The end of an era?

Perhaps. MailSteward Pro is 59030 messages into archiving all of my Eudora mailboxes into its database. Thanks for the pointer, pnh! I started by testing the free version of MailSteward on a select number of mailboxes. It archived something in the neighborhood of 34,000 messages and gave me access to 15,001 of those, as the free trial indicated it would. The search functionality is considerably more robust than what I'm used to, but I poked at it enough to determine that I'm likely to be able to learn how to use it well enough for my needs. So I downloaded MySQL server, installed it, opened Terminal and typed in the easiest of the commands indicated, then followed help screens to launch the server and then the program. Setting the server to archive large attachments will wait for another day.

Back over in a copy of Eudora on another computer, I'm paring back the files I'll attempt to put through Eudora Mailbox Cleaner and then import into Mac Mail. So far, I've gone from 2.54GB in my mail folder to 634.7MB, and from 733 mailboxes to 340. I'm not done yet. But there, at the very top of my fredcritter mailbox, I found the following:

11/3/95, 2:42am

To: falh@maroon.tc.umn.edu
From: gfs@toad-hall.com (Geri Sullivan)
Subject: Eudora
Cc:
Bcc:

Hi, Fred! This is my first attempt at using Eudora to send mail. I have some configuration questions for you -- or at least expect I will have after researching what I can find in balloon help and the like. Whee!

So, the modem is up and running. I've connected to Winternet at 28.8, and done an AOL session at 9600 (I seem to remember that they had special software for 14.4 modems, and the listing of available options jumped from 19-something to 57-something, no "38,400bps," which is what the 28.8 apparently really runs at.

This is fun and only somewhat bewildering. I had email from Winternet saying that the "toad-hall" registration is done and will be effective "tomorrow." But I won't broadcast the information until I see for myself that it works.

Thanks, bunches and tons, for the modem. I still think I'm gonna cry.

More later, no doubt.

Love,
Geri

I've put off moving away from Eudora for years. My first real attempt, following all of the advice and pointers I could gather, ended in a hard fail over this past Thanksgiving weekend. The imported mailboxes and numbers looked right on the surface, so I just kept updating them before proofreading. Not only were the number of messages "off" in several cases, many of the message inside were pure garbage. Horrors.

But I have to change. Eudora doesn't run on Yosemite, and Yosemite is what I'm running on my "new" 17" MacBook Pro. The one built in October 2011, IIRC, and bought refurbished from Apple long after they discontinued selling new 17" MacBooks. The one coming with me on my Corflu Fifty trip across the Pond. So here I am, giving the move another shot, deleting as much cruft and just plain stuff that belongs in an easily-searched archive rather than in Mail, whose search function is reportedly pathetic compared to Eudora's. Stuff like email Fred and I exchanged 19+ years ago.

Wish me luck! I do have a back-up plan in mind, but I really, really, really don't want to have to use it.