Opera Resources

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frank Bohan
  • Start date Start date
Opera’s approach to e-mail is database based, not your normal storage
scheme based on physical folders. The mail, and news for that matter, is
stored in the Documents and Settings/USER/Application
Data/Opera/Opera/mail/store folder (at least on my computer it is). In
this store folder Opera sorts based on accounts, not based on in which
folder the mail appears. The database design means that all the folders
you see in Opera are virtual, they are based on a database/index which
tags mails as belonging to folders like the sent folder. This makes for
a very fast way of creating filters and searches since each incoming
mail, news group posting or RSS feed are idexed as they arrive (even the
words they contain is index for fast searches later), The data base
approach to e-mail is great in my opinion since you don’t have to move
mail around a lot. It is very fast and efficient if you have a lot of
mail (I have around 35,000 stored at the moment). Try moving a lot of
mail from one folder to another in a “normal†e-mail client and enjoy
the HD grind! After all, data bases is THE way to store and organize a
lot of information, so why not e-mail? :)

If you want to back up Opera just back up the whole /Documents and
Settings/USER/Application Data/Opera/Opera directory. In that way you
get all you need. If you only want to back up mail just do the
/Documents and Setting/USER/Application Data/Opera/Opera/mail directory
which contains both storage and the index.
Click to expand...

Not quite correct. Perhaps older versions of Opera worked this way, but
if you're using V. 9x, which most users are, then all mail, etc., is
stored in the Opera directory itself.

As mentioned before, click on "Help" and then "About Opera" from within
Opera and the file paths will be given to you. At least with V. 9x, they
no longer seem to use Documents and Settings, etc.
 
I *can* see my sent mail, I just want to be sure I can back it up.
Click to expand...

Opera’s approach to e-mail is database based, not your normal storage
scheme based on physical folders. The mail, and news for that matter, is
stored in the Documents and Settings/USER/Application
Data/Opera/Opera/mail/store folder (at least on my computer it is). In
this store folder Opera sorts based on accounts, not based on in which
folder the mail appears. The database design means that all the folders
you see in Opera are virtual, they are based on a database/index which
tags mails as belonging to folders like the sent folder. This makes for a
very fast way of creating filters and searches since each incoming mail,
news group posting or RSS feed are idexed as they arrive (even the words
they contain is index for fast searches later), The data base approach to
e-mail is great in my opinion since you don’t have to move mail around a
lot. It is very fast and efficient if you have a lot of mail (I have
around 35,000 stored at the moment). Try moving a lot of mail from one
folder to another in a “normal†e-mail client and enjoy the HD grind!
After all, data bases is THE way to store and organize a lot of
information, so why not e-mail? :)

If you want to back up Opera just back up the whole /Documents and
Settings/USER/Application Data/Opera/Opera directory. In that way you get
all you need. If you only want to back up mail just do the /Documents and
Setting/USER/Application Data/Opera/Opera/mail directory which contains
both storage and the index.
 
Not quite correct. Perhaps older versions of Opera worked this way, but
if you're using V. 9x, which most users are, then all mail, etc., is
stored in the Opera directory itself.
Click to expand...

That’s if you install only for one user. However, the workings of Opera’s
e-mail client is the same even if it stores somewhere else. If you back up
the /mail directory you will cover everything e-mail. I use Synchback for
this which keeps an updated version of this directory backed up at all
time. It has saved me once so far after my laptop drive decided to
suddenly drop dead on me.
 
ceed wrote
I'm using 8.5; or did you mean Win 9x? in which case I'm 98SE.

Anyhow thanks for your comments, everybody.

I tried a clean install of 8.5 on my old computer, and no "sent" folder
appeared, so I guess it's a hangover from the previous version.

I'm going to follow your advice re backup, as the whole subject is more
complex than I thought (ceeds explanation hurt my head), and backup the
whole mail folder instead of just the store as I have been doing.
 
Jeff Needle said:
Nope, Opera is now up to version 9. You can download it from their website,
www.opera.com.
Click to expand...
If you go there and browse to the download page you'll get Opera 8.51,
the latest Release version.

Opera 9 preview 1 is a snapshot of the development process announced
to the opera.beta newsgroup and the my.opera.com/community beta testing
forum to get additional testing of features which _may_ be included in
later Beta versions or Release versions.
 
Josef W. Segur wrote
If you go there and browse to the download page you'll get Opera 8.51,
the latest Release version.

Opera 9 preview 1 is a snapshot of the development process announced
to the opera.beta newsgroup and the my.opera.com/community beta
testing forum to get additional testing of features which _may_ be
included in later Beta versions or Release versions.
Click to expand...
Yes, I did go looking for 9, but as it wasn't obvious and 8.5 was I thought
I'd leave well enough alone. I have quite enough difficulty, thanks.

Anyhow, all problems sorted, I'll wait for 9 to come along in it's own
time.

Thanks, Jeff and Josef
 
Josef W. Segur said:
If you go there and browse to the download page you'll get Opera 8.51,
the latest Release version.

Opera 9 preview 1 is a snapshot of the development process announced
to the opera.beta newsgroup and the my.opera.com/community beta testing
forum to get additional testing of features which _may_ be included in
later Beta versions or Release versions.

--
Click to expand...
Joe

Yup, I should have been clearer. Ver. 9 works just fine, though. Not buggy
at all.
 
Jeff Needle wrote
Yup, I should have been clearer. Ver. 9 works just fine, though. Not
buggy at all.
Click to expand...
It doesn't seem to be available to the plebs, yet.

Prolly just as well....
 
Thanks, Roger, I'll have a go (checks 8.5 is backed up.....)
Click to expand...

You only have to back up the profile folder, and copy it into the new
instance of Opera. But maybe the program asks you if you want to copy
settings from old installation. I have done this manually for a long
time.

The installation exe file is actually a self extracting zip file.
With a good file manager or zip program you can open it without
executing it, (rename it to a zip file if needed) and copy the whole
Opera folder system wherever you like it. That is how I do it.

Copy the old profile folder into the right place to have your own
settings, bookmarks, emails, etc..

Or execute the file as most people do.
 
Roger Johansson wrote
Thanks for that, Roger, I've d/led, installed and have no problems.

It's very hard to tell the difference so far, as It's not yet default;

The mail imported nicely, but I can't find it's folder! again!

The folder

"/Documents and Setting/USER/Application Data/Opera/Opera/mail directory

which contains both storage and the index."

doesn't seem to be on nmy W98SE computer.

I have an Opera folder in /Application data/ ...but it's empty,

I've also got a "mailbase.dat" which is only about 8kb - surely not enough;
I've got about 7 megs in my Opera 8 mailboxes. If I open it with Notetab I
only get a string of dots, so that doesn't help much.
 
It's very hard to tell the difference so far, as It's not yet default;
Click to expand...

I cannot see any difference either, but I guess they have fixed a bunch
of earlier weaknesses, so I prefer to use the latest version, when it
is so stable and bugfree as this one.
The mail imported nicely, but I can't find it's folder! again!
"/Documents and Setting/USER/Application Data/Opera/Opera/mail directory
which contains both storage and the index."
Click to expand...
doesn't seem to be on nmy W98SE computer.
Click to expand...

I use W98se too, and I see now that the mail folder is located under
the main opera folder, not under profile, I have maybe placed it there
myself.
I hope you find it, it is named "mail".Search through the opera folder
system.
I have an Opera folder in /Application data/ ...but it's empty,
Click to expand...

Good, then it is not placed inside Windows folder anyway.
I've also got a "mailbase.dat" which is only about 8kb - surely not enough;
I've got about 7 megs in my Opera 8 mailboxes. If I open it with Notetab I
only get a string of dots, so that doesn't help much.
Click to expand...

Look in the folder where you found mailbase.dat, there is probably a
folder called "store" there, inside it are subfolders for each account,
there are the messages.

I use a file manager as my main program, and when looking for things
like a mail storage I have much help from seeing the sizes of folders,
I look inside the folders with big sizes to find out where the messages
are stored.
 
| Thanks for sending this.
|
| There still isn't a good tool to backup Opera. It's a real mess. I hope
| they fix this one day.


what sort of backup are you looking for
I've successfully copied the Opera folder to numerous locations - a form of
backup, and it launches happily from these - I also have a copy on a flash
drive running as a portable version

synchback backs up Opera nicely too
Click to expand...
You will find synchback at ?
Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at http://www.aclu.org/action.
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
 
| Thanks for sending this.
|
| There still isn't a good tool to backup Opera. It's a real mess. I hope
| they fix this one day.


what sort of backup are you looking for
I've successfully copied the Opera folder to numerous locations - a form of
backup, and it launches happily from these - I also have a copy on a flash
drive running as a portable version

synchback backs up Opera nicely too
Click to expand...
I did find this but it says
SyncBack is our freeware program that helps you easily backup and
synchronise your files to: the same drive; a different drive or medium
(CDRW, CompactFlash, etc); an FTP server; a Network; or a Zip
archive.rogram http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html
but nothing about backing up Opera
Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at http://www.aclu.org/action.
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
 
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