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Storing emails

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 14 views
  • Last reply by frederic7

frederic7
frederic7
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I often store emails (in folders reflecting the subject) on my hard drive. There a folder called "AI development" may have years of corresponce, with each file dated by the day it was saved on the hard drive. But if I go into the folder and just read an email, say from 2003, the file becomes immediately redated to today. So any order of when the files were stored is lost. This is a disaster. How can I avoid it?

Also: you know that the B and i buttons above this input window do not work? They add quotes, not give you bold and italic.

I often store emails (in folders reflecting the subject) on my hard drive. There a folder called "AI development" may have years of corresponce, with each file dated by the day it was saved on the hard drive. But if I go into the folder and just read an email, say from 2003, the file becomes immediately redated to today. So any order of when the files were stored is lost. This is a disaster. How can I avoid it? Also: you know that the B and i buttons above this input window do not work? They add quotes, not give you bold and italic.

Chosen solution

Bold Italic Hi - they do work but not in post editing mode. If you look below the Post A Reply window you will see a Preview - that shows how the post will look and it has bold and italic as it should.

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All Replies (3)

AgnesRM
AgnesRM
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Chosen Solution

Bold Italic Hi - they do work but not in post editing mode. If you look below the Post A Reply window you will see a Preview - that shows how the post will look and it has bold and italic as it should.

AgnesRM
AgnesRM
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Hi

When you say you go into the hard drive and view the folder - what are you using to view? Would that have an option to display file creation date as well as last used date?

For example, if I use Windows File Explorer, I can easily add a column for Date Created.

Best regards, Agnes

frederic7
frederic7 Question owner
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Agnes, thanks for addressing my problem. I may have 10 to 100 emails, which I dragged from Thunderbird onto the appropriate folder on my hard drive. The emails have an .eml extension. Later, sometimes years after I put them in the folder, I want to find an email. When I double-click it, a perfectly normal Thunderbird display shows me the contents of the file. Even if I don't do anything (but read, or think: "That's not the email I am looking for") and close the window, the file on my HD has today's date and time. The original order is ruined. "Didn't they write to me in 2013? Let me check," doesn't work anymore. The files are not chornological. I may have briefly viewed the message I am seeking and it is amongst the files dated 2019. Incredibly frustrating -- it makes my storage method useless.

However: I have just found .EML File Extension and will check whether there is another simple method to search through my eml files without changing the dates.

BTW thanks again for pointing out the "Preview Reply" button. But it is somewhat clumsy. First of all why use quotes to indicate bold and italic while you are typing? And secondly: when you use "Preview Reply" there should be a similar button (instead of the browser back button) to return you to editing. Finally my beautiful spell and style checker, which works everywhere, is not active in this window.