells and whistles - never to be touched by millions who just want to simply Send and Receive.

-Carol

 

I'm still wondering how your mother manages to cope with hundreds, thousands of emails and addresses. When I set up an email account for my 83-year-old father-in-law, I made sure he only had access to the stuff he really needed. He just wouldn't have been able to cope with a massive amount of data. Anyway, I'm glad you and your mother like OE Classic (like I do).

 

Oh Buddel, you are exactly correct! My mother can only handle this because her empire of messages and addresses was built over years and years and years. She knows her folders like the back of her hand: one for each child (5), one for each grandchild (11), one for friends - with a subfolder for each significant friend; a folder for each of her clubs and organizations, one for finance, one for legal, one for medical, one for purchases, and many subfolders in each of those last few catetgories. Probably similar to anyone's message accumulation structure for home use. I will say that my mother has always been a very organized person and I showed her how to set up email folders early on (when she was around 70) - - otherwise, it would surely be a giant mess.

 

OE Classic 2.9 Beta - updated 2018-11-03

New features
[2018-10-23] Print Preview added in File menu
[2018-11-02] 8 new Find window tools - Properties, Select All, Copy to Folder, Move to Folder, Delete, Reply to Sender, Reply to All, Forward
[2018-11-03] Find window - New keyboard shortcuts (Delete/Enter on messages, CTRL shortcuts), main menu items, progress in percentage while searching

Bug fix
[2018-10-23] Print no longer duplicates printing headers (if started multiple times)

 

OE Classic 2.9 Beta - updated 2018-11-15

The ReadMe files for 3 Nov and 15 Nov 2018 are the same.
@Buddel do you maybe know more? Thanks!

 

A bug was discovered in the update released on 2018-11-03, so the developers had to go back to the previous update released on 2018-10-14 for the time being, which now corresponds to the update released on 2018-11-15.

The program sometimes crashed when sending or editing messages etc., triggering an "Abnormal program termination" error message. For the moment the developers have reintroduced the following bug-free features:

- bug fix when message was printed (headers are not duplicated)
- print preview
- emoji being transparent and not with square white background

The remaining new features (e.g. The Find window improvements) will be gradually reintroduced as soon as the developers can be sure that they are bug-free. If you have downloaded the version released on 2018-11-03, please update to the release of 2018-11-15 as this one should be more stable.

 

Thank you Buddel for the extra info and keeping us informed!

 

OE Classic 2.9 Beta - updated 2018-11-19

Today's update brings back some features which had to be withdrawn due to a bug. Another update, which will be released soon, will bring back the remaining new features from the 2018-11-03 release. So stay tuned.

 

Just taken from the OEClassic website:

BLACK FRIDAY 30% OFF
OE Classic Pro, 30% OFF, 3 years of free updates/support!
This deal is a very rare event - the last one was in 2014!
Hurry up - 48 hours only!

https://www.oeclassic.com/

 

Black Friday offer has expired.

 

OE Classic 2.9 Beta - updated 2018-12-11

The Copy/Move/Delete options in the Find window are back (this time without the bug introduced in the Nov. 3rd release).

 

Thanks Buddel for the notice and the extra info (the ReadMe file is the same as the previous one, so your extra info is appreciated).

 

OE Classic 2.9 Beta - updated 2018-12-13

[2018-12-13] Spell checker in the Message Editor and spell checker Options
(Always check spelling before sending, Ignore words in UPPERCASE, Ignore words with numbers)

 

Let's hope the MAILTO ( make it the default emailclient ) problem will be fixed soon..

 

OE Classic 2.9 Beta - updated 2018-12-25

[2018-12-25] Customization of Message Editor formatting toolbar and large icons for High DPI screens

 

Happy New Year!

OE Classic 2.9 Beta - updated 2019-01-01

[2019-01-01] Clipboard images [or screenshots] can be directly pasted into the Message Editor (using Paste button)

 

OE Classic 2.9 Beta - updated 2019-01-06

Bug fix
[2019-01-06] Updated visual components to fix some visual glitches and a few other high-DPI fixes

 

Is it possible to import my T-Bird address book and Local Folders without re-coding?

 

You should get in touch with the developers: https://www.oeclassic.com/help
They usually reply within a couple of hours.

 

Thanks Buddel.