Fookes Software, Switzerland

Aid4Mail

The most accurate email conversion
software on the market

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The FAQ is divided into five sections:

Information about ordering Aid4Mail

Q. Do you have information about the upcoming Aid4Mail 2.0?

A. Please visit our news page for some early information about the upcoming Aid4Mail 2.0.

Q. Where can I buy your software from? Do you have a local dealer?

A. You can buy Aid4Mail through our online order page. We have no local dealers. Our software is sold world-wide by Plimus Corporation, a leading U.S. order-taking company. Plimus is under contract with Fookes Software to process orders and collect payments. They accept orders online using a credit card, PayPal, bank/wire transfer, check/money order, purchase order, invoice, and credit card by fax.

Q. Can I use a Purchase Order?

A. Purchase Orders are a means of paying for products on credit (i.e. first receiving the goods and paying later). This method is usually used by larger corporations and is available for orders exceeding $99.00 USD. The way it works is as follows:

  1. Request a Quote or Pro Forma invoice from Plimus. To do so, select the "Purchase Order" option from the field labeled "Method of payment" on the Plimus order form which you can reach through our order page.
  2. Fax your PO to Plimus according to the instructions provided in the Pro Forma invoice.
  3. Plimus then enters your PO into their system, where it awaits our approval.
  4. Once the PO is approved, the order is processed and the product delivered.
  5. You will receive an invoice from Plimus with instructions on how to send payment.

Q. I want to pay by wire transfer and need your bank details.

A. Select "Wire" as payment method in the order form. After clicking the "Next" button, you will be taken to a page with detailed instructions, including your order reference number and the bank details for your payment.

Q. I am having ordering difficulties. How can I get help?

A. Please complete the order by fax or phone and Plimus will manually process your order, or send an email to sales@plimus.com with a brief description of the situation, or you can phone 1-866-4PLIMUS (toll free in the US and Canada) or +1-858-350-7473 (international).

Q. I have purchased an Aid4Mail license but still haven't received my activation code. When will I get it?

A. All information regarding your order, including activation code(s), are sent to you via email -- usually within minutes of your payment being accepted. However, sometimes these emails may be caught by your "Spam Protection" tool, or may be automatically sent to your "Junk" folder. Please be sure to check those locations if you don't receive the emails shortly.

In some cases, your email service may be experiencing a slowdown in email delivery -- delays of several hours are possible in these situations. In other cases, your ISP may be blocking the emails before they even reach your account. When this happens, the only solution is for you to provide an alternative address to which we can send the registration emails.

At least two emails are sent to you: a Receipt and a Confirmation per product purchased. If you do not receive any of these emails please visit the Plimus Customer Support page for help. If doing so still doesn't help to resolve the issue, then please contact us and include as many details about your order as possible so that we can better assist you.

Q. Why was my order was declined?

A. When the message "Credit card was declined" appears while processing an order it means that your credit card bank has declined the transaction, usually a quick call to your credit card bank's customer service will clarify most of the issues. If problems persist, you can use the Fax or Mail payment options to have your order processed.

Q. What is your Refund Policy?

A. Please visit our Refund Policy page for details.

Q. What is your Upgrade Policy?

A. Minor updates and maintenance releases are free for users of the corresponding major version. In other words, if you purchased Aid4Mail v1.0, all updates up to v1.999 inclusive are available for free. A 50% discount will be available to licensed users of version 1.x upgrading to a corresponding license of version 2.x.

Product Activation

Q. I have an Internet connection and entered my code correctly. Why does activation fail?

A. The most typical reason is one or more firewall programs (Norton, Zone Alarm, Windows Firewall) are blocking Aid4Mail's access to the Internet. Make sure that all your firewalls allow both Aid4Mail.exe and DNA.dll to reach the activation server. If you're accessing the Internet through a Proxy server and you've configured the Aid4Mail proxy settings, make sure these are valid. If you are not using Internet Explorer as your browser, it may be configured with invalid proxy settings; unchecking the "Use IE proxy configuration" option in the Proxy Settings screen could help resolve the connection issue.

Important: If you are using Windows Firewall and Aid4Mail cannot reach the license server, make sure that you uncheck the option labeled "Block all incoming connections" (Windows Vista) or "Don't allow exceptions" (Windows XP); you will find the option in the Windows Firewall settings window which opens from the Control Panel. If this setting is enabled, you are not notified when Windows Firewall blocks programs, and programs on the Exceptions list are ignored.

Q. I have forgotten my activation password. How do I retrieve it?

A. If you can't remember your password, click on the "Forgot Password?" button in the Activation dialog box, which appears on the screen after you enter your activation code. Your password will then be sent to the email address you entered when you first activated your license. If the email doesn't reach you within minutes, check your junk mailbox in case it was misidentified as spam.

Note that this feature will only work if you supplied your email address when you first activated your license. If you chose not to provide an email address during activation, then it is your responsibility to keep track of your current password.

Q. I lost my activation code and/or password. How can I get this information back?

A. Searching for customer's lost activation codes and passwords can be a time consuming process. To partially cover our search costs, we charge a small $5.00 US fee for this service. Please purchase a "Search & Resend Registration Details" service option to have us recover your lost details.

Q. Re-activation is not working although I am entering the correct activation code and password. Why?

A. This usually happens because the character case of the entered password does not match the case of the original password. Check that your Caps Lock key isn't engaged while you are entering your password. Check also that you are typing the characters in the same case as the original password. Another password-related problem is when you try to re-activate your license with a new password that you have already used before. Make sure that the password you type in the "New Password" field has never been used before to activate your code.

Q. Why am I in "Lockout mode"?

A. Lockout mode usually occurs because you have attempted too many re-activations or too many unsuccessful communications with the license server (e.g., because of failed password attempts) in the allowed time period. If you are in lockout mode because of too many re-activations, please read the Aid4Mail License Agreement to ensure that you are complying to its terms.

Note that the Aid4Mail Standard and Professional licenses may only be used to process mail belonging to one recipient. "Recipient" means the natural person (not an entity such as a company or organization) to whom an email message is sent. If you are processing more than one person's mail account, then you will need to purchase additional activation codes – one for each end-user account.

Q. Aid4Mail will reside on computers that are not permitted access to the Internet via our firewall. Can you provide the port, ipaddress of verification server, and domain in which that server resides. This way we may permit outbound access to just the activation site and port.

A. The following is the information that you need to setup your firewall:

Q. Do hardware upgrades/new computers cause the previously activated software to stop working?

A. No. License activation is not tied to your hardware. If you need to reinstall your software after reformatting your hard disk or moving to a new computer, you just need to re-activate your software. Re-activation is a quick and simple method to get your software fully operational again. Note, however, that the copy on your previous computer will revert to trial mode if you re-activate your code on another computer.

Q. Will you stop offering activations on products that are x years old?

A. No. Activations and re-activations will be available to all versions of our products.

Q. Will Aid4Mail activations still be possible if softWORKZ or Fookes Software suspends service?

A. If softWORKZ or Fookes Software suspends service, customers will be able to download a patch that bypasses the activation system or a special version of Aid4Mail that does not use any activation system.

Generalities concerning Aid4Mail

Q. My Anti-Virus program says Aid4Mail has a virus.

A. Unfortunately, certain anti-virus products – especially those using proactive protection – frequently generate false positives when scanning programs. In other words, they think a file contains a virus or other malware when there is none. You may experience this issue with our products too.

All our products are uploaded to the Internet virus-free. If you have downloaded the software from our Web site, our online store, or a reputable software repository, then you can be confident it did not come with a virus. However, a virus on your computer may have infected our software after installation. If you are sure your computer has no virus, then any warning you are getting on our software is probably a false positive.

If you encounter a false positive, make sure you inform the company of your anti-virus product so they can fix the issue in their next maintenance release. Until the issue is fixed, you may be able to white-list the software that is affected by the false positive, or turn off proactive protection in your anti-virus product.

Q. Aid4Mail fails to convert some or all of my mailbox files. Why?

A. The most typical reason for such an issue is that your file is locked by another program. To avoid this, and unless you are using MS Outlook, make sure you close your mail client before clicking on the Start button in Aid4Mail. Check also that you haven't got an anti-virus or anti-spam program monitoring the mail that Aid4Mail is processing. Other possible reasons include a source file that is corrupted or does not correspond to the selected mail type, or the target location has insufficient free space or is write protected.

Aid4Mail checks both the file extension and contents to see if they conform with the selected source format. You can instruct Aid4Mail to be more "tolerant" with certain file types by running it with the /m command-line switch. This can be useful with files that start with a non-conforming format. Example:

Aid4Mail.exe /m

Q. Are there file size limits that need to be taken into account when exporting mail?

A. Yes. If you have a large amount of mail or many big attachments, the target file receiving your messages can grow very big. Outlook 2003/2007 can store up to 20 GB of data in a single file using the Unicode PST format. Older versions of MS Outlook create ANSI PST files that are limited to 2 GB in size (note that Aid4Mail cannot detect when this size limit is reached). Many email clients cannot read generic mailbox files that are bigger than 4 GB. A ZIP archive can reach a size of 4 GB, which in most cases it should be enough to store the contents of a 20 GB Unicode PST file (Outlook 2003 and 2007).

Q. Are there ways to make Aid4Mail process emails faster?

A. Yes. If you are using anti-virus, anti-spam, file indexing, archiving products, or any other software/plugin that monitor email messages, turn them off temporarily when using Aid4Mail. Doing so can significantly improve processing speed. You can also speed up processing by unchecking the "Do not add duplicate messages" setting on the "Export Options" screen.

Furthermore, starting with version 1.96, Aid4Mail uses a slower method for reading generic mailbox files, including those created by Mozilla Thunderbird and Eudora. It does so to ensure it doesn't miss any emails when processing mailbox files that contain a mix of storage formats (e.g. a Mac or Unix mbox file imported in Windows Thunderbird with new messages added to it). If you are processing mailbox files that are entirely created by a single mail client, then you can increase performance without sacrificing reliability by using the /fast command-line switch. Example: Aid4Mail.exe /fast

Starting with version 1.98, under Outlook 2003 and more recent, Aid4Mail uses a special MAPI feature to import/export mail from Outlook PST and MSG files, and Exchange server mail. The advantage with this new method is that it converts Unicode messages and certain special email types more reliably than the previous method. The disadvantage is that it is usually slower than the alternative method that does not use the special MAPI feature. Use the /MapiConvOff command-line switch to turn off the special MAPI conversion feature and use the faster method instead. Example: Aid4Mail.exe /MapiConvOff

The two command-line switches mentioned above can be used together if necessary. Example:
Aid4Mail.exe /fast /MapiConvOff

Note that working on compacted mailbox files (i.e. those in which unpurged mail has been removed) can also improve conversion speed significantly. If you are responsible for migrating mail accounts in your company, you could encourage staff members to compact their mail folders before you start processing their data with Aid4Mail.

Q. I have a huge mailbox file and Aid4Mail says it has no messages. Why?

A. Usually this happens when a mailbox file only contains deleted or moved messages (unpurged mail) and has never (or not recently) been compacted. The file may also be corrupted or contain data that does not match the selected source file type.

Also, certain proprietary file formats, like DBX files from Outlook Express and PST files from Office Outlook, never have a size of zero bytes when empty and compacted.

Q. Is there an easy way to find where a Thunderbird mail folder is stored?

A. Yes, there is. Right click with your mouse on a folder name in Thunderbird, and select the "Copy Folder Location" command from the shortcut menu.

If you want to set Thunderbird as your source mail client, stop when you reach the Source Location screen in Aid4Mail. Then right click in the folder field and choose the "Go to Folder" command from the shortcut menu. Aid4Mail will automatically show the correct folder path in the dialog box.

If you want to set Thunderbird as your target mail client, stop when you reach the Target Settings screen in Aid4Mail. Paste the Clipboard contents in the field labeled Folder. The resulting path will look somewhat like this: "mailbox:/C|/Documents and Settings/.../Mail/Local Folders/Inbox". Once you click on the Next button, Aid4Mail will automatically convert the path to the correct Windows format.

Q. After exporting my messages to Thunderbird, I find that some of my mail folders are missing. Why?

A. Prior to version 3, Thunderbird has a bug that makes it fail to display mail folders that have a storage path length that exceeds 128 characters. If you run into this limit, you can display more folders by moving the profile or the accounts directory closer to the root of the drive, so that less of the total path length is wasted. Another solution is to rename your source mail folders to shorter names before converting them with Aid4Mail.

Q. My mail is stored on an IMAP server. Can Aid4Mail retrieve the messages through my Internet connection?

A. If you have a copy of Office Outlook, you can add your IMAP account to it through the Tools/E-mail Accounts menu command. Once you have done so, Outlook will create a PST file that Aid4Mail can use to access your IMAP messages. Select this PST file as your source mail in Aid4Mail and then choose the target format you want to save the messages to. If Office Outlook can connect to your IMAP server, then Aid4Mail will start downloading the messages through it and process them according to your settings. Note that this method requires Aid4Mail Professional, Forensic, or Enterprise.

If you don't have a copy of Office Outlook, then your only option is to download your messages with your mail client to a local mail folder, and then process the local folder with Aid4Mail. However, you always have the option to use a free 60-day trial version if you don't own an Outlook license.

Q. After exporting my messages to a new mail client, I find that some of my attachments are missing or failed to convert as expected. Why?

A. Some mail clients extract attachments and store them in a separate location from messages. This is the case with Eudora and Calypso/Courier, as well as with The Bat!, PocoMail, and Barca, depending on the settings you've chosen. These mail clients usually store the path and filename of extracted attachments to maintain a link between the message and its files. Unfortunately, if you move the attachments to another location, or the original drive is assigned another letter, then the link is lost. Aid4Mail uses this link to find the attachments of the messages it processes. If it cannot find the attachment, Aid4Mail still adds the file placeholder but leaves the data empty. Note that some programs may show an incorrect attachment size for empty attachments, and even produce a "garbage" file on extraction.

Attachments that Aid4Mail doesn't find are listed in the error log file; see the "Error Log File" topic in Help for details.

There is, however, a way to instruct Aid4Mail where to look for attachment folders that have changed location through a file called Tokens.ini. See instructions under the "Fixing Attachment Folder References" topic in Help.

Q. How does Aid4Mail detect duplicates?

A. Aid4Mail checks for email duplicates by comparing the value of the Message-ID field in each processed email header. If this field is empty or missing (usually in outbound messages), Aid4Mail uses the email date and subject line for the comparison, or the whole message header if either of those values are blank; with MAPI messages (from Office Outlook or MS Exchange) however, Aid4Mail uses the email creation and submit dates, subject line, and stored message size for the comparison.

When extracting attachments and other embedded contents, Aid4Mail first checks if a file with the same name exists in the target folder. If there is, it checks whether the contents are identical. If they are, the duplicate is not saved. If the files are different, then Aid4Mail saves the file with a new name – the original filename followed by an index number in square brackets. Example:

Untitled.doc
Untitled[1].doc
Untitled[2].doc

Q. Sometimes my source email client reports more and sometimes less messages than the target email client. How am I gaining messages or loosing mail during the conversion? Why doesn't the message count of the email clients always equal each other?

A. There are a few reasons that this can happen. First, you may have the options to remove duplicates and/or ignore deleted mail checked which would result in fewer message in the target mailbox. Your source email client may have duplicated messages in its mailboxes causing the mismatch of the email message count. Secondly, some mailboxes get corrupted at the place which marks the start of the next message (the email delimiter) in the mailbox. If that line is corrupt, the next message in the mailbox may be considered part of the previous message causing less total messages. Thirdly, the index file (such as *.idx, *.toc) may be corrupt causing the mismatch of email messages. Lastly, Aid4Mail attempts to correct some corrupted mailboxes which often also causes an email message count difference.

Q. When exporting messages to put on a CD-ROM you recommend using the MD5 file naming option to limit the length of filenames and avoid name conflicts. However, sometimes I like to open specific MHT email files or EML email messages. It's difficult to do so with the meaningless MD5 names (mixed letters and numbers). How can I locate the messages I want to open in a text editor?

A. This is not as hard to do as you might think. Your text editor might have a feature to search for words/phrases in disk files without the need to open the files into a text editor first. Our award winning NoteTab text and HTML editor has such a feature called Search Disk that will find the search criteria in the messages that contain it and open each message(s) (of choice) in its own tab. You can then simply use the Find dialog (Ctrl+F) and quickly bring the tab in focus at the word(s) searched for. NoteTab is available in free and commercial versions.

Q. When making EML, MHT, and MSG message files and the "Subject:" of the message is used as the filename. Some of the characters are changed. Why?

A. Windows does not allow certain characters in filenames such as: / ? | * : < >. Aid4Mail converts the "Subject:" lines that have those characters in them to legal filename characters before processing the mailbox(es) into EML, MHT, and MSG files. Character conversion can be customized through a specialized template file called NameFilter.dat. Open the file NameFilter.txt for instructions and a working example.

Q. My PocoMail "Special mailboxes" contain messages, but Aid4Mail does not process them. Why is this?

A. Your PocoMail email client's "Special mailboxes" are a type of virtual mailboxes. The messages are not in that folder. It just has an appearance of the messages. The "messages" act sort of like a shortcuts so that when you see the messages in the index grid and click on one, it is actually opening the message from another PocoMail mailbox. If you convert all your mailboxes, the messages will indeed be processed! If you know which mailbox(es) they are actually stored in, you can process it and the messages will be found in the target mailbox created by Aid4Mail.

Q. Are there known issues when processing email files?

A. Aid4Mail currently does not support certain filenames that contain Unicode characters. Such files cannot be processed unless they are renamed so as to remove unsupported characters.

Office Outlook and MAPI issues

Q. I have just activated my Aid4Mail Standard license and features like MS Outlook and PST files are gone. Why?

A. As indicated in many parts of our Web site (e.g.: Versions, Key Features, Store) and in our documentation, Aid4Mail Standard has a smaller feature set than Aid4Mail Professional. Hence the lower price. If you need to upgrade your license to Aid4Mail Professional, simply read through the email that was sent to you with your activation code. That email contains instructions and a link you can use to purchase the upgrade. As with most software companies, upgrades include a small additional fee that covers third-party costs and manual processing.

Q. I have Aid4Mail Professional/Forensic/Enterprise running and I cannot see options to process Office Outlook mail. Why?

A. Make sure Office Outlook is correctly installed on your system. Aid4Mail cannot process MAPI accounts, PST, and MSG files if Extended MAPI is not running. Extended MAPI is usually only available if Office Outlook is installed. Also, the current version of Aid4Mail cannot export a source MAPI profile or PST file to a target MAPI profile or PST file – the workaround is to first export your emails to the Outlook MSG format, and then re-export those files to your target format.

If you do not have Office Outlook or an Exchange Server MAPI client, simply download and install the free standalone version of MAPI or a free 60-day trial version of Outlook from Microsoft's web site. Note that the free standalone version of MAPI does not support Unicode PST files.

Q. How do I display my Aid4Mail created PST files in Office Outlook?

A. You can open PST files through the File/Open/Outlook Data File menu command in Office Outlook. Older versions of Outlook may use slightly different names for the menu command. You should avoid using the Outlook import command on your PST files as this sometimes produces unexpected results. Note that Unicode PST files created with Outlook 2003 or newer cannot be opened with an older version of Outlook.

Q. Why is Office Outlook showing wrong dates/contact names in the Folder Pane?

A. By default, Office Outlook displays the Sent date and the contact name from the To field for messages in the Sent Items folder, and the server Received date and the contact name from the From field for messages in other folders. As a result, you may see unexpected dates and names in the Folder Pane for imported "outgoing emails" that are not saved in the Sent Items folder.

To correct this display issue, simply move those outgoing emails to the Sent Items folder. The quickest way to do this is press the Ctrl+A keyboard shortcut to select all the messages in a folder, then use the Ctrl+Shift+V keyboard shortcut to open the Move to Folder dialog box, and then select the Sent Items folder in the list.

Q. When I select a source MAPI profile or PST file, those options are not available on the Target Format screen. Why?

A. The current version of Aid4Mail cannot export a source MAPI profile or PST file to a target MAPI profile or PST file – the workaround is to first export your emails to the Outlook MSG format, and then re-export those files to your target format.

Q. Temporary Profiles: PstLoadTmp000, PstLoadTmp001, PstLoadTmpXXX. Why delete them?

A. We have found that the presence of temporary profiles can cause unexpected things to happen when importing or exporting mail from Office Outlook. You should delete those profiles if you are experiencing problems with Aid4Mail.

It's unclear which programs creates those temporary profiles and fail to delete them. Various reports point to indexing and synchronization software, others blame certain backup and anti-virus products.

To delete temporary profiles:
1) open the Windows Control Panel, 2) double-click on the Mail icon, 3) then click on the Show Profiles button in the Mail Setup dialog box, 4) select and remove any profile starting with "PstLoadTemp", 5) close the Windows Control Panel.

Q. Aid4Mail seems to be processing the wrong Office Outlook PST file or MAPI profile. Why?

A. Sometimes, when you try to process a second Outlook data store (PST file or MAPI profile), Aid4Mail seems to ignore the new settings and simply reprocesses the first email store. When this happens, you might notice the presence of a temporary profile with a name like pstloadtmp000. See the "Temporary Profiles" FAQ item above for instructions in dealing with them.

If temporary profile are not causing the issue, see if rebooting your computer fixes the issue. Setting Office Outlook as your default mail client may also help.

Q. When I select a PST file or a MAPI profile, Aid4Mail does not see any mail folders/messages.

A. If your version of MS Outlook is older than Outlook 2003, this issue may occur because your copy of Outlook is not the default email client. In that case, see if temporarily setting it as the default client fixes the issue and restart Aid4Mail. To change the default email client, open the Internet Properties dialog box. (This can be done either by right-clicking on the Internet Explorer program shortcut and selecting "Properties", or by opening Internet Explorer and selecting "Internet Options" from the "Tools" menu.) Then select the Programs tab, and select the "Microsoft Office Outlook" value in the field labeled E-mail.

The issue can also occur if you have Outlook 98/2000 installed in Internet Mail Only mode, or when there is one or more temporary MAPI profiles with a name like pstloadtmp000. See the "Temporary Profiles" FAQ item above for instructions in dealing with them. Note that PST files from Outlook 8.x for Mac are not supported.

If the above doesn't apply, see if rebooting your computer fixes the issue. Setting Office Outlook as your default mail client may also help.

Q. I have a damaged/corrupted PST file. Can Aid4Mail process it?

A. The only way to find out is to try. If it doesn't work, you could try one of the following Microsoft tools to repair your PST:

How to use the Inbox Repair Tools to recover e-mail messages in Outlook 2002, 2003, and 2007 (scanpst.exe):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287497/

Oversized PST and OST crop tool (Pst2gb.exe):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q296088

Q. Why do I get an "Error creating PST file" message?

A. If your version of Microsoft Outlook is older than Outlook 2003, this issue may occur because your copy of Outlook is not the default email client. In that case, see if temporarily setting it as the default client fixes the issue and restart Aid4Mail. To change the default email client, open the Internet Properties dialog box. (This can be done either by right-clicking on the Internet Explorer program shortcut and selecting "Properties", or by opening Internet Explorer and selecting "Internet Options" from the "Tools" menu.) Then select the Programs tab, and select the "Microsoft Office Outlook" value in the field labeled E-mail.

The issue can also occur if you have Outlook 98/2000 installed in Internet Mail Only mode, or when there is a temporary MAPI profile with a name like pstloadtmp000. See the "Temporary Profiles" FAQ item above for instructions in dealing with them.

If the above doesn't apply, see if rebooting your computer fixes the issue.

Q. With Outlook 2007 SP2, why do I get an error in "Module mspst32.dll"?

A. The error occurs when you use Aid4Mail to convert mail to a new PST file. This issue only occurs with Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2. It appears modifications made in Office 2007 SP2 affect features that worked unchanged since Outlook 97. Microsoft have now fixed the problem so the solution is to update to the latest maintenance release of Office 2007 SP2. If for any reason this is not possible, a workaround in Aid4Mail is to convert mail to an existing MAPI profile instead of a new PST file.

Q. What could cause an "Error adding new message to store" message?

A. The error can be triggered by a break in your network connection. For example when converting mail to a mapped drive using a wireless connection that times out.

Q. Why do I get an "Error creating MAPI subfolder" message?

A. Your source mail folders may contain characters or a format that MAPI cannot use when creating target folder names. However, we have found that with Outlook 2007, the problem sometimes disappears simply by rebooting the computer. If this does not help, try renaming the source mail folder that is causing the problem. Setting Office Outlook as your default mail client may also help.

Q. Why do I get an "Error processing email" message?

A. This error may be triggered by different types of problems. It can occur when your default email client is set to a program that does not support Extended MAPI. If that is the case, go to the Internet Explorer Properties and select the Programs tab; then select "Microsoft Office Outlook" or ExchangeMAPI in the E-mail field.

The error can also occur if you have one or more temporary MAPI profiles named like pstloadtmp000, pstloadtmp001, etc. See the "Temporary Profiles" FAQ item above for instructions in dealing with them.

Q. I have Microsoft Outlook installed in Internet Mail Only mode (IMO). Is it supported by Aid4Mail?

A. The MAPI subsystem installed in the Internet Mail Only mode (only exists in Outlook 98/2000) is a stub that provides minimal MAPI support for the basic functionality of Office Outlook, and may not work properly with Aid4Mail. When using MS Outlook 98 and 2000, it must be installed in Corporate/WorkGroup mode to ensure full compatibility with Aid4Mail. Instructions for changing Outlook 2000 mode are available on Microsoft's web site.

How to tell which setup option you have: In Outlook on the Help menu, click About Microsoft Outlook. Next, look at the second line of text in the About Microsoft Outlook dialog box. If it shows "Corporate or Workgroup", then you have a fully working version of Outlook with Extended MAPI installed.

Q. Are there ways to make Aid4Mail process emails faster?

A. Yes. If you are using anti-virus, anti-spam, archiving products, or any other software/plugin that monitor email messages, turn them off temporarily when using Aid4Mail. Doing so can significantly improve processing speed. You can also speed up processing by unchecking the "Do not add duplicate messages" setting on the "Export Options" screen.

Furthermore, starting with version 1.98, under Outlook 2003 and more recent, Aid4Mail uses a special MAPI feature to import/export mail from Outlook PST and MSG files, and Exchange server mail. The advantage with this new method is that it converts Unicode messages and certain special email types more reliably than the previous method. The disadvantage is that it is usually slower than the alternative method that does not use the special MAPI feature. Use the /MapiConvOff command-line switch to turn off the special MAPI conversion feature and use the faster method instead. Example: Aid4Mail.exe /MapiConvOff

Starting with version 1.96, Aid4Mail uses a slower method for reading generic mailbox files, including those created by Mozilla Thunderbird and Eudora. It does so to ensure it doesn't miss any emails when processing mailbox files that contain a mix of storage formats (e.g. a Mac or Unix mbox file imported in Windows Thunderbird with new messages added to it). If you are processing mailbox files that are entirely created by a single mail client, then you can increase performance without sacrificing reliability by using the /fast command-line switch. Example: Aid4Mail.exe /fast

The two command-line switches mentioned above can be used together if necessary. Example:
Aid4Mail.exe /MapiConvOff /fast

Q. My mail is stored on an IMAP server, which MS Outlook connects to. Why is Aid4Mail only exporting message headers?

A. You need to configure Outlook to download the complete email, not just the header. To make the change, you must open the Send/Receive Settings dialog box in Outlook, select your IMAP account, and then select "Download complete item including attachments" in the Folder Options section. Once you've done that, Aid4Mail should be fetching the whole email.

To reach the Send/Receive Settings dialog box, you must first open the Send/Receive Groups dialog box using the Ctrl+Alt+S keyboard shortcut, or the following menu command: Tools -> Send/Receive -> Send/Receive Settings -> Define Send/Receive Groups..., then click on the Edit button.

Using Aid4Mail with Mac computers

Q. Can Aid4Mail run on a Mac system?

A. Aid4Mail will run on Intel-based Macs that are running Windows or Wine, and on PowerPC Macs using Virtual PC. However, we do recommend that you try Aid4Mail first before purchasing a license to ensure that it is compatible with your computer system and that it satisfies your requirements.

Q. Does Aid4Mail support Mac OS X Mail (Mail.app or Apple Mail)?

A. Yes. Aid4Mail is capable of processing email files stored by all versions of Mac OS X Mail. Since Aid4Mail is a Windows application, it will only run on Intel-based Macs that are running Windows or Wine, and on PowerPC Macs using Virtual PC. We recommend that you run Aid4Mail on a Windows system as it will process mail much faster that way.

If you want to migrate your Mac Mail to a Windows email program, first transfer your files from Mac to Windows. You can also copy your Mac mail folders and files to a CD, DVD, or USB drive, which Aid4Mail can then access from your Windows computer. Aid4Mail can read the MBOX files created by Mac OS X Mail 1 (that comes with Mac OS X 10.0 to 10.3) – if that is the format you have, use the "Generic mailboxes" mail source option under the "Generic Mailbox Format" section in Aid4Mail. Later versions of Mac OS X Mail (starting with version 2) store their messages in EMLX format. To migrate those messages, use the "EML message files" mail source option under the "Outlook Express" section in Aid4Mail.

To migrate your Windows email messages to Mac OS X Mail, run Aid4Mail on your Windows computer and convert your mail to the "Generic mailboxes" format, which is listed under the "Generic formats" section on the Target Format screen in Aid4Mail. We recommend that you set the Filename field on the Target Settings screen to "*.MBOX" (without the quotes), and set the "Target Line Format" option to "Macintosh (CR)". You will then have to transfer the mbox files created by Aid4Mail to your Mac system, and use the Mac OS X Mail import command to copy your emails into it.

Q. Does Aid4Mail support Microsoft Outlook for Mac?

A. Aid4Mail can only process Outlook PST and MSG files on a system running Outlook for Windows. PST files from Outlook 8.x for Mac are not supported as they use a format that is incompatible with Outlook for Windows. However, PST files from Outlook 2001 for Mac use the same format as PST files from Outlook for Windows, and can therefore be processed by Aid4Mail on a Windows system.

Q. Does Aid4Mail support Microsoft Entourage?

A. Aid4Mail does not process Microsoft Entourage's native mail database stores, but it does handle the MBOX file format that Entourage supports.

If you want to migrate your Entourage mail to a Windows email program, first convert your Entourage mail folders to MBOX files. The simplest way to do this is to drag each folder of messages to the Mac desktop. Entourage will automatically create an MBOX file for each folder you drag-and drop to the desktop. Next, you will have to transfer your MBOX files from Mac to Windows. You can also copy your MBOX files to a CD, DVD, or USB drive, which Aid4Mail can then access from your Windows computer. Use the "Generic mailboxes" mail source option under the "Generic Mailbox Format" section in Aid4Mail to select your MBOX files and then choose the appropriate target email format when you reach the Target Format screen.

To migrate your Windows email messages to Microsoft Entourage, run Aid4Mail on your Windows computer and convert your mail to the "Generic mailboxes" format, which is listed under the "Generic formats" section on the Target Format screen in Aid4Mail. We recommend that you set the Filename field on the Target Settings screen to "*.MBOX" (without the quotes), and set the "Target Line Format" option to "Macintosh (CR)". You will then have to transfer the mbox files created by Aid4Mail to your Mac system. Then either use the Entourage import command to copy your emails into it (File / Import / Contacts or Messages from a text file / Import messages from an MBOX-format text file), or drag-and-drop the MBOX files to the Entourage folder window.

Q. Does Aid4Mail support Eudora for Macintosh (Mac Eudora)?

A. Aid4Mail can process and export mail from Mac Eudora mailbox files, but it cannot create Eudora mailbox files. Since Aid4Mail is a Windows application, it will only run on Intel-based Macs that are running Windows or Wine, and on PowerPC Macs using Virtual PC. We recommend that you run Aid4Mail on a Windows system as it will process mail much faster that way.

To migrate your Mac Eudora messages to a Windows email program, first transfer your files from Mac to Windows. You can also copy your Mac Eudora mailbox files to a CD, DVD, or USB drive, which Aid4Mail can then access from your Windows computer. Use the "Mac Eudora" mail source option under the "Eudora" section in Aid4Mail to select your mailbox files and then choose the appropriate target email format when you reach the Target Format screen.

Aid4Mail expects to find the mailbox files under the "Mail Folder" folder, attachments in the "Attachments Folder" folder, and embedded contents in the "Parts Folder" folder. All three folders share the same parent folder. If your attachment and embedded contents files are in a different location, see the instructions under the "Fixing Attachment Folder References" topic in the Aid4Mail Help file.

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Last updated on December 19, 2009