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Archive messages on purge
 
#1
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My problem was addressed earlier here:
http://www.ritlabs.com/en/forum/read.php?FID=5&TID=253&MID=1024
but I feel it needs a new subject and also it has nothing to do with filtering, so here goes:

I'm trying to automatically move old messages from my Inbox to an Archive folder, without luck. I followed the instructions Marck Pearlstone gave in the other thread, although the options I see are a little different than what he described. Anyway, I can't get it to work. Here is what I did:

1. Folder "Inbox" properties, set "Keep messages in the base" to 7 days, under "On exit" checked "Remove old messages" and "Compress the folder". [EDIT: I don't see any "Deletion" properties for the folder, as Marck Pearlstone described in his post.]
2. Account properties, "Deletion" page, set "Alternative deletion" to "Move to the specified folder", and chose folder Archive. Checked "Use alternative method for purging folders".
3. Waited 9 days.

My Inbox is still full of messages that are 9 days old. Did I miss any other settings? TIA

[EDIT: I am using v. 3.64.01 Christmas.
Also, nothing happens when I manually hit "Purge+Compress" on the Inbox. I only get a message saying "There is nothing to delete".]
 
 
 
#2
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This method does not work for the inbox, which is why the options for the folder look different.

I don't keep messages in my inbox and I strongly advise anyone who asks to follow that example. I view the inbox as a volatile, high traffic danger zone. I have filters to move all messages to relevant folders as soon as they arrive. Those folders are the ones that are subject to the archiving method I described.

The problem with the inbox is that it is used as the landing point for all new messages - the most active folder in the system. Storing messages, even for only 7 days, in such a volatile environment can only end in tears.

Even a simple catch-all filter that moves messages from the inbox to a "Readme" folder, which follows the archiving procedure, would make more sense.
iviarck
 
 
 
#3
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This method does not work for the inbox, which is why the options for the folder look different.

They sure do! There's only 1 tab versus 9 tabs in custom folders.

I view the inbox as a volatile, high traffic danger zone.

Hm, good point. I'll try your advice - thanks. One question: would you place this hypothetical "Readme" folder under "Inbox" or make it a top-level folder? Oops, one more question: why does the Inbox have an option "Keep messages in the base for (days)" that doesn't appear to do anything...? Is it a bug?
 
 
 
#4
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Quote
Oops, one more question: why does the Inbox have an option "Keep messages in the base for (days)" that doesn't appear to do anything...? Is it a bug?

Well, it works for me. I've set it to 180 days and my oldest message is received on 18 July 2005 (Apart from three parked ones.) and as I closed TB for the last time on 12 January, I can say that that's about right.
Note that I've also got his set:
Account -> Properties -> Options -> Compress all folders on exit
It might be that that's related.

And regarding Marck's comment:
Quote
The problem with the inbox is that it is used as the landing point for all new messages - the most active folder in the system. Storing messages, even for only 7 days, in such a volatile environment can only end in tears.

I don't store any important messages in my Inbox, but my oldest parked message in my Inbox is from 18 July 2001, so my Inbox didn't corrupt during the last four and a half years, nor do I remember that it has done before that time. With its current contents (163 messages) its rather full though.
__________________________________
I'm just a user of The Bat! I don't work for Ritlabs.
 
 
 
#5
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I don't create folders within the Inbox. I have a few main topic folders at the top level - Work, News, People, Admin - and a vast tree of hundreds of folders beneath the top level topic headers but no folders beneath the Inbox, Outbox or sent.

I did run a folder beneath Inbox for a while but it became corrupted on one occasion.

I have never personally lost messages from the Inbox, but having been around on the User Discussion mailing lists since 1998, it is something that I have seen happen to many people. And always to people who use the Inbox as a long term storage folder.
iviarck
 
 
 
#6
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Quote
I have never personally lost messages from the Inbox, but having been around on the User Discussion mailing lists since 1998, it is something that I have seen happen to many people. And always to people who use the Inbox as a long term storage folder.

And always to people who don't compress regularly.
__________________________________
I'm just a user of The Bat! I don't work for Ritlabs.
 
 
 
#7
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> Well, it works for me. I've set it to 180
> days and my oldest message is received on
> 18 July 2005

Hm... curious.

I just had a thought that maybe the message age is based on "Received" date. I was thinking it was based on "Created" date. Because my new "Readme" folder still has many messages in it that are now 10 days old, even though it's set up to keep messages for only 6 days. But according to the *Received* date they are only 4 days old.
 
 
 
#8
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Quote
I just had a thought that maybe the message age is based on "Received" date.
Yes, it is based on the received date.
Based on created would be kind of dramatic if you have a folder set to 180 days and one of your contacts has his date a year off.
__________________________________
I'm just a user of The Bat! I don't work for Ritlabs.
 
 
 
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