This version brings you option for compacting folders. In Outlook Express compact folder was source of many folder corruptions, so we took extra measures to make sure this doesn't happen in OE Classic. To ensure this, compacting has a built in integrity check. So, before the compacting even begins, folder is scanned and checked for possible errors. If there are some errors compact function can detect, it won't start and will report the error to keep your data safe.

As usual, this is not the only new feature - so take a look at the feature list.

Compact can reclaim lost space due to message deletion. It also displays how much space has been lost.

New features

• Compact All option - permanently removes all deleted messages from all folders, also features built in integrity check
• Reply/Forward status displayed in message list icons when message is replied/forwarded
• Updated OE6 import to support reply/forward flags
• Improved MIME type detection when creating outgoing message
• Sending message creates message in memory and no longer uses temporary file
• Added blocked content bar to separate message viewer window
• Preview pane header changes color when message is selected or unselected within preview pane
• Delete key deletes message when preview pane is focused
• Delete command (Edit/Delete, toolbar delete button, CTRL + D) is unified to either delete messages, folders, contacts or unsubscribe from newsgroup based on currently active control
• Printing email shows message details - From, To, Cc, Sent and Subject (does not print your name on the top like in Outlook Express where it couldn't be removed)
• Sending message with empty subject and body is now allowed (displays warning but allows you to send it)

Bug fixes

• Reply/Forward disabled for Outbox messages
• "Cannot focus a disabled or invisible window" error when deleting messages
• Right mouse click popup over message list, folder list and contact list only focuses if clicked over selected items but selects if clicked over unselected items
• Fixed error when trying to create/reply/forward a message without any accounts added
• Restart on identity switch improved to avoid 2 copies of program running simultaneously

After the summer break we're back in the game with new version. We fixed countless bugs (for simplicity we're listing only major ones) and implemented IAF support and customization of toolbar icons. Take a look:

Layout options - now you can customize components in OE Classic to your preference.

New features

• IAF import support (Internet Account File - account settings from Outlook Express or Outlook)
• Layout options for enabling/disabling/positioning various user interface elements like folder list, contact list, preview pane, toolbar, icon size etc.
• Added toolbar tooltip, also shows keyboard shortcuts (useful if toolbar text is hidden)
• Account properties option for toggling automatic STARTTLS capability
• Insert text from file option in message editor

Bug fixes

• Less memory usage (now only windows which are opened use memory)
• Clicking message links in message viewer window starts appropriate action (opens page in default web browser or opens message editor)
• Fixed incorrect background color for checkboxes in Options
• Fixed incorrectly displayed port numbers when viewing account properties
• Use Default Ports in account properties could become enabled even if ports were already at default values
• Message dialogs are now consistent across the program and play standard system sound like regular Windows dialogs (better accessibility)
• Old code from version 1.0 revised, fixing a lot of potential bugs

New features

• New popup menu for the editor and viewer attachments (Open, Print, Save As, Save All), also utilizes double click and keyboard Backspace/Delete/Enter keys
• Opening/executing/printing a file or URL shows detailed error if there is one (e.g. file type not associated with any program, no default web browser etc.), instead of giving up without notice
• Mouse wheel now scrolls control under the pointer without the need to click on that control first
• Save attachments window is now reusable so it can be used for Save Attachments from preview pane or Save All from message viewer
• Save attachments remembers last used folder (for each identity)

Bug fixes

• Keyboard tab switching didn't select first item in the list of attachments for edit and viewer window
• Displayed message is no longer reloaded for some operations like Save As or Add Sender to Address Book, instead it uses a persistent copy in the memory (which makes these operations faster)
• Save attachments window closes when Esc key is pressed

New features

• Improved POP3 listing of messages

Bug fixes

• Fixed max line length exceeded issue
• POP3 receive could not be stopped by clicking Stop button
• UIDL list wasn't saved correctly which caused multiple downloading of same messages (for leave a copy of messages on server option)

Today, we tested OE Classic (as well as our other software) on latest Windows 8.1.

Everything worked as expected and without a glitch.

At last, final version of OE Classic 1.6 has been released with many great new features you'll love! The feature list is huge (largest so far) but the most important of them all is definitely support for Identities as requested by many of you, our valued users. Also, one important new thing is the new task manager. It is not something you will see but it is in fact a main engine of the program, so replacing and improving it was a very delicate task (and well worth it). Now when it is done, it will make implementation of some other features much easier - and first few of such features are already available - for example - checking emails every N minutes would be one of them. There are a number of other improvements as well so please read about them in the list that follows.

Here are some of the new features this version brings:

Identities support - very similar to Outlook Express identities but much easier to use - everything is placed in a single window.

Send and Receive toolbar button now has a drop-down menu with additional options like Send All or Receive All.

Some of the new options are also placed under "General" tab.

New status bar now shows more details about current task - includes more detailed messages, more detailed status and a progress bar.

Detailed list of improvements:

New features

• Identities support - identity is complete set of folders, messages and settings which can be completely different from identity to identity and can also be password protected
• Completely new and rewritten from scratch queue and task manager - it is more stable than the old manager and works fully in the background (as thread which uses second processor core)
• New task manager makes possible new features like background downloading of messages and easier implementation of different protocols (like IMAP4, RSS etc.)
• New options - check messages at startup, check messages every N minutes, always show send/receive window, minimize to tray
• Menu added to Send And Receive button (new options in main menu as well - Receive All and Send All)
• All email addresses (sender and recipients) are validated before sending - checking sender prevents sending email with invalid address your recipient cannot reply to
• Status bar shows additional information when synchronizing - progress bar and info about current task
• Program internally adds configuration option "toolbar.main.email.iconSize" which you can use to make toolbar icons smaller (possible values are "small", "medium", "large")
• Program internally uses registry key "UserDataLocation" inside "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\OEClassic" as path to store folder which you can use to move store folder to a different location
• Quick integrity check on startup to detect if critical files/folders are missing
• Send/Receive operation is faster (authentication and disconnect from server)
• POP3 automatically uses STLS if available on server (starts secure communication after initial connection) if SSL/TLS checkbox in settings is unchecked
• Newsgroups now support SSL/TLS (secure news - SNNTP)
• Newsgroups and sending SMTP messages are both more stable and reliable than in any previous version
• Newsgroups browsing is much more responsive - especially if you quickly click several messages one after another
• Error reporting in Send/Receive window contains more information about the error
• Program now automatically detects authentication methods available on server and always tries the most secure method first and if not available then tries less secure ones (this helps in avoiding compromising your email password)
• New option to close send and receive window automatically after a timeout (or to keep it open)
• On first run program window is maximized

Bug fixes

• Very long lines in plain text messages are wrapped
• Fixed drawing issues with email address input buttons (rounded buttons) and copy-paste issues
• Reduced memory usage and faster startup (certain features are now using memory only when you use them)
• All address book email fields are used (previously only personal email was used)
• Sending messages with invalid email addresses has been fixed due to email address validation before sending
• Fixed bolding of message list line with unread messages and columns rearranged to custom order - now text in all columns is bold when message is unread
• Orphaned UIDL are cleaned in scenario where program is used on 2 computers and first keeps messages on server and second deletes them (previously that would leave orphan UIDLs on first computer)
• Outbox is refreshed after a message is sent
• Last or next message is auto-selected after opening folder, deleting messages and moving messages (no selection change after copy)

First beta of new OE Classic 1.6 (Pro version) has been released for paid customers only. It has a lot of goodies inside but the most significant of all is the new support for identities making OE Classic the only program (at least that we know of) which supports such a feature, except of course Outlook Express which also had identities. A lot of Outlook Express users were unhappy when Windows Mail and later Windows Live Mail removed support for identities. Now you can use identities once again.

If you are not familiar with identities, it is in fact another name for user profiles or users and can be used in a single and multi-user environment. While multi-user is obvious, if used by a single user, it can help you separate your entire folder/message/address book/settings data in each user profile or identity. For example, you may have one identity for your home email and another one for your work email. All data you can create with the program is fully separated in each identity. Identities can optionally be password protected and are much easier to select, edit and use than they used to be in Outlook Express.

A lot of other things from version 1.51 has been improved and feature list is huge but more details will be released once we reach stable version and that should be quite soon.

Due to improvements in message store system (and new support for identities), starting with next version, OE Classic will no longer support older beta version database formats (last version which used these was released on Jun 20th, 2011). As program automatically upgrades database format every time you install new version, most likely you can safely ignore this notification. We will of course, be providing older version (on demand) which you can use to convert older messages database.

Program will also notify you if you need to take any action (if it detects older database format).

Bug fixes

• Outlook Express identity import option is no longer available on Windows where it doesn't exist (e.g. Windows 8, Windows 7)
• Fixed error which was displayed when starting import wizard on Windows 8

This version is extended with a couple of new features - Add Sender To Address Book option, Mark as Read/Unread and some bug fixes. When adding sender to address book, OE Classic automatically detects and extracts first name, middle name, last name, nick name and also detects titles (e.g. Dr., Mr., Miss) and suffixes (e.g. Jr., Sr., II, III). Also, as certain users prefer to keep their latest emails on top of the message list they can now do so as sorting top-down now keeps scroll bar on top. Here is the rest of the list:

New features

• Added Mark as Read and Mark as Unread
• Message list is much faster due to code optimization - e.g. Select All can be up to 400% faster, scrolling is smoother etc.
• Add sender to address book added
• Auto-detection of title, suffix and first/middle/last/nick name

Bug fixes

• Newsgroups message list is decoded after downloading (affects Subject and From fields)
• Scroll bar is positioned on top for descending sort (arrow down) in header column
• Vertical splitters can no longer be resized to completely hide message/folder/contact list
• Cc list is shown in preview pane (when available)
• Contact list displays Unnamed Contact if name hasn't been entered