Perhaps the very best feature of Google's GMail Browser is Archive!  With the ever- growing generous storage space allocated, there is absolutely no reason why anyone would ever want to delete any conversations.  The Archive, by the virtue of being a vast database, is very easy to extract the conversations through the use of extremely flexible keywords and the "Search Mail" Button.

But you can do practically the very same thing using Microsoft Outlook Express!  In the referenced article from PC World Magazine, you are provided the instructions to create a Directory on your C:\ Drive where your e-mail will reside as an archive. I found that this will work on an external hard drive - but Windows will nag more often for you to compress your e-mail mailbox file.  It would benefit anyone who desires to follow these instructions to read "fearnoevil" Click Here before you begin. 

1)  I am a student of MS-DOS and I use the Command Prompt window because it saves considerable time when you need to create a new Directory on your HDD  (Hard Disk Drive).  I also recommend that you locate the icon for Command Prompt and drag it to the QuickLaunch Taskbar (to the right of the START Button) where it will always be ready to serve you.  Click START and point to All Programs and point to Accessories to see the Command Prompt icon in the last menu that appears.  Click on the Command Prompt icon to open this view on your desktop:

2)  The Command Prompt window opens to the Current Directory which makes access to your HDD's root directory as simple as typing on CD\ and clicking the ENTER Key.  Then you simply type in either MD or MKDIR and ARCHIVE (the name of the Directory) - clicking the ENTER key executes the command.  To exit the Command Prompt window and return to your Windows Desktop - type in the word 'exit' (without the quotes) and click the ENTER key.  Now that you have a Directory on your HDD named Archive, you need to establish a link from Outlook Express - another very simple task.  Open MS Outlook Express:

3)  Right-click your mouse on Local Folders in the upper left sidebar (as you can see in the above screen snapshot).  On the right-click Menu you can see the option 'New Folder' - click on New Folder to proceed (hi-lited).  Due to the fact that I have previously created the Archive e-mail message folder on my computer, you will be able to follow the next step because I have created a temporary screen snapshot to illustrate the step.  You can also see the icon to the right of the START Button for access to the Command Prompt window.

4)  You can see that I use additional mailboxes that are an integral part of setting up MSOE as your own personal Post Office - as outlined in 'fearnoevil' and you can also see in the mailbox hierarchy where I have placed the e-mail Archive Folder.  You can collect the e-mail messages from the other mailbox folders and then transmit the contents of the Archive folder to the Archive Directory on your HDD once a day.  Let us continue.....by right-clicking the Mailbox Folder and selecting Properties (bottom menu option) to display:

5)  You can see that the Archive Directory contains 2501 messages that I have processed since the date when the "How To" article appeared in PC World.  On Friday of each week I clean out most of the Mailbox Folders that you see in the folder tree in the snapshot that appears above the last one.  Remaining e-mail is normally messages that I am holding awaiting disposition from outside URLs, i.e., suspect viral-coded message attachments.  In the following screen snapshot you can see the Archive in the view that is created by clicking on the Paperclip icon in the Header.  Notice that the top Date is the Current Date which can be flip-flopped by clicking the Header label Received.

6)  The Header label 'From' is searchable because you have the "elevator" in the right sidebar which you can adjust to isolate all of the e-mail messages that arrived at you InBox from a single source, or were dispatched by you as you can see in the following screen snapshot:

7)  Experimentation will dictate just how flexible the Header labels can be.  The Subject line is a good example - you can have it any way you choose - from alphabetical sequence to Sender to Date - all with (or without) attachments.  I do not archive white papers on my HDD nor on my external hard drive!  I use four (4) GMail Accounts which I have nicknamed Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta.  Each of these phonetic databases (GMail Archive) contain white papers which provide me with an endless capability to keep track of who got what and on what date.  But to me - having the capability to flip-flop the Sent Date and the Receipt Date provides me with the best management tool because I can call up the distribution with or without Attachments.

8)  In the lower left-hand corner of the Archive page you can see that the file currently holds 2501 e-mail messages.  And due to the fact that I practice the art of maintaining my hard drive at one-third of the formatted disk space free.  At the time when the Archive Mailbox file grows past this established limit - I will move the file and it's contents to my Seagate Free Agent 320 GB external drive.  But I still have quite a way to go before that time.

If you enjoyed this Googlepage article and found it helpful - then you will also enjoy STASH!  STASH (click the link)