Mailbag Assistant
Reviewed June 2007

What’s It Do? Searches for, organizes, analyzes, and archives email; opens all mail files including those backed up on external media; filters email containing virus attachments; creates archives in compressed format; exports emails as EML files, Web pages, and other formats; and, more.


Does it do what it Promises?

Reviewer 1: Yes, Mailbag Assistant helps search for email files, organize them in ways that make the most sense, analyze their contents in a variety of ways, and create archives of messages. The program works only with email that you have downloaded to one’s computer, not with messages stored on a remote server. The program lists a large number of email programs it will work with. Although it didn’t list Mulberry (my primary email program), a query to the developer received a prompt response saying that Mailbag Assistant will work with Mulberry since Mulberry uses the Unix mbox format.

Reviewer 2: Yes, although you must learn and navigate menus to do what it claims, which it does well.

Reviewer 3: Yes. Mailbag Assistant is a Windows-based tool for organizing, analyzing, and searching email messages. It reads and processes current and archived emails whether they are stored on a computer, on networked drives, or on removable media such a CD or DVD.

Reviewer 4: Yes. All the functions that I tried worked well and were easy to carry out. I do not use the usual "big name" email programs at all, although I do have Thunderbird installed on a computer that I use for special projects. My normal working email clients are both programs that are pretty far off the normal beaten track. In spite of that, Mailbag Assistant was able to handle them both effectively and efficiently.


Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1: Yes, I found the installation quick and effortless. I selected mbox format, and told Mailbag Assistant where Mulberry stores my mailboxes in disconnected mode. It quickly imported and listed all messages in chronological order. (Chronological order is one of a number of different ways in which you can get Mailbag Assistant to list your messages.) At a later point, I also added the messages from my Gmail account, which I had downloaded using Thunderbird. Mailbag Assistant handled these effortlessly as well.

Reviewer 2: Installation was fast and easy.

Reviewer 3: Yes. It is a relatively tiny 2.12MB download and the installation and initial configuration took less than five minutes. Once the setup application launched, a wizard guides through the remaining setup and the initial configuration takes place when the program is launched for the first time, giving the option to select which email clients (mailboxes) and email types/file types to work with during that session.

Reviewer 4: Yes, the installation was smooth and went quickly. I was able to choose where I wanted to put the program, and the shortcuts. Once these choices were made, the installation took less than 10 seconds. Once the installation was done, a "Readme" file came up with a link to downloading the help file. That took only a few seconds, and installation was also fully under my control. Also in the readme file is basic information about the program, where to go for help, join the users forum, etc. The EULA (End Users License Agreement) was pretty standard. The license grants use one copy of the program on one computer for each license that purchased. Updating is also simple: choose "Update" from the Help Menu, see what is new, and find out other information before doing the update. Installation is very straightforward and clean.


Good Points.

Reviewer 1: Mailbag Assistant offers a very large array of features to deal with email more effectively than is possible in most email programs. One of Mailbag Assistant’s most impressive strengths is its extensive search capabilities allowing search on all messages, no matter how many folders they may be in, or a search of any selection. Like most programs, Mailbag Assistant searches for specific words, but it also permits searches using regular expressions, approximate matches (e.g., if one is not sure how a word is spelled), or even “Soundex Match,” which compares whole words based roughly on how they sound in English. Boolean operators (has, or, and, not, etc.) can be used and a range of dates can be stipulated as well as search on the full header and/or the body of the message and the grid or message views, including date, direction, name of sender, email address, subject, status, priority, attachment, label, size, mailbox name, and mailbox file. There are many more search features that I don’t have space to mention. Another very useful feature of Mailbag Assistant is its archiving capability. These can be archived by sender, subject, project, specific time period, or other category, and messages can then be erased but kept readily available in the archive. Mailbag Assistant also makes it very easy to see an email message’s full header and what’s called the “raw message.” In some email programs, these features are hidden or inaccessible. And unlike some email programs (e.g., AOL), in Mailbag Assistant one can click on any link, even if it is only in plain text. Mailbag Assistant also color codes the various levels of quoting, making it much easier to see who said what. Another useful feature of Mailbag Assistant is its ability to extract addresses from an assortment of email messages. For example, to send a report to everyone who has written to request a copy, one can just put all the requests in a file in Mailbag Assistant and click on “Address List”; the program will produce a list of the email addresses of the people who wrote, with one address per line and duplicates removed. Messages can be saved in a generic mailbox format t compatible with many mail programs or as EML files that can be easily opened or imported in Outlook and Outlook Express. This allows reading and manipulation of old email upon change of email programs. The program has extensive and clear Help files and is supported with a responsive and helpful staff.

Reviewer 2: Once the mailbox is open, the screen shows all read & unread messages with unread shown in bold. It has an option to mark all messages read, which I have never really understood why this option is needed or used. I personally like to see what messages I haven’t read, then read them. Mailbag Assistant does an excellent job of sorting, with many sort columns available. I liked the “show the header only” view which is essential when reporting spam or phishing type emails. The feature allowing compressing and saving of archived email is useful in saving hard drive space. Mail deleted through Mailbag Assistant is not deleted from the original mail source files, thus avoiding a possible index error. Help is plentiful and tech support responses via email were concise, very helpful, and received within one day.

Reviewer 3: According to the Fooke’s Software (developers of Mailbag Assistant) Website, Mailbag Assistant should save you time and frustration. This email organizer compliments your mail program and offers powerful tools top search, sort, export, extract information, and archive your messages. It does all of this and more with ease. The program includes advanced features not available with most standard email programs. For example, it allows users to search multiple criteria and for approximate or Soundex (sound-based) matches. In addition, Mailbag Assistant contains filters to isolate emails that contain viruses and a feature to extract email addresses and traffic statistics. Mailbag Assistant allows opening as many emails from as many mailboxes as the computer’s memory will allow, including active mailboxes created by your email client as well as archived mailboxes anywhere on one’s drives. It is also able to read and write .eml files, and extract HTML messages with all embedded content. One notable feature is its ability to interact with the user’s own email client. Double clicking on an email address in a message header will open the email client to compose a message to that address. There is also a button on the toolbar to reply to or resend the message, again by calling one’s own email client. Most important to me, though, is that Mailbag Assistant compliments and supplements my existing email program without interfering with it, leaving my original messages intact and untouched (and therefore safe and secure!). The user interface (GUI) is an intuitive grid layout, which allows users to sort emails in a variety of ways just by clacking column headings. Alternately, the program’s E-mail Wizard and Quick Match search features can be used. Mailbag Assistant supports a wide range of email programs including Mozilla Thunderbird, FoxMail, Opera, Eudora, PocoMail, Netscape Messenger, Pegasus, Outlook Express, Juno and several generic mailboxes. The program was not especially resource-hungry and operated smoothly and integrated smoothly with Windows—offering no conflicts on my machine of any kind. Technical/Customer support was fast, efficient, helpful and friendly (and free), and there is a free 30-day trial demo available. The program is very reasonably priced at $29.95 for such a powerful and feature rich program, and one that I can recommend without hesitation.

Reviewer 4: One of the main reasons that I use Pegasus, my email program, is that it has an excellent system of creating folders, allowing me to store messages and attachments in those folders. Mailbag Assistant is a tool that has begun to help me to get all this under control. It finds my email messages and I can view them in a number of different ways, including even "Note Tab Outline." I tried it out on the two other email clients that I use, and it worked as well with them as my Pegasus program. One was on a different computer, but as soon as I shared the mail folder, I was able to access all that mail and even integrate it into the list of messages that I had already pulled out from a different client. Mailbag Assistant allows me to "extract" attachments, either from a group of messages or from individual ones. Now I can delete the duplicates, and archive the whole lot. I had the Wizard produce a list of all the messages that it would find in the folders, using only one title. Once listed, I simply did "Save As", put them in a Mailbag Assistant folder that has nothing to do with my normal email structures. Mailbag Assistant told me that it had archived about 1500 messages. I shut down the program, went to that folder, and tried to open the file. I had to browse to the Mailbag Assistant program, which opened it instantly. Now I can search them, read them, extract attachments, and all that. But a number of them are newsletters, produced in HTML format. They only appear as text in Mailbag Assistant, and links to other articles do not link. Under tools is "Extract HTML pages" and the full HTML format appears, with all images, graphics, layout, formatting, and links fully present and operational.


Weak Points.

Reviewer 1: I found only a few relatively minor weak points. Apparently Mailbag Assistant bases its searches on the HTML version of a dual-format message. I have set up my email program to read messages in plain text even if an HTML version is available. On rare occasions, the plain text version will differ from the HTML version. If I try to search for a word or phrase I remember from the plain text version, Mailbag Assistant won’t find it if it exists only in the plain text version. Also, although Mailbag Assistant is supposed to indicate whether a message is incoming or outgoing, for some reason it represented all my messages as incoming. I reported this bug to the developer, and he has now fixed it. Although Mailbag Assistant converts HTML to plain text to enhance search speed, the HTML version can usually be viewed by double-clicking on the message; however, the Help file states that this feature doesn’t work in Eudora and Poco, since these email programs don’t preserve the message’s original MIME format.

Reviewer 2: Mailbag Assistant is not designed to open Yahoo, Gmail or any other accounts that require connecting to a mail server. It is designed to open and manage incoming email Unwanted/unneeded email cannot be deleted with the delete key or right click and delete. Rather, one must navigate through a series of steps to perform what should be a relatively simple task. It will not quickly show all folders if many filters are set up. For this, one must scroll through the mailbox column to view messages in the desired mailbox you wish to view. Checking for updates doesn’t “find” the latest version as one would normally expect; rather it navigates to a menu of news and other links.

Reviewer 3: There are really no glaring weaknesses in this program. Unfortunately, it does not support IMAP email clients such as GMail, Yahoo, or AOL which is its most serious weakness. There is no support for Microsoft Outlook PST files which can only be accessed by first importing them into Outlook Express or another supported program. The lack of support for Outlook is also a bit ironic since it supports Outlook Express. The program, as any that is so feature rich, can get a bit confusing at times but there are adequate help files as well as a “tip of the day” popup that lessens the learning curve. If I have any real criticism at all it is that this very powerful program may be a bit too powerful for the average user and may be best suited to an email administrator or power email user who is likely to receive or need to review thousands of emails. At the same time, its functionality is designed for the novice as well as the expert.

Fookes’ Software, Producers of Mailbag Assistant, commented: Although the two mail clients from Microsoft share similar names, they actually use completely different mail storage formats. Office Outlook mail can only be retrieved through MAPI, which is a system installed by Outlook. Mailbag Assistant is designed to read the source mail files directly, whether the mail client that created them is installed or not. Unfortunately, this capability is not possible with Office Outlook files. On the bright side, we do have a program called Aid4Mail Professional  http://www.aid4mail.com that can reliably convert Office Outlook mail to a generic mailbox file, which Mailbag Assistant can then read.

Reviewer 4: Although there is a user forum, it does seem to be fairly quiet. This may be because people have few complaints. I did notice that questions that were posted were answered promptly. I did not really like the forum structure; however, this is really a quibble, and not a strong criticism of the program. Normally, Mailbag Assistant easily handles the folders in which I have email and associated attachments stored. However, when it has to restart because of a forced or unexpected shut-down, it takes some time to recover because of the huge the number of folders that it has to manage.


Other Comments.

Reviewer 1: I wasn’t sure at first that I needed Mailbag Assistant, since my primary email client, Mulberry, offers many of the same features and even some advantages (e.g., it performs offline searches even more quickly than Mailbag Assistant). I soon realized that Mailbag Assistant offers a much richer array of search features, superior archiving capabilities, and a host of useful smaller features such as address extraction, word count, email traffic statistics, and more. Like many feature-rich programs, Mailbag Assistant can seem rather overwhelming at first. However, after I used the program for a while and consulted the extensive and useful Help files, I felt much more confident, and my admiration for the program continues to increase.

Reviewer 2: The average user may find Mailbag Assistant a bit cumbersome with its many options, but once it is properly configured it opens default mailboxes every time and in the sort order desired. Mailbag Assistant is not intended as a stand-alone email program. It is designed to help manage existing emails, which it does well.

Reviewer 3: Mailbag Assistant is rather the Swiss Army Knife of email management. There is something here for everyone and there is a tool for just about any conceivable task. Although learning its most advanced features such as scripting will take a little time and patience, the vast majority of its features are easy to use and easy with which to become comfortable quite quickly.

Reviewer 4: I have, in the past, used the Notetab program, one of the best text editors (and notepad replacements). It is also produced by Fookes software, so I came to this program with rather high expectations. I was not disappointed. This is a program that fills a special need, and does it brilliantly.

Fookes’ Software, Producers of Mailbag Assistant, commented: Very nice reviews, thanks! And good timing too! Mailbag Assistant 3.97 has just been released a few hours ago (June 21, 2007). It adds support for Windows Mail on Vista and now has the capability of processing huge mailbox files (we successfully tested it on a 9 GB mbox file).


Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1: Yes, definitely.

Reviewer 2: Yes, it is particularly useful in searching through past emails.

Reviewer 3: Yes.

Reviewer 4: Yes, I certainly will.

OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows XP Pro, XP Home, Vista Ultimate

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