Moth Software http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/index_files/armadillo/feed.rss Wed, 08 May 2013 11:05:45 +0200 Wed, 08 May 2013 11:05:45 +0200 Armadillo CMS for RapidWeaver Mail Archiver 3.0.1/2 is available http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=16 News http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=16 Mail Archiver 3.0.1 adds some smallish features and fixes a LOT of bugs. Version .0.2 fixes a crash bug on Snow Leopard.

New features are

  • Added an option for the pdf export: Only the subject can now be the name of a pdf file. Also the sent date of a mail is now the creation date of the pdf file.
  • Mail Archiver now works with smaller screens.
  • Removed the option to export to Filemaker with ODBC.
  • When the data in an archive needs to be verified the user now gets information about this.
  • The complete mailbox path is now exported to Filemaker.
  • Mail Archiver works again with Snow Leopard.
Some of the bug fixes are
  • Added a workaround for a memory leak in Filemaker.
  • Fixed a problem with archiving from Filemaker.
  • There is no longer crashes when counting files.
  • Fixed a problem with archiving mailboxes from Postbox.
  • The Scheduler wasn’t working properly without "Start Missed” selected.
  • Fixed a problem with moving mails to the trash for Mail.
  • Fixed a problem with attachment names not being recognized.
  • And 3.0.2 fixes a problem with the installer crashing at startup on Snow Leopard.




]]> Wed, 08 May 2013 10:51:26 +0200 Mail Archiver X and the Cloud http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=14 Development http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=14 Nobody has only one computer anymore. Let alone the huge number of other iPhones and iPads. But what can I do to support this?


Use iCloud

According to Apple iCloud "just works". Or not according to several developers like the ones from Bare Bones. The problems don't look like something that can be fixed easily. In addition to this the restrictive policies of the MacAppStore make it a really unattractive place to be. I think I'm the only one who thinks so.

Develop my own cloud solution

I don't really have the resources to develop a full could solution. At first glance this looks like a project for a year and half a dozen programmers.

Use a local database server

I've added very basic server support to Mail Archiver already over a year ago. Installing the server isn't very user friendly. Let alone administration. This should change in a couple of months. With this solution you should be able to use Mail Archiver in your local network.

Use mySQL 

Installing mySQL is simple nowadays. If you have a website then it's like clicking 2 - 3 times and giving the database a name. For this I would have to change most of my database code. This still sounds like 10% of the work of the "own cloud" solution.

And what about iPhone/iPad 

For applications iPhone and iPad require the iOS App Store and iCloud. Where I really don't want to go. Therefore, this solution requires mySQL and a web user interface.

If this sounds like a lot of work, this is correct.

First I'll have to wait until the user-friendly database server is finished. In the next weeks I'm going to evaluate how much work a change to mySQL is.
]]> Mon, 01 Apr 2013 07:31:53 +0200 For Technorati http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=13 http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=13 UWKZ2C9UGTXZ

]]> Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:19:12 +0100 Is iDrive kidding me? http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=12 Misc http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=12 As everyone else I need to report bugs and have lovely experiences with support. I've had fun with a company called iDrive before. Working with iDrive never has been great but in the last days they really annoyed me.

Online Backup with iDrive

What would happen if your house burns down? Your TimeMachine would be totally useless, because it has burned, too. This was the reason for me to have an online backup. I did this with a company iDrive, where I signed up relatively early. This was in 2009.

Now iDrive was never easy to work with. Their interpretation of a bug was way different than mine. Now and then the backup got stuck and I never managed to reproduce this. Dealing with their support was always fun. I asked them what the difference between their new software and Dropbox was. Their answer was: it has more features.

Getting a new version of iDrive or not

Some days ago I downloaded a new version of their software. I started it and was astonished to get a message. It was something like: Your account is too old and you need to sign up again. WTF? I went over to their website to open a ticket. There was a 24/7 chat available and did this instead. iDrive wants me to

  • sign up again
  • pay again
  • upload my data (>100GB) again

because they changed technologies and can't move the old data over. I've been on the internet since 1995 but I never heard such BS before. If I had needed to convert my account that would have been okay. Even paying 50$ again wouldn't have been so bad. But uploading the >100GB again over my 1.5MB DSL line to such a customer-oriented company? No way in heck.

Now I'm looking for competitors.

]]> Sun, 24 Mar 2013 19:28:06 +0100 Mail Archiver X 3.0 is available http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=10 News http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=10 Moth Software today announces Mail Archiver X 3.0 for Mac OS X, a major update to their app designed as an addition to the user's current email application, allowing consolidation, archiving, cleaning, formatting, and permanent storage of email. Email may be saved in its native, Filemaker, or PDF database format. Archiving email from a wide variety of email applications into a single database, the app prevents accidental deletions, facilitates quick searches, and eliminates storage size limits.


Feature Highlights:

  • An ideal email management and archive solution
  • Protect and save all email in a single archive folder
  • Archives email from the following clients: Entourage, Eudora, Mail, Outlook, Powermail, Thunderbird, and standard mbox; plus Gmail and Exchange 
  • Exports email to the following database formats: Valentina (native), Filemaker, PDF, mbox, Evernote, RTF, Text, or XML
  • Built-in, email database browser
  • Cleans email of unnecessary characters and code
  • Exchange is supported for Apple Mail, and Microsoft Entourage and Outlook


What's New in Version 3

  • Mail can be archived automatically using the built-in scheduler
  • Searching is more than 10 times faster
  • Suppport for Filemaker 12 has been added
  • There is now a setup wizard to help getting started with Mail Archiver X
  • Exporting data is now easier than before
  • Duplicates are handled automatically
  • Font and font size can be changed for display
  • It’s possible to export a selection of mail for some formats
  • When exporting to PDF and mbox, the mailbox structure is preserved
  • When exporting to Filemaker, duplicates are no longer exported
  • Preferences and Setup now have undo
  • It’s possible to delete attachments individually and for selected email

The new version can be downloaded from the Moth Software website.

]]> Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:31:25 +0100 FAQ Page for Mail Archiver X http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=9 FAQ http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=9 I've added back an FAQ Section as part of the Support page. The first 2 entries are about when Mail Archiver seems to hang and about archive sizes. Especially, the second question comes up now and then.

]]> Mon, 18 Feb 2013 09:30:53 +0100 Wishing for Spring http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=8 Garden http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=8 How I love the first snowdrops and crocuses flowering next to the house. They are the hope that winter will be ending "real soon now". It had snowed some centimeters this week. Then it thawed so that only a few patches of snow remain here and there. The next time it will get warmer the many more crocuses will get out in the rest of the garden. The irises and the hellebores will follow. And the spring will be there.

In the last weeks nothing much happened here at Moth Software because the family and I have a cold that we can't seem to shake. The brain is still working at half capacity. 


]]> Sat, 09 Feb 2013 12:51:27 +0100 Speed of archiving duplicate mails http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=6 Development http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=6 It's typical to archive a new mails in Mail Archiver while skipping over duplicates mails in an archive. This has never been really fast. In the last days I took a bit time to understand why.

The first try had been to get the unique ID of a mail before doing anything else and compare this to the IDs already in the archive. To my surprise this didn't speed up anything.

While I dislike the development tool that Apple does (XCode) they also produce a great tool with which I can inspect the speed of an application. This tells me which parts of my code are slow.

In my case I found that the simple check if an email is already in the archive was quite slow. Together with some smaller changes the "archival" of duplicate mails is now about 40% faster.

Thanks to Andreas Löw from Code and Web.

]]> Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:58:31 +0100 Support for Retina displays in Mail Archiver X http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=5 Development http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=5 Apple has forced developers to play catch up forever: Mac OS X, Intel, Cocoa were the big ones. Uncounted small ones came in addition. The latest are Sandboxing and Retina. 

Sandboxing is still on my to-do list, if I want to go to the Mac App Store.

Several customers have asked about Retina. For Retina I need to redo every single icon that is in the application. Almost everything to do about drawing needs to be re-evaluated. In addition, Moth Software is a very small one-woman-shop. For this reason I have enabled for version 3 basic Retina support. Any text except the list of mails should look nice and crisp. 

The screenshot below shows how Mail Archiver looks for a Retina display:


The rest will hopefully come in version 3.1.

]]> Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:46:23 +0100 Mail Archiver X 3.0 beta 3 http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=4 News http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=4 The release of Mail Archiver X 3 is getting closer! Today beta 3 was released with some bug fixes. It is recommended for all users that use the scheduler to update to beta 3. You can download the new version from the Download page. The bug fixes are listed in the What's new page.

]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 15:50:00 +0100 Email troubleshooting http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=3 News http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=3 There are many sites about troubleshooting the Mac but non specifically about email troubleshooting. I have started a Email Troubleshooting section at Moth Software for this purpose. So far the protocols have been explained. Each week there will be a new article available.

]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 11:18:22 +0100 New Website Design - New blog http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=2 News http://www.mothsoftware.com/content/blog/?post_id=2 The website got a slightly updated design, but was switched back from Drupal to Rapidweaver. The old blog posts were all removed and the blog will get new content.

]]> Sun, 23 Dec 2012 15:42:55 +0100