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Attachment Extractor for Outlook Express - User Interface
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Attachment Extractor for Outlook Express has a simple and convenient interface.
- Select DBX source file manually / Default Outlook Express folders
Outlook Express stores messages in DBX files, each file corresponds to one Outlook Express folder.
This radio box allows you to get access to DBX files using two different methods. If the
Default Outlook Express folders option is selected, DBX files in the left part of
the window are presented as a tree of folders the same as in Outlook Express. You can use
this mode to work only with those DBX files that are available from Outlook Express as folders with messages.
If the Select DBX source file manually option is selected, the left part of the window will
contain the tree of Windows folders. You can use this mode to select any DBX file located,
for instance, on a CD or on a network drive.
When you click an Outlook Express folder or a DBX file in the left part of the window, the program
immediately starts scanning this file. At the bottom of the window there will appear a progress bar
showing the process of scanning. After the scanning process is over, you will see the size of the DBX
file and the number of found message in the status bar at the bottom of the window. To see the list of
messages, click the Message list tab.
- All messages / Selected messages
You can extract attachments from all messages displayed on the Message list tab or select only some
of them. To select several messages, click them holding down the CTRL or SHIFT keys. If the All messages
option is selected, all messages from the list will be processed no matter if there are selected message
in the list. If the Selected messages option is selected, only messages selected in the list will be
processed.
- Ignore encrypted
If selected, encrypted messages will be processed encrypted. This means that you will not be asked a password for each such message.
- All attachments / Images only / With these extensions only
You can extract all attached files, or only image files or only files with the extension you specify
(use a semicolon to specify several extensions).
- Target folder
Specify the folder to which you want to save extracted attachments.
- Open the folder after processing
If selected, the Windows Explorer window with the folder where extracted attachments are saved will be
opened after the extracting process is finished.
- Create output subfolders with the names of Outlook folders
Allows you to extract attachments from all folders in the current Identity at once, a separate subfolder
is created on the disk for each Outlook Express folder.
- Save files to separate folders
If selected, it allows you to group attachments you extract by various attributes - message sender name,
message sender email, subject, message date. A separate folder with the corresponding name will be created
for each group. For example, if you select Message subject, all attachments extracted from messages with the
subject "Test subj" will be saved to a separate subfolder named "Test subj".
- Rename attachments
If selected, extracted files will be renamed the way you select.
- If the file exists
Defines what should be done with an extracted attachment if there is already a file with such a name.
The program can skip the file, rename the existing file or create a unique name for the extracted file.
- Remove attachments from messages
If selected, attachments extracted from messages and saved to the hard disk will be also removed from messages.
And if you select the Add shortcuts to removed messages option, shortcuts to attachments saved to
the hard disk will be added at the end of the message.
- Add shortcuts to removed attachments
If selected, shortcuts pointing to attachments saved to the hard disk will be added at the end of the message
after these attachments are removed.
- Retain the paperclip icon
If selected, this icon will be displayed next to messages in the list of messages even if all attachments are
removed from them.
- Enable filtering
If selected, a set of conditions will be applied to each message that should be processed and only those messages
meeting the conditions will be processed.
- Initial date / Final date
If filtering is enabled, this option allows you to specify a time period. Only the messages within this period
will be processed.
- Size
Allows you to specify the limit for the size of an attachment. Only attachments that are larger / smaller than
the specified size will be extracted.
- Subject contains / Subject does not contain
If filtering is enabled, only those messages that contain or do not contain the specified string in their subject
fields will be processed.
- From / To
If filtering is enabled, this option allows you to select certain senders and/or recipients. Only those messages
that have From: and To: fields coinciding with the specified ones (you can select
several items from the list) will be processed.
- Extract
After you click the Extract button, the process of extracting files according to the specified settings will begin.
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| Extracting / removing attachments |
The first thing you should do is specify the Outlook Express folder or the DBX file attachments should be extracted from.
If the Select DBX source file manually / Default Outlook Express folders radio box is set to Default
Outlook Express folders, folders in the left part of the window are displayed exactly the way they are displayed
in Outlook Express. If the radio box is set to Select DBX source file manually, the left part of the window
contains the tree of Windows folders and you can select any DBX file, for example, located on a CD or on a network drive.
As soon as you click an Outlook Express folder or a DBX file in the left part of the window, the program will immediately
start scanning the selected folder. The progress of scanning is shown on the progress bar at the bottom of the window.
You can see the list of all messages found in the Outlook Express folder or in the DBX file by clicking the
Message list tab.
Now you should specify where and how you want to save extracted attachments. Use the Target folder field to
specify the folder on your hard disk where you want to save attachments.
If you select the Open the folder after processing checkbox, this folder will be opened in
Windows Explorer.
The detailed description of other options from the How to save attachments files area can be found in the
User interface section.
You can quite flexibly specify exactly what messages you want to process and exactly what attachments you want to be
extracted from these messages. For example, if you want to extract attachments from messages received during the last
week, you can enable filtering and specify the period you are interested in using the
Initial date / Final date fields. Another way is to switch to the Message list tab, click
the header of the Received column to sort messages by the date they were received and select the messages you
are interested in by clicking the lines in the list (use CTRL or SHIFT). Then switch back to the Options
tab and select the Selected messages option.
If you select some messages in the list of messages, select the Selected messages option and also enable
filtering, only the selected message meeting filtering conditions will be processed.
Removing attachments.
Removing attachments from email messages will allow you to considerably reduce the size of Outlook Express folders,
which will make your work with Outlook Express much faster and more stable. In order not only to save extracted
attachments to the hard disk, but also to remove them from messages, select the Remove attachments from
messages checkbox.
The mechanism of removing attachments works as follows. A temporary subfolder will be created for each processed
Outlook Express folder. All messages from the source folder will be copied to this subfolder and attachment will be
removed from these messages. Thus, the source folder is not modified. It is for you to be able to check the final
result. If you are satisfied with the result, you can remove all messages from the source folder, compact it
(to make it smaller), move all messages from the temporary subfolder to the source one and delete the temporary
subfolder. If you are not satisfied with the result, just delete the temporary subfolder, change the settings of
the program the way you need it and try again.
If you want shortcuts to removed attachments saved to the hard disk to be added to the messages these attachments
have been removed from, select the Add shortcuts to removed attachments checkbox.
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