downloading Threads from newsgroups

[Novice]

Hi, I know this question has been asked a thousand times and on a hundred
different newsservers, but I just want to confirm something before I simply
accepted it.

I have Microsoft Outlook Express 6. And I would like to keep local copies
of threads on newsgroups on my machine, so that when they are deleted from
my newsgroup they still exist on my machine.

Initially I thought the way to do this was to:
Go into the newsgroup you are interested in - by left clicking the newsgroup
name in the folders window pane. Then go to Tools->mark for offline ->
download all messages later

This will cause little blue arrows that point down to appear next to each
message in the newsgroup that have not yet been read. Then right click on
the name of the newsgroup in the Folders window pane and click
Synchronization Settings-> all messages. Then click on Tools->synchronize
all (or just synchronize newsgroup if you want to apply this on a per
newsgroup basis).

HOWEVER, this did NOT result in the threads remaining on my machine even
after they had been deleted from the newsserver. I suspect this is because
all that the above achieves is to allow viewing of threads offline - i.e.
when your computer is not connected to the internet and thus is unable to
connect to your newserver.

Now, I have continued reading and it seems the only way to get a thread to
reside on your machine even after it is deleted is to create a folder under
"local folders" in your folders window pane and then right click on the
thread of interest and click on "copy to folder".

However, the above causes the thread to lose its "thread" structure and
becomes completely flat.. which isn't anywhere near as useful as when the
thread allowed for the thread structure.

Can anyone tell me definitively if there is a way (using Outlook Express 6)
to keep a local copy of some thread on your machine even after your
newserver has deleted it and for that thread to maintain its tree type
structure?

Thanks,
Novice

 

[Vanguard]

I haven't bothered downloading messages (other than the ones that I choose
to read) so I cannot guarantee that the following will work for you, but it
sounds a lot easier than having to mark a whole bunch of individual messages
to download. I have a cable broadband connection but I don't bother
downloading all messages, but then I am not trying to create a local store
of every post that got put on the news server. And I have my maintenance
options setup to delete messages 10 days after they are downloaded (i.e.,
the ones that I read) since I won't be bothering to continue participating
in a discussion older than that.

I suspect what you want is to synchronize your newsgroups for offline
reading. Sounds like you want to use synchronize so the content of the
posts are available offline which means you have to select "All Messages"
when you run a synchronize. The below excerpt is from OE6's help.
__________

To specify what you want to download:

You can make all messages, only headers, or only new messages available for
offline viewing by changing the synchronization settings for IMAP, HTTP, or
news server folders.

1. From the Folders list, select an IMAP server, an HTTP server, or a news
server:

2. In the main window, select one or more folders or newsgroups.

3. Click Settings, and then click to change the setting to one of the
following:

All Messages
New Messages Only
Headers Only

If you do not want messages from a particular folder or newsgroup to be
downloaded, click Don't Synchronize.
__________

To set up newsgroups for offline news reading

For newsgroups you subscribe to, you can set up Outlook Express to make
messages or headers available offline by synchronizing. This enables you to
read them at your leisure when you are not connected to the Internet.

1. From the Folders list, select a news server.

2. In the main window, select one or more newsgroups you subscribe to whose
messages you want to read offline. (To select multiple newsgroups, hold down
the CTRL key while you click the newsgroups.)

3. Click Settings, and then click to mark what you want transferred from the
server to your computer during synchronization: All Messages, New Messages
Only (new to the server since you last synchronized), or Headers Only
(subject, author, date, and size of message). Make sure that the newsgroups
you do not want to download are not selected (Don't Synchronize).

Whenever you want to transfer the messages or headers to your computer from
the server, click Sync Account.

Note:
If your online time is limited, you can target specific messages for offline
reading. For details, see Download individual messages.
__________

When you click on the news server node in the tree in the Folders pane, and
if you want to use the same synchronization settings for all newsgroups,
click one newsgroup in the right pane (when the news server is selected on
the left) to highlight it, hit Ctrl-A to select all, right-click, and select
to synchronize for All Messages for all the selected newsgroups. If you
want the newsgroup to be available offline, sync it. Downloading is really
for individual messages although you could also select to download all and
effect a sync of the newsgroup. The first time you will want to select to
sync "All Messages" but thereafter you should only sync on "New Messages" to
eliminate re-downloading the old ones that you already have.

You probably should also check your Maintenance options to ensure that you
are NOT deleting messages over N days old.

--
_______________________________________________________
** Share with others. Post replies in the newsgroup.
** If present, remove "-NIX" from my email address.
_______________________________________________________

Hi, I know this question has been asked a thousand times and on a hundred
different newsservers, but I just want to confirm something before I simply
accepted it.

I have Microsoft Outlook Express 6. And I would like to keep local copies
of threads on newsgroups on my machine, so that when they are deleted from
my newsgroup they still exist on my machine.

Initially I thought the way to do this was to:
Go into the newsgroup you are interested in - by left clicking the newsgroup
name in the folders window pane. Then go to Tools->mark for offline ->
download all messages later

This will cause little blue arrows that point down to appear next to each
message in the newsgroup that have not yet been read. Then right click on
the name of the newsgroup in the Folders window pane and click
Synchronization Settings-> all messages. Then click on Tools->synchronize
all (or just synchronize newsgroup if you want to apply this on a per
newsgroup basis).

HOWEVER, this did NOT result in the threads remaining on my machine even
after they had been deleted from the newsserver. I suspect this is because
all that the above achieves is to allow viewing of threads offline - i.e.
when your computer is not connected to the internet and thus is unable to
connect to your newserver.

Now, I have continued reading and it seems the only way to get a thread to
reside on your machine even after it is deleted is to create a folder under
"local folders" in your folders window pane and then right click on the
thread of interest and click on "copy to folder".

However, the above causes the thread to lose its "thread" structure and
becomes completely flat.. which isn't anywhere near as useful as when the
thread allowed for the thread structure.

Can anyone tell me definitively if there is a way (using Outlook Express 6)
to keep a local copy of some thread on your machine even after your
newserver has deleted it and for that thread to maintain its tree type
structure?

Thanks,
Novice

 

[Novice]

|
| I suspect what you want is to synchronize your newsgroups for offline
| reading.

No that is not what I want - I want the threads to reside on my machine even
after they have been deleted from the newserver... when I do the
synchronization the threads are still deleted.

Let me give a specific example just to be extremely clear:

Let's say my newsserver deletes messages that are older than 6 days.

Let's also say that I want all messages in a particular newsgroup to stay on
my machine (until I manually delete them) so I go into options->maintenance
and ensure that

both of these:
delete read message bodies in newsgroups
delete news messages * days after being downloaded

are not checked.

Then I complete the synchronization steps - i.e.
right click on newsgroup of interest -> all messages

Then click on tools-> synchronize now

As far as I have been able to determine, this will make the thread available
if I do not connect to my newsgroup (i.e. working offline). HOWEVER, if I
remain connected and re-connect to my newsgroup the next day, the last day
of messages in that newsgroup no longer exist - i.e. they no longer exist on
my machine.

So my question is:
Can I make threads reside on my machine even after my newsgroup has deleted
them OTHER than having to click on the thread or threads and right click on
the highlighted threads then click copy to folder (or just drag the thread
into a folder under "local folders")???

Thanks,
Novice

[snip]