Talk:Compacting folders

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Should one recommend doing this only offline? At least in OE, compacting while messages are being downloaded can destroy the whole Inbox, which is why MS has finally got rid of the possibility of having this done automatically ("background compacting").

And if there is no danger of TB corrupting the Inbox by simultaneously downloading and compacting, there is probably a way that at least advanced users would like to automate this via user.js. So far, i've only seen hacks http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=994438#994438 to imitate the newer TB versions' function that asks whether this should be done instead of just doing it.


22:13, 11 Jan 2005 (Tue):

With apologies to whomever posted it, I pulled this solution:

In rare cases, you may need to look at [this solution.]

The link is to is a forum post which includes:

I noticed that there was a file (not the folder of the same name) in that [profile\mail\account] folder called, simply "Inbox" with no file extension.

A file which the poster then deleted(!). There's a warning later about losing data, but someone who doesn't read carefully could easily lose their whole inbox.

Two concerns:

1) What does this have to do with compressing folders? Deleting a mail folder is not a solution for compressing it. Perhaps this belongs in a different KB article?

2) It's too risky to direct users to that post: At least let's omit the forum post and write instructions to rename the inbox, not delete it, with many caveats to back it up.


To 1) This seems to be the only solution to (hopefully rare!?) cases in which no compacting methods work. As the poster explained, his Inbox was over 2 GB although there were almost no (undeleted) messages in it.

2) You're right. I'd thought the poster's warning* was clear enough, but it's not strong enough. It seems he didn't really know what he was doing despite stumbling across a workaround for a very big problem that has not been getting enough attention.

(*Before you try this, let me make this warning: I do not keep any mail in the inbox so there was little risk of me losing mail by attempting this (that's also how I knew that the 2 gig file size was way off). If you keep mail in your inbox, you may want to move it before trying this.)

What do you think about this?: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=1115988#1115988 Could this be a clue to the reason compacting sometimes doesn't work, and what does it tell us about the "Cannot write email to the mailbox" problem. And is this bug related to the compacting bug?


1) This seems to be the only solution to (hopefully rare!?) cases in which no compacting methods work

Yes, but a solution to what? Unless I misunderstand, the question this answers is how do I get my incoming mail? and not how do I compact folders?. The knowledge base page we're discussing is a about compacting folders.

It's worth adding to the KB, I agree, but on the appropriate page, probably one of these or a new one page linked there.


As i wrote, i believe the two problems are perhaps related. (What do you think about my last paragraph?)

In any case, the emergency solution of deleting the inbox is better than nothing in cases where compacting does not work using any other method and users can no longer see any or some of their inbox messages (often intermittently). It's not as bad as it sounds if the instructions include a clear warning and especially if users are able to first copy all (especially when only intermittently invisible) or at least the important messages out of the Inbox.

And if the two different (but perhaps related) problems of not being able to compact and of not being able to download are not extremely rare, TB should have a prominent message in the UI and in the help file advising users not to use their inbox as a permanent storage and advising them to always move email out of the inbox manually or with filters.

For many if not most people, not being able to get new mail (in this case due to an uncompacted folder) is a bigger problem than losing old mail, especially if they have a recent backup. I would guess that 30% of normal users are capable of making a backup of their profile and of deleting a file (using either Search or %appdata%, not the complicated Folder Options / View method in the chaotic and unnecessarily complicated KB profile article!), but 90% get completely confused by the concepts of creating a new profile or migrating stuff.

Most users will drop TB immediately if they can't get quick help when they can't see (or download) new mail. If they are advised to first make a backup of their profile folder, the salvage work can still be performed later. BTW, the Profile Backup KB article is a joke too because it doesn't explain what it is supposed to for backing up email!




This page is about compacting folders and nothing else. Perhaps you could create pages addressing the other problem(s) (if they doesn't already exist) and include a links between this page and the new one(s)?

For many if not most people, not being able to get new mail (in this case due to an uncompacted folder) is a bigger problem than losing old mail

While I can see the reasoning, I'm not sure I agree. Losing data (dataloss) is usually considered far worse than a loss of function, or even loss of the whole application.


the emergency solution of deleting the inbox is better than nothing in cases where compacting does not work using any other method and users can no longer see any or some of their inbox messages (often intermittently). It's not as bad as it sounds if the instructions include a clear warning and especially if users are able to first copy all (especially when only intermittently invisible) or at least the important messages out of the Inbox.

I agree, with a few changes:

 1)  It belongs on a different page (linked to from the Compacting Folders page)
 2)  *** Don't delete the inbox, rename it ***
 3)  We should instruct users to move *all* messages, not just important ones, to another folder.


I'm afraid I don't have a solution to the other problem. I'm not 100% sure what it is: I see mentions of problems receiving e-mail, users not seeing e-mail in their inbox, and 'cannot write e-mail to mailbox' errors. Maybe if you post it to a forum, you'll find someone who knows.

Thanks for helping out.