Upgrading from Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows

Upgrading from Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows

This content is no longer actively maintained. It is provided as is, for anyone who may still be using these technologies, with no warranties or claims of accuracy with regard to the most recent product version or service release.

Microsoft Outlook 2000 provides all the features of Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows, and it provides many new features, such as:

• Integrated calendar functions with contact, journal, and task items.
• Multiple views of messages.
• Custom view capabilities.
• Message handling rules.
• Custom form creation.
• Advanced printing options.

Note   Because Outlook runs only on Microsoft Windows 95/98 and Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51 or later, Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows users running Windows 3.11 or Windows for Workgroups must upgrade to Windows 95/98 or Windows NT Workstation before upgrading to Outlook 2000.

Outlook 2000 can serve as a complete replacement for Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows. Except for changes in the user interface and other features, you can work with e-mail in Outlook in the same way that you work with Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows.

Outlook 2000 uses the same MSMail.ini file and other configuration information; and Outlook can use all Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows add­ins and custom forms. This means that you can share information with Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows users by sending e-mail back and forth or by making messages available in shared folders. However, Outlook 2000 e-mail messages might not appear the same to users of Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows.

Tip   To make the Outlook user interface look more like the user interface of Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows, you can view the Outlook folder list by using the Folder List command (View menu). Later, you can choose to hide the folder list and then use the Outlook Bar exclusively for quick access to Outlook features and Windows folders.

The Microsoft Mail information service allows Outlook 2000 to use Microsoft Mail 3.x post office. By default, Office 2000 setup installs the service the first time it is used. That means that a user can just add this service to the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) profile, and Office setup installs the service. However, as the administrator, if you want to automatically generate MAPI profiles with the Microsoft Mail information service, then you must customize the Setup.ini file so that this feature is installed locally on a user’s computer during setup.

To customize the Setup.ini file

1. Go to the folder where the setup.exe is stored, and open the Setup.ini file.

   By default, the Setup.ini file is stored in the C:\Windows folder, or equivalent.

2. Add the following line to the Options section of Setup.ini:

   ADDLOCAL="OutlookMAPISFS,OutlookMAPISFS95"

Setup uses information from your MSMail.ini file to configure the service. When Setup is finished, Outlook can use the same post office that Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows uses.

When Outlook is run for the first time, it uses the Microsoft Mail 3.x post office and e-mail message file (MMF) defined in MSMail.ini. After Outlook is installed, you work with the same Inbox, Outbox, and Sent Mail folders used by Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows, as well as any private folders in the MMF, and public folders in the Microsoft Mail 3.x post office.

Note   If you install both the Microsoft Mail and the Microsoft Exchange Server information services in the same profile, and you use the Plan a Meeting command (Action menu) in Outlook to check the free/busy information of other users, Outlook looks for this information by using the Microsoft Exchange Server information service only.

Importing Microsoft Mail files

After Outlook is installed, you must import the contents of the MMF. The MMF stores your e-mail messages, attachments, and personal address book (PAB). You can store the MMF in the post office folder in the MMF directory, or you can move the MMF to your hard disk or a network location.

If the MMF is in the post office, you must first connect to the post office with Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows, and you then move the MMF either to your hard disk or to an accessible network location before importing the contents by using Outlook.

To move the MMF from the post office to a hard disk

1. On the Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows Mail menu, click Options.
2. Click Server.
3. Click Local, and then enter a file name for your MMF.
4. After the MMF is on your hard disk or stored on a network server, you can import its contents to an Outlook personal folder.

To import the MMF to a personal folder in Outlook

1. On the Outlook File menu, click Import and Export.

2. Select Import from another program or file, and then click Next.

3. In the Select file type to import from box, select Microsoft Mail File (.mmf), and then click Next.

4. In the File name box, enter the name of the MMF to import, and then click Open.

5. Enter the password (if requested), and then select both the Import messages and Import personal address book entries check boxes.

6. To store messages in existing personal folders, click Put the messages into existing Personal Folders, and then click the folder you want.

   – or –

   To create a new personal folders store, click Put the messages into new Personal Folders, and then enter the path name. To display the new folders in the folder list, click Display new Personal Folders. Outlook creates the new personal folders and adds them to your profile.

   Outlook imports the messages and PAB entries from the MMF.

If you have used multiple information services such as AT&T or CompuServe for e-mail messages, you might have multiple PAB files in the MMF. When you import the MMF with the Import and Export command, you can choose which PABs to import.

When you import an MMF, consider the following:

• If there is a network failure, Outlook retries the network connection four times in the first two seconds, and then repeats this process every 10 minutes. A message is displayed during the 10-minute retry period.
• Any errors while importing the MMF are logged to a file in the client directory with the same file name as the MMF and the file name extension .log. You can view the .log file in Notepad or any other text editor.

Note   When you begin using Outlook, there is no easy way to transfer new messages back to an MMF or a mailbag file. You can copy the messages to a shared folder, and then you can retrieve them with your old client. However, this does not guarantee privacy.

Avoiding duplicate e-mail messages

In Microsoft Mail, you can keep a copy of all of the e-mail messages in your Inbox in the post office on the server. If you migrate to Microsoft Exchange Server, these messages might be duplicated because during migration the Inbox in the post office is copied to your Microsoft Exchange Server folders, and you also import the messages from the local MMF by using Outlook.

To avoid duplicate messages, on the Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows Mail menu, click Options. In the Server dialog box, clear the Copy Inbox on Postoffice for Dialin Access check box.

Using Microsoft Mail custom commands, menus, and messages

Custom menu and command entries in MSMail.ini and Shared.ini are used by Outlook 2000 in the same way that Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows uses them.

Custom menus

Custom menu add­ins allow you to add top­level menus to Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows. This feature is fully supported in Outlook: Top­level menus specified in the MSMail.ini file are added to the Outlook menu bar.

Note   The Tools menu is not available by default in Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows, but you can use the menu add­ins feature to add it. Outlook uses its native Tools menu and does not create a second Tools menu. Therefore, custom menus with the tag Tools in the Custom Menus section of the INI file are ignored.

Custom commands

Custom command extensions allow you to add new commands to Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows. However, because the menus in Outlook 2000 and Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows are different, Outlook handles command add­ins differently. When you define a command add­in for the Microsoft Mail 3.x (Windows) Mail menu, Outlook adds the command to its Actions menu. When you add a custom command to a Microsoft Mail 3.x (Windows) Tools or Windows menu, Outlook adds the custom command to its Tools menu.

Msmail[32].ini and Shared[32].ini parsing

Outlook 2000 supports both 16­bit and 32­bit extensions; it uses either 16-bit or 32-bit extensions, depending on where the extensions are located when Outlook starts up. During startup, Outlook first looks for extensions in the Windows registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft
\Mail\Microsoft Mail, where extensions for Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows NT Workstation are installed. Outlook for Windows 95/98 uses this same registry subkey.

Outlook then looks for Microsoft Mail 3.x extensions defined locally and shared extensions defined for the workgroup. To find these extensions, Outlook retrieves the shared extensions folder location from the Windows registry in the set of value entries SharedExtsDir, SharedExtsServer, and SharedExtsPassword under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft
\Exchange\Client\Options. If these value entries do not exist in the registry, Outlook looks for the value entry SharedExtensionsDir, first in MSMail32.ini, and then in MSMail.ini, to retrieve the location of the shared extensions folder.

If Outlook 2000 finds the shared extensions folder, Outlook opens the Shared32.ini file in that folder and reads the Custom Menus, Custom Commands, and Custom Messages sections to retrieve the shared Microsoft Mail 3.x extension definitions. Outlook then reads the same sections from the MSMail32.ini file. If there are any duplicate extensions defined in these two files, Outlook 2000 uses the extensions in MSMail32.ini file.

If Outlook does not find Shared32.ini and MSMail32.ini, it looks for the Shared.ini and MSMail.ini files.

Outlook supports an enhancement to the version parameter of the extension registration entry. The version number can be followed by ,16 to indicate a 16­bit-extension dynamic-link library (DLL), or by ,32 to indicate a 32­bit­extension DLL. For example, to specify a 16-bit-extension DLL for a shared extensions directory, you can use SharedExtsDir,16 as the entry.

If a version does not specify a 16-bit-extension or 32-bit-extension DLL, Outlook assumes an extension type based on the file in which the extension is found.

Note   In Microsoft Mail 3.x for either Windows 3.11 or Windows NT Workstation, specifying a 16-bit or 32-bit extension in the version number results in a syntax error.

Custom message types

Microsoft Mail 3.x custom message handlers allow you to use custom forms in place of the standard e-mail message form. Outlook 2000 provides complete support for Microsoft Mail 3.x custom message types.

Upgrading remote users

Outlook users running either the Microsoft Mail 3.x information service or the Microsoft Exchange information service can retrieve e-mail messages remotely by using a method that is different from the Microsoft Mail 3.x remote client. Before upgrading the remote client users in your workgroup to Outlook, you must install, configure, and test the new connection method. Also, remote users who upgrade to Outlook can move their MMF files to a personal folder file, and then import them to Outlook 2000.

Note   If you use Microsoft Mail 3.x for MS­DOS® remote client, you cannot migrate your locally stored messages to Outlook personal folders. You must mail the messages to yourself, save them as text files, or print them.

Migrating to Microsoft Exchange Server

If you plan to migrate your workgroup from Microsoft Mail 3.x to Microsoft Exchange Server, upgrading to Outlook 2000 is a good intermediate step because Outlook works with both e-mail applications. Microsoft Mail 3.x users can use Outlook 2000 while they continue to work with Microsoft Mail 3.x post office.

Later, when you upgrade the post office to Microsoft Exchange Server, these users only need to change their profiles to continue to use Outlook. This allows you to manage the upgrade of the user interface and the upgrade of the e-mail system separately.

The process of migrating users from Microsoft Mail 3.x post offices to Microsoft Exchange Server involves more than upgrading e-mail client software, and it is beyond the scope of the Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit. The Microsoft Exchange Server CD-ROM contains a document that takes you through all the planning and implementation steps necessary to migrate users from Microsoft Mail 3.x to Microsoft Exchange Server. The document title is “Migrating from Microsoft Mail for PC Networks,” and you can find it on the Microsoft Exchange Server CD-ROM in Migrate\Docs\Msmailpc.doc.

This document discusses upgrading Microsoft Mail 3.x users to Exchange Client, and the information also applies to Outlook, because you can use Outlook as a direct replacement for Exchange Client. Review this document thoroughly if you plan to move your workgroup to Microsoft Exchange Server.

See also

Outlook 2000 and Microsoft Mail 3.x remote clients have different hardware requirements. For more information, see Office 2000 - What You Need to Know.

You can install Outlook 2000 separately from the rest of Office 2000. For more information, see Installing Outlook 2000 After Installing Office 2000.

You can customize Outlook 2000 installation for your users. For more information about customizing the Setup Wizard, see Customizing How Setup Runs.