Clareburt Forum

[Justin]

Clever Clareburts, I have a problem and am hoping you can all think about a decent solution.

I have 4 computers at home, with 5 profiles.
- 1 desktop
- 1 personal laptop
- 1 work laptop (with two different loggins)
- Michaela's laptop (which I used to use, and still do occasionally).

Over the last couple of years, I have collected email on every one of the 5 profiles above.
I setup my email clients so that only one client deletes the mail from the server.
So no matter which machine I jump on, I can collect the mail that is on the server. And it stays there until I collect it from the designated collection profile.

However, as the years (or months) go by, I find that I move from one machine to the next.
When I went from my old laptop to my new laptop, I could no longer access all my old emails.
Then when I went onto my work PC, I had the same problem.

It is starting to drive me mad!

What sort of solutions are there for having a single email repository/archive so that no matter where I am, I can still access all my old emails?
And more importantly, I could potentially live without access to my old emails, but it is the email addresses that I really need.

Some options that come to mind are:
- storing them all on the Internet (this works for Michaela - she uses Hotmail)
- Having some "synchronising" system.
- Backing up old mail to disc each time I chance PCs.

What do you guys think?
_________________
I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are. (Homer Simpson)

[Tony]

Well I'll have a think about it in more detail - but just first thoughts - have you tried gmail? - nothing is ever deleted from gmail - everything is archived - I have a gmail account tonyclareburt@gmail.com and I have it set up to autodownload to my main outlook express account - I use it on my business card and also for my various computer news subscriptions and a few other things.

I also have a hotmail account but don't really use it - gmail works better for me.

Cheers

T
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Tony

[Justin]

Well that sounds like a good idea.
The biggest problem with using Hotmail is that you can't download messages to your local email client (eg Outlook).
But if Gmail lets you do that, then that sounds like a good idea.

Of course the other problem with using Webmail is that you need to compose messages online. This can sometimes lead to losing text if a session expires etc.

But maybe a combination would be good.
Use local email client for downloading Gmail and composing emails.
Give out my Justin@Clareburt.net email address, and forward it to GMail.

That just might work!

P.S. Tony, why aren't you giving out your Tony@Clareburt.net email?
There can be no better address!
I will forward it to GMail if you like.
_________________
I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are. (Homer Simpson)

[Tony]

Well as I say, I use Outlook Express for my email rather than Outlook and I used to have OE setup to download my hotmail account and presume I should still be able to - off the top of my head, I can't remember whether there are any restrictions in doing that with Outlook but I wouldn't think so.

Yes, I agree that any web based email system can be a bit chunky to use but the option you suggest of using your existing email client for composing and redirecting received email to gmail for archive storage might be a good option for you.

I actually use tony@clareburt.net on my business invoice - my cards were printed some time back (and have actually run out)

For a short time there was a problem with email being delayed through the clareburt web server which caused us some concern particularly when Gillian and I were using it extensively for high priority newspaper business. We stopped using it for a while - Gillian became particularly concerned that her urgent mail was not getting through - I think Greg was also having the odd problem at the time - eventually I discovered that the problem was related to how our local ISP treats email routed through such servers (can't remember the detail).

So yes - I do use the clareburt.net address to give to people.

I'll have a further think about your issue later.

Cheers
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Tony

[Tony]

This appears to be very relevant to the discussion ....

What's new on Google Mail?

Get mail from other accounts
Now Google Mail can check for the mail you receive at your other email accounts. You can retrieve your mail (new and old) from up to five other email accounts and have them all in Google Mail. Then you can even create a customised 'From:' address, which lets you send messages from Google Mail, but have them look like they were sent from another one of your email accounts. Please note that you can only retrieve mail from accounts that have POP3 access enabled. (Learn more ... )

Also other aspects - see http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en-GB/whatsnew.html

Cheers
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Tony

[Justin]

Yeah, that doesn't really help.
We have always had the ability to use a webmail client to check POP3 email.
At worst, we can setup a forward to send all our mail to the web client.

The problem is going the other way.
It is difficult to collect webmail (such as Hotmail and GMail) on your PC email client.

Outlook Express is the only program I know of that lets you collect Hotmail.
It does this because it shows you advertising in the client.
This is how they get their revenue. If you could collect hotmail without ads, then they would go broke - so they don't let you.

Not sure if GMail is the same. I expect it is.

You cannot collect hotmail in Outlook.

So the problem is: if you send all your email to GMail (or hotmail), you can't use an email client to receive it - except for OE.
_________________
I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are. (Homer Simpson)

[Greg]

Well if you all you need Outlook for is Email, then use Outlook Express. That option doesn't suit me becasue I make valuable use of the features of Outlook that don't exist in Outlook Express, as well as relying on it for email. But Outlook Express might suit you if your primary requirement is just email.

[Tony]

Yes - for the record, I find Outlook Express convenient and simple and does what I need and I another reason I prefer to use it is because I prefer to teach it to most as it is simpler to learn and use - I do help people with Outlook but most people who use Outlook are sufficiently computer literate not to need tuition anyway.

I do however also use Outlook but just for its Calendar feature which I find excellent.

I didn't realise you couldn't collect Hotmail etc in Outlook.

Cheers
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Tony

[Greg]

That's interesting. The calendar is one of the main reasons I use Outlook rather than Outlook Express. So if you are using Outlook Express for email, and Outlook for its calendar, I would have to ask why wouldn't you use just Outlook and have both features in one program?

I therefore must presume there are other differences as well. I have to confess I have never spent much time looking at Outlook Express.

Paulette and I run our lives on Outlook's calendar. She even took her computer to a sales meeting this morning in anticipation she would close the deal and be asked to confirm dates. Naturally at that point she wipped out her computer.

Anyone who has worked in an organisation in recent years would have been conditioned to use Outllook. I frequently copy and paste between email and calendar. We also both use the Folders, the Notes feature, and Task functions, as well as the add-on module Business Contact Manager, which allows me to save emails by contact. Aside from full details of contacts' address, phone numbers, email addresses etc I also keep a lot of ready information in the notes page associated with each contact, including everything about myself and others that I frequently need to quote - e.g. Tax File Number, Australian Business Number, Driver's Licence, credit card details, bank details, etc. Just this morning I copied bank account details into a text message which I sent out on Skype.

So that's why I use Outlook.

[Justin]

Well since we are on the topic of Outlook, let me jump in on that too.
I am a big fan of Outlook. Particularly the way it lets you integrate mail with contacts, tasks, and calendar. In the past I have used Outlook extensively at work for keeping a track of my daily activities and tasks. At home I use the calendar to track of when all my bills are due, and my money comes into my account.

However...
I have worked in jobs that use GroupWise, or LotusNotes. I have been disappointed with these programs. They are not as friendly as Outlook.

But since I have been trying to legitimise my software, and I don't own a copy of Microsoft Office, I have looked toward free solutions - in particular, Mozilla Thunderbird (made by the same people who make Firefox). It does not have a calendar, but they make another product called Sunbird (calendar). So now I use Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird - all as separate programs. They seem to do the job well enough. But they are not as polished as Outlook. But at least they are free!

Sadly though, I now have email in Outlook and Thunderbird. Every now and then I archive my Outlook email. Whenever I need to look through it, I can open an old archive. But since some of my mail is in Outlook and some in Thunderbird, I think I will have problems in future trying to look through archived email.

...And that's really all I've got to say about that.
_________________
I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are. (Homer Simpson)

[Greg]

Justin,

Do you know how little it would cost you to purchase Microsoft Office? Especially an academic veriosn, which your wife could legitimately purchase.

[Tony]

Interesting stuff all this - we all have different thoughts based on our different needs - I'll think on all this for a day or three while I consider my further thoughts - Cheers
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Tony

[Justin]

Well, it seems GMail is the solution.

I checked with other sources, and this is a popular solution for people who are on the go.

I have created a gmail account.
My Justin@Clareburt.net forwards to justinclareburt@gmail.com
This then forwards to justo@bigpond.net.au (my local ISP).
Then I collect my mail into my client (any client on any PC) from Bigpond.

Now I can confidently delete all mail from any email client and know that it is all backed up on the gmail server.
If I want to, I can also access the GMail server in places where I do not have a client and need to use web access (eg. Internet cafe, work).
If I cannot get to GMail, then I could also access Bigpond on the web.

I have the option of not using my Bigpond account at all. I am considering that. However, I still think it must be faster to use the email service attached to the local domain.

So there you have it....solution found!
GMail is the answer thanks to its POP factilities and large email storage.
_________________
I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are. (Homer Simpson)