OE Classic News

OE Classic Pro users can already download new and improved version 4.9.3.
Updated on Nov 1st, 2024 - Order now to get v4.9.3!

If you don't have access to Pro yet, here is what you're missing out:

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OE Classic 4.9.3 (the latest Pro version)

Nov 1st, 2024
New features
  • [2024-10-30] The Address Book now fetches all Google Contacts, whereas previously only 100 contacts were synced
Bug fixes
  • [2024-11-01] Resolved at least 13 known issues (and possibly even more) occurring when starting the program after it was previously minimized to the system tray
If you want to access the above features in v4.9.3 order OE Classic Pro now!
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OE Classic Release Notes

More detailed release information
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OE Classic 4.0 released!

Dec 12th, 2022


At last, OE Classic 4.0 is here!

Full list of features in OE Classic 4.0 follows:

New features
  • OAUTH2 support for Google/Microsoft/Yahoo/AOL accounts (IMAP/POP/SMTP)
  • Completely rewritten IMAP/POP/SMTP implementation which now all support TLS 1.3
  • Set as default option in Options/General
  • MAPI support (e.g. Send to - Mail recipient)
  • Set as default program for opening external .EML files (also "Open with" shell menu)
  • Set as default program for "mailto:" links and "Email Link" functionality in some web browsers
  • Improved Emoji selection panel in the Message Editor and expanded and updated Emoji set
  • New localization files - Turkish, Ukrainian
  • Safety Options (Safe/Blocked senders): Load/Save/Copy/Paste/Select All buttons and popup menu for lists, enter keypress to add a new text value into the list
  • Paste of comma or new line separated list of email addresses into To/Cc/Bcc is automatically converted to individual items
  • Drag and drop of attachments to the message editor
  • Completely rewritten message encoder which addresses a number of encoding issues and make a message more valid and more compatible with other programs
  • Completely rewritten message decoder which is now 63% faster and more accurate
  • Optimized From/To/Cc/Bcc header encoder to create smaller email address items
  • More strict error checking in the Account Properties for port settings
  • Duplicate recipients are removed automatically when sending a message
  • Message editor size optimization creates as small message as possible
  • More responsive UI - no longer blocking the communication thread
  • Message structure and other information shown in Message Properties/Expert
  • Edit/Copy in the main menu copies selected message text to clipboard
  • High DPI support (per monitor)
  • Improved messaging between Accounts/Options and various windows (Main/Editor/Viewer/Sync) to update modified settings instantly on all windows
  • New keyboard shortcut in the Main Window - CTRL+I (jump to Inbox)
  • New keyboard shortcuts in the Message Editor - CTRL+SHIFT+S (Insert default signature), CTRL+TAB (Cycle tabs Edit->Source->Preview), CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (Reverse cycle tabs Preview->Source->Edit), CTRL+Enter (Send Message)
  • Message HTML now entirely created in memory for faster display
  • New command line parameter (-identity "Name" "Password") - starts identity "Name" (optional "Password")
  • More modular design makes startup faster
  • Automatically fix incorrectly specified image file extensions for some emails
  • CTRL+drag-and-drop to the Message Editor to copy text from a text editing application or normal drag-and-drop to move text
  • Support for separate popup menus for images, hyperlinks and normal text in the Message Viewer/Editor
  • Complete rewrite of the HTML display component which fixes its bugs, limitations and memory leaks
  • Visual indicator in status bar of the Message Editor modified status
  • Options/Advanced: Browser engine (IE7-legacy for obsolete stationery, IE-Edge for modern engine)
  • Improved HTML rendering using IE11 engine
  • Percent-encoded URLs are decoded to show international characters in the status bar when hovering over links using the mouse pointer
  • Improved "mailto:" URI scheme parser supporting UTF-8 characters and the fields To/Cc/Bcc/Subject/Body/In-Reply-To
  • Main window status bar can be clicked to open Send/Receive window (if not shown) to monitor details of the ongoing Send/Receive operation
  • Options/General: Choose how often the errors will be displayed when checking for messages automatically (Always/After n errors/Never)
  • Message rules editing - Double click to edit, right click menu, enter keypress to add a new text value into the list
  • Options/Advanced: Warnings are made optional for permanent message delete, empty "Deleted Items" and empty "Junk Email"

Bug fixes
  • Fixed spell checker freezing on rare occasions
  • Print/Print Preview headers were too tiny on a high DPI system
  • Reply/Forward on certain messages could freeze the Message Editor so it would never show up
  • Check Names in the Message Editor now checks for duplicate email addresses across all fields (To/Cc/Bcc) instead of just one like before
  • Copy/Paste of single image did not work in the Message Editor (copying image and then pasting into another area of the text)
  • Switching between Edit/Source/Preview now stops running sounds and effects to avoid audio duplication in stationery
  • Preview tab in the Message Editor didn't work for VBScript on Windows 10 or newer
  • Embedded images no longer disappear after a message being edited is saved to Drafts
  • IMAP fixes for unrecognized message lists (5 fixes)
  • Fixed crash on program exit under some circumstances
  • Message Editor preview didn't allow clicking on links and link preview in the status bar
  • Message Editor popup menu Properties now enabled
  • Blocked content bar appeared for a short time if the first opened message had external images
  • No more slowdown on messages with invalid external links (showing/replying/forwarding)
  • Zoom over 100% didn't scroll initial message to top
  • Clicking into Message Editor uses font set by user
  • Improved detection of modified message in the Message Editor
  • Mouse wheel scrolling no longer shifts keyboard focus to the HTML viewer or editor
  • Dragged text object no longer covers drop location in the Message Editor
  • Mouse actions didn't set Message Editor modified status
  • CTRL-S didn't work while in the Message Editor
  • Right-to-left document wasn't properly set when opening RTL drafts
  • Tab key in preview pane no longer jumps through message viewer links
  • Right click in the Message Editor did not activate Paste button
  • Save as Stationery used incorrect filename
  • Standard folders (Inbox/Sent/Deleted...) were not localized in the Copy/Move window
  • Safety Options window no longer deletes blocked senders if OK is clicked without list modification
  • Updated SQLite library (v3.40.0.0)
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OE Classic 3.1 released!

Nov 29th, 2020


The new OE Classic 3.1 update is released!

First off, an important change - make sure you activate the program from the Help/Activate... menu. This only has to be done once. More details are available on our Facebook page.

Here are all the goodies we've prepared for you this time:

Full IncrediMail import - supports all known IncrediMail file formats - 1.0, 2.0 and 2.5!
Full IncrediMail import - supports all known IncrediMail file formats - 1.0, 2.0 and 2.5!

Zoom setting added to the Message Editor (status bar). Allows you to make fonts larger without actually modifying the font point size in the outgoing email.
Zoom setting added to the Message Editor (status bar). Allows you to make fonts larger without actually modifying the font point size in the outgoing email.

New 48x48 icon size for all toolbars.
New 48x48 icon size for all toolbars.

User customizable folder icons (for user folders).
User customizable folder icons (for user folders).

2-layered header decoder improves message display.
2-layered header decoder improves message display.

OE Classic automatically inserts a locked IMAP folder when a folder is missing from the server to preserve the folder structure.
OE Classic automatically inserts a locked IMAP folder when a folder is missing from the server to preserve the folder structure.

Improved UIDL (server message) handling for POP accounts - resume from last aborted message, leave a copy on server for a user-defined time period.
Improved UIDL (server message) handling for POP accounts - resume from last aborted message, leave a copy on server for a user-defined time period.


Full list of features in OE Classic 3.1 follows:

New features
  • IMAP improvements for less capable servers which don't designate special folders (2 improvements)
  • IMAP delete/move support for less capable servers
  • Auto detection of IMAP server capabilities (MOVE extension)
  • Automatically inserts locked IMAP folder when a folder is missing from the server
  • Improved IMAP folder handling and increased compatibility with various servers which have misbehaved (3 fixes)
  • Rewritten portions of IMAP code to improve reliability when reconnecting and selecting mailboxes
  • Localized names for default IMAP folders (Inbox/Sent/Deleted/Drafts/Junk)
  • Improved UIDL handling (POP accounts) - resume from last aborted message, leave a copy on server for a user-defined time period
  • Added possibility to stop the process when deleting POP messages
  • When adding a new POP account, new defaults are to leave a copy of messages on server and to remove them after 14 days
  • IncrediMail import (1.0, 2.0 and 2.5 formats)
  • Added "Save As" and "Save as Stationery" in the Message Editor (File menu)
  • RE: and FW: prefixes are now also recognized and stripped for non-English languages (e.g. REF: TR: AW: WG: RIF: I: RES: ENC: etc.)
  • 2-layered header decoder (decodes HTML entities after decoding a header line)
  • Compact All - Changes page size to 4K for older databases which may still use 1K (it makes database operations faster)
  • Modern folder selection dialog which also shows shared network locations/drives (Windows 7/8/10 only)
  • Improved accessibility for all message dialogs and no sound for Information dialogs (Windows 7/8/10 only)
  • Default button changed to "Yes" in "Empty Deleted Items folder" (right click)
  • Popup menu for message editor (source) improved and localized
  • Redo action and toolbar button available in the Message Editor
  • Message Editor toolbar Undo/Redo/Cut/Copy/Paste/SelectAll are now enabled only if available (and not all the time)
  • Improved accessibility for the message list, folder list and contact list
  • Improved accessibility and localization for Send/Receive window
  • Revised accelerator keys for Mark as read/unread
  • Reset folder can also automatically repair folder corruption
  • Accessibility improvement for message list - Unread/Flagged/Replied/Forwarded/Draft status are read
  • Accessibility improvement for Main window and Message Viewer (excessive reading of panel names)
  • Inserted Emoji pictures now have accessible name (image alt tag)
  • Improved accessibility and localization for the Save Attachments window
  • Improved error logging in the Send/Receive window
  • Auto rearrange of attachment icons to fit available space, if Message Viewer or Message Editor are resized
  • CTRL+V (Paste) in the Message Editor now also works for pictures on the clipboard
  • Improved mouse selection and popup menu in Message Editor (enabling of Cut/Copy/Paste buttons)
  • High DPI support for the Preview Pane, Message Viewer and Message Editor
  • Zoom setting added to the Message Editor (status bar)
  • File encoding selection added to Import Wizard for CSV files
  • User customizable folder icons (for user folders)
  • Added 48x48 size for all toolbar icons
  • Free and Pro versions are now unified into one installation file (Pro version requires activation)
  • Program and installer are digitally signed

Bug fixes
  • Fixed header decoding in a few rare cases
  • Fixed antialiasing issues in the Message Editor toolbar
  • Updated SSL/TLS libraries with the latest bug/security fixes (v1.0.2u)
  • Replaced misbehaving SQLite julianday() with improved calculation
  • Pressing Esc in the Message Editor To/Cc/Bcc fields could make the program unresponsive
  • Installation size was missing from Apps & Features
  • Spell checker Cancel button wasn't working when using the option "Always check spelling before sending"
  • Message source wasn't shown properly if the message consisted only of headers
  • Outgoing message details were shown in the wrong row in the Send/Receive window
  • Tasks were accumulating in the Send/Receive window without being cleaned up (will result as a speedup and less memory usage)
  • Spell checker was selecting some words incorrectly triggering a false spelling correction
  • IMAP fixes for unrecognized message lists (6 fixes)
  • Fix for Polish N acute accent not working on ALTGR + N (and other ALTGR shortcuts on various keyboard layouts)
  • Fixed access violation error when closing the main program window with opened message editors or message viewers
  • Fixed crash on some configurations when closing Message Editor
  • Compatibility adjustments for Windows 2000
  • Status bar high DPI sizing fixed in Message Editor and Message Viewer
  • Various high DPI misbehavior fixes
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OE Classic 3.0 released!

Nov 28th, 2019


At last, OE Classic 3.0 brings you IMAP support!

At last, IMAP support! Also, new Junk Email special folder.
At last, IMAP support! Also, new Junk Email special folder.


IMAP is a protocol for accessing emails (different than the POP protocol), which allows you to sync emails across multiple devices (e.g. PC, tablet, smartphone, webmail). When email is accessed on a particular device (for example, a smartphone), the next time you open OE Classic on your PC, it will register all the changes you did on the phone (e.g. deleted emails, new emails, flagged emails, etc.). The opposite also works - all the changes done in OE Classic will be shown on other devices as well. In order to work, IMAP requires permanent and stable Internet connection. Adding IMAP does not mean that POP is getting removed. You can choose which protocol you would prefer to use (assuming your email server supports both of them) when configuring an account using the OE Classic account wizard.

Here is a summary of what OE Classic can do, using the IMAP protocol:
  • Synchronize messages across multiple devices (e.g. desktop PC, laptop PC, smartphone, tablet, webmail...). Deleting a message, flagging it, marking it as read - such changes will be shown on every device accessing the same mailbox and of course in OE Classic as well.
  • Messages are stored on the IMAP server (in the "cloud"), meaning, if emails are lost on your computer (e.g. by a disk failure), the email messages are backed up on the server, so by adding the IMAP account again in OE Classic, you will be able to access your emails again.
  • Messages are cached locally (on your disk), once they are opened the first time, so opening them is faster if they are unchanged on the server
  • OE Classic flagging is compatible with iPhone/macOS Mail app – so it supports multicolored flags (red, green, yellow, blue etc.). These flags color coding is identical the iPhone/macOS Mail app, and possibly some other IMAP-capable applications as well.
  • OE Classic is also compatible with non-standard (but commonly used) IMAP flags like $Forwarded and $MDNSent (labeling a message as forwarded and message delivery notification sent mark)
  • OE Classic uses an atomic move to folder operation (MOVE extension) as supported by modern IMAP servers like Gmail.com or Outlook.com. On older servers move operation is a 3-step operation (a combination of the COPY, STORE, and EXPUNGE commands) and if interrupted between steps, for example by a network being disconnected, a bad WIFI etc., it can leave messages "hanging" between two folders, unlike with MOVE which either completes the operation entirely, or does not, thus being called called an atomic operation (from the Greek word "atomos" meaning "uncuttable").
  • OE Classic can detect incorrectly expunged messages (flagged as deleted but not expunged from a folder) – these messages will be shown with strikethrough text in OE Classic and can be either viewed or completely deleted.
  • Multiple IMAP email accounts are shown separately, each in its own container (like a folder), having separated Inbox/Sent/Deleted/Draft/Junk folders for each account

And you can expect even more goodies in the future updates.

This version also features new storage file format to make room for some of the new features. Files are automatically upgraded so you don't have to care about that. But if you had a backup of your data created in older version, please update the backup as the old backup won't be compatible with the newer file format.

New icons in Folder/Message properties.
New icons in Folder/Message properties.

Folder color selection now has helpful color icons.
Folder color selection now has helpful color icons.

Fixed encoding issues for some messages.
Fixed encoding issues for some messages.


Full list of features in OE Classic 3.0 follows:

New features
  • IMAP support!
  • Junk Email - a new local folder used by Blocked Senders list (instead of Deleted Items) and for future purposes
  • Popup menu item - Empty "Junk Email" Folder
  • Additional options in the Folder Properties window - Local File and Synchronize (for IMAP folders)
  • New localization files - Russian, Serbian (Latin)
  • Improved localization files - Greek, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Condensed POP logging to improve download speed
  • Rewritten parts of the POP retrieval code to improve download speed
  • Progress bar precision improved for POP operations
  • Huge speed increase (2000%) of the downloaded header list (used in IMAP and message decoder)
  • Internal HTTPS to secure all program-to-website communication (even on older Windows)
  • SMTP port 587 is now the default port in the Account Wizard/Account Properties (instead of 25)
  • Accounts window can be resized (size is saved)
  • Color icons for the folder list right click menu
  • Improved and faster logging
  • Improved accessibility - View/Sort-By in the main menu(s), Help/Contact window, Message/Folder Properties window
  • More accurate Outlook Express 6 import
  • Compact All now also compacts all DB files (Folders, AddressBook, Identity, Newsgroups)
  • Username/Password used for updates are now called Name/License key (or License info)

Bug fixes
  • Outlook Express 6 import used an old folder name is the folder was renamed so the imported folder structure had different names than expected
  • HTML zoom value (Options/Read) did not reflect the saved value
  • Fixed a number of character encoding issues related to loading HTML (displaying a blank message, switching Message Editor Edit/Source/Preview tabs)
  • Selecting another folder no longer aborts download (or sending) of emails
  • Identity Manager was always using English regardless of the selected program language
  • Search tool wasn't case-insensitive for international characters
  • Message download was started twice for IMAP/NNTP when navigating to a new message using the Message Viewer window
  • From/Reply-To/To/Cc/Bcc/Subject headers were encoded using KOI8-R instead of UTF-8 for some system settings
  • Updated SSL/TLS libraries with the latest bug/security fixes (v1.0.2t)
  • Updated built-in SQLite with the latest bug fixes (v3.30.1.0)
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OE Classic 2.9 released!

Mar 18th, 2019


After long development time, OE Classic 2.9 is finally available. This time, we bring you many great new updates - the list of new features and updates to the existing features is longer than ever!

Spell checker is now built-in into the program and supports 43 different languages or language variations!
Spell checker is now built-in into the program and supports 43 different languages or language variations!

Spelling options and dictionary selection.
Spelling options and dictionary selection.

Blocked senders and Safe senders list editor.
Blocked senders and Safe senders list editor.

9 new tools in the Message Editor!
9 new tools in the Message Editor!

Customization of the Message Editor toolbar.
Customization of the Message Editor toolbar.

Right-click menus for adding to the Safe Senders or Blocked Senders and other options.
Right-click menus for adding to the Safe Senders or Blocked Senders and other options.

Copy and Paste any image or screenshot into the Message Editor.
Copy and Paste any image or screenshot into the Message Editor.

8 new tools in the Find window!
8 new tools in the Find window!


New features
  • Safe and Blocked senders filter, editor window and right click option for quickly adding to the list
  • Spell checker in the Message Editor and spell checker Options (Always check spelling before sending, Ignore words in UPPERCASE, Ignore words with numbers)
  • Spell checker dictionary download in Options (41 supported languages or language variations)
  • 9 new localization files - Simplified Chinese (China), Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong, Taiwan), Czech, Danish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Slovenian
  • 8 new Message Editor tools - Clear Formatting, Strikethrough, Superscript, Subscript, Insert Table, Insert Symbol, Insert Emoji, Right-To-Left/Left-To-Right Paragraph
  • 8 new Find window tools - Properties, Select All, Copy to Folder, Move to Folder, Delete, Reply to Sender, Reply to All, Forward
  • Preview pane header redesigned to show more info which can be interacted with (right click) - Add to Address Book, Copy (subject or email), Add to Safe Senders/Blocked Senders
  • External images are unblocked when a sender is in the Safe Senders list
  • Improved focus in Find/Search window - message list is focused after search has completed, messages can be opened using Enter key
  • Address Book group items now have the fitting icon
  • Various icon modifications for increased visual clarity
  • Improved accessibility for Address Book Select window, also the search field is initially focused so typing immediately after opening the window starts the address book search
  • View/Encoding menu item for selecting Left-To-Right or Right-To-Left text direction for received messages
  • New Text Highlighting Color button in the Message Editor and an additional drop-down next to the color selection buttons (clicking the button applies the color to selected text and clicking drop-down selects a new color)
  • Print Preview added in File menu
  • Folder related operations are 30% faster (may be noticeable to users having thousands of folders)
  • Improvements in right click menu for folders and fixing some inconsistencies
  • Auto-detection of email settings attempts to use TLS 1.2 (if server supports it)
  • Installation now tests if it can overwrite required files (when upgrading) and if unsuccessful (e.g. blocked by antivirus) it keeps the old installation in place and reports an error to avoid ending with a partial installation
  • Improved display of some windows when using high-contrast color schemes or themes
  • Customization of Contact list, Folder list and Message list fonts in Options
  • Find window - New keyboard shortcuts (Delete/Enter on messages, CTRL shortcuts), main menu items, progress in percentage while searching
  • Customization of Message Editor formatting toolbar and large icons for high-DPI screens
  • Clipboard images can be directly pasted into the Message Editor (using Paste button)
  • Improved auto-selection of account which is used to reply - only if unambiguous (no 2 or more accounts with the same From email)
  • Quick selection and display of used spell checker language and message format (Plain Text or HTML) in the Message Editor status bar
  • Export of EML files now sets file dates based on the Received date and allows a total of 200 characters in the full path
  • Clicking column header now also focuses the message/contact list underneath
  • Security options (Advanced) to enable/disable scripting (JavaScript/VBScript) and ActiveX for incoming messages
  • Added Copy to the right click menu when editing the group (copies names and emails to clipboard)
  • Account Properties - Auto Config button for easier configuration, Authentication type is now under Expert tab, added Authentication type for Outgoing server (SMTP)
  • Drag and drop of EML files from Windows shell to OE Classic folder - imports EML files into the folder

Bug fixes
  • Message Editor did not show up correctly when maximized
  • Plain text messages did not have Content-Transfer-Encoding header specified
  • Forwarding a message did not respect the Reply to messages in same format option
  • Fixed some High-DPI issues
  • Focus is no longer lost after selecting font color in the Message Editor
  • Reset List button (Newsgroups) did not work
  • Disabled redirection to avoid the issue of some messages not being displayed
  • Print no longer duplicates printing headers (if started multiple times)
  • Updated visual components to fix some visual glitches and a few other high-DPI fixes
  • Improved mouse wheel handling to make it scroll in the Source Editor, Signatures Editor (Options) and some other controls
  • Disabled Java and ActiveX (by default) to avoid serious security vulnerabilities associated with them
  • Updated SSL/TLS libraries with the latest bug/security fixes (v1.0.2q)
  • Updated built-in SQLite with the latest bug fixes (v3.27.2.0)
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OE Classic 2.8 released!

Apr 17th, 2018


At last, this version brings multilingual support in 11 languages! More languages will be added, depending on interest and translations will improve in subsequent versions. There are also many smaller changes here and there - improved Message Editor, improved Find window and some important bug fixes. Last but not least, accessibility support has been improved in various areas of the program.

OE Classic now speaks 11 languages and the multilingual support will continue to improve in the new updates
OE Classic now speaks 11 languages and the multilingual support will continue to improve in the new updates

Formatting buttons such as Bold, Italic, Underline etc. in the message editor show status under the text cursor
Formatting buttons such as Bold, Italic, Underline etc. in the message editor show status under the text cursor

You can set custom folder colors by right clicking over a folder
You can set custom folder colors by right clicking over a folder

Improvements in the CSV import tool, one of them is the choice of a folder where to import
Improvements in the CSV import tool, one of them is the choice of a folder where to import


New features
  • Added multilingual support with 11 language files (Croatian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish)
  • Added multilingual plural rules for counting
  • Formatting buttons (Bold, Italic, Underline etc.) in the message editor show status under the text cursor
  • More windows can be closed using ESC key - Message Editor, Address Book, Send/Receive
  • Find window improvements - Include subfolders checkbox, folder Browse button, closing window by ESC key
  • Find added to main window Edit menu and popup menu (right click over folder)
  • Option to import CSV file into existing or new address book folder
  • Improved recognition of some data fields for CSV file import
  • Import/Export window can be resized to fit more data
  • Message editor Check names now also validates emails inside groups and checks for duplicate recipients (in the same field)
  • Message editor checks for duplicate attachments
  • Faster and more accurate email address validator
  • Option to set default message direction right-to-left
  • Save As message saving now also offers HTML or Text formats
  • Custom folder colors (right click menu over folders)
  • Plurals in message rules relative dates editor
  • 3D panels replaced with flat ones for modern looks
  • Better detection in message editor if message was modified (deleting To/Cc/Bcc fields, using File/Save menu item etc.)
  • Improved accessibility for Account Properties, Address Book, Column Editor, Contact/Group Properties, Find, Import/Export, Message Editor, Message Rules, Message Viewer, Options, Update

Bug fixes
  • No longer jumps to the top of Address Book when items are deleted (Address Book and Main window)
  • Typing TAB in the message editor no longer selects horizontal line or image
  • Incorrect help shortcuts in the installation script
  • Updated SSL/TLS libraries with the latest bug/security fixes (v1.0.2o)
  • Updated built-in SQLite with the latest bug fixes (v3.23.1.0)
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We are happy to report that OE Classic is one of the most secure programs available based on the independent research regarding the recently discovered "Mailsploit" set of vulnerabilities. There are as many as 30 other email clients affected by these vulnerabilities including some of the very well known ones.

OE Classic is completely unaffected! In fact, it has been unaffected for at least 3 years now, long before the discovery of this.

By using OE Classic, you are safe against this one and also many other email threats because OE Classic employs various other security measures to protect you. As you may know, we carefully monitor everything that happens in the world of computer-security and whenever we learn something new, we implement that in OE Classic to pass on that protection to you as well. You can see more info on all the work done over the years on this page.

Over the years, we also warned our users how unsafe it is to use older operating systems and older email clients which don't take security as seriously as we do and we're so glad others are taking notice of that as well!

References and links to the research:
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New website!

Sep 30th, 2017


New website design is now live! It is conveniently optimized for mobile phones and tablets, but also on desktops the pages use more horizontal space - they are wider and they will stretch to fill the available web browser width up to a maximum width for which the design was made for.

All the menu items have remained in the same position, so you will know your way around instantly.

With this new design, modern web browsers get premium treatment, while older web browser users will get a notification they are using too old browser on top of the website page and that they should upgrade it.
Basically, if you are using any web browser more recent than 2011, the page will look as intended. Older web page was compatible even with Internet Explorer 6, but there is no reason to maintain that compatibility any longer in 2017, in favor of modern web features.

Due to modern web optimization, updated website now loads faster than the old page.

There will be a few more tweaks to further polish some parts of the website which may be misbehaving with the new design. If you also notice a misbehavior yourself, feel free to let us know, assuming you use modern and up-to-date web browser like the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari.
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As we moved to a better and modern web server which hosts this web site, we discovered that the contact form within the program has stopped working on Windows XP and older. This happens because Internet Explorer 8 (or older) on Windows XP does not support secure connections required by the web site.

This is not a problem for Internet Explorer 9 and Windows Vista and anything more recent than that so this is not a problem for Windows 7, 8 or 10. Therefore, we will likely not be fixing this problem. Windows XP is simply too old and you cannot fix things forever - everyone else already abandoned it. Checking for updates still works as that does not use secure connection to the web site (it is not required).

The reason why this doesn't work is because Windows XP does not support modern encryption (longer and more secure ciphers) which are now used by our new web site, so we decided to stop support for program built-in contact form for Windows XP in favor of users who already use more recent versions of Windows to provide them with more secure experience. It is not a good decision to leave 97% of our users with weaker encryption because the other 3% just don't want to upgrade from Windows XP. As protection of user's privacy is one of our guidelines and server can only use one encryption, we have to take side and we choose modern encryption. Once again, this does not affect Windows 7, 8 and 10 users at all. They will see no difference.

Users who still wish to run OE Classic on Windows XP can continue to do so, the program will still work, except for the contact form which is tied into the web site. They can still contact us using web page using some other web browser than Internet Explorer (also note that Chrome and Firefox web browser developers have also stopped support Windows XP and Vista for a good while now).

Once again, we urge you to upgrade from this obsolete and insecure version of Windows to something more recent (Windows 7, 8 or 10) - if you haven't already done so. We wrote a good number of times how insecure Windows XP and Vista are by modern standards.
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OE Classic 2.7 released!

Jul 19th, 2017


This update brings so many great new additions to OE Classic. In fact, there are so many that text description won't do! So - we prepared quite a few screenshots for you - take a look:

OE Classic has brand new icon set - the icons are optimized for pixel-perfect display and are crisp-clear even in smallest sizes such as 16x16
OE Classic has brand new icon set - the icons are optimized for pixel-perfect display and are crisp-clear even in smallest sizes such as 16x16

Broken stationery is now shown properly which increases compatibility with existing Outlook Express stationery
Broken stationery is now shown properly which increases compatibility with existing Outlook Express stationery

Each toolbar can now be customized
Each toolbar can now be customized

This toolbar button makes it very easy to switch identities either by clicking it, or by using the drop-down menu
This toolbar button makes it very easy to switch identities either by clicking it, or by using the drop-down menu

OE Classic can now put contacts you reply to into address book automatically and there is even an override option if you want to avoid this for some contacts - and you can even reverse this - uncheck the option but manually add some contacts using the menu checkbox
OE Classic can now put contacts you reply to into address book automatically and there is even an override option if you want to avoid this for some contacts - and you can even reverse this - uncheck the option but manually add some contacts using the menu checkbox

Message editor now fully supports plain text messages in addition to HTML messages
Message editor now fully supports plain text messages in addition to HTML messages

More information about attachments - file size and properties
More information about attachments - file size and properties

Very easy way to zoom-in messages with tiny letters - zoom is saved as well
Very easy way to zoom-in messages with tiny letters - zoom is saved as well

New Read options - Font for incoming plain-text messages and default HTML zoom for other messages
New Read options - Font for incoming plain-text messages and default HTML zoom for other messages

New Compose options - Font selection for HTML and plain-text messages (including font attributes like bold, color, etc.), requesting read receipt for all messages and automatically putting contacts into address book when replying
New Compose options - Font selection for HTML and plain-text messages (including font attributes like bold, color, etc.), requesting read receipt for all messages and automatically putting contacts into address book when replying

New Send options - Options for controlling message format (HTML or Plain-text) and returning requested read receipts
New Send options - Options for controlling message format (HTML or Plain-text) and returning requested read receipts


But all the above is just scratching the surface of this update - there is a lot more under the hood. Entire list of changes follows.

New features
  • Completely rewritten From/To/Cc/Bcc list parser to support name comments (some mailing lists and newsgroups use comments instead of name) and fix some parser bugs
  • Support for importing UTF-16 IAF files (generated by Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail)
  • Many icon improvements, especially for small sizes (16x16)
  • Toolbar Customize added in View menu and popup (right click) menu in Main Window, Message Viewer, Message Editor, Address Book
  • Added Next Unread Message and Identities toolbar buttons
  • Additional default attributes for message editor font - color, bold, italic and underline
  • Composing Plain Text email messages and HTML to Plain Text (and back) conversion in Message Editor
  • New message template format which allows plain-text templates in addition to HTML templates (existing templates were updated)
  • Dual format signatures (uses plain-text signature if message is in plain text format and HTML signature if message is in HTML format)
  • Layout options were redesigned to offer full Toolbar customization using the new Toolbar Editor
  • Compose options Plain text font choice (not reflected in the sent message, as plain text messages don't have formatting)
  • New Send options with default compose format and if reply message will use same format as incoming message
  • New Read options - Font size for plain text messages, HTML zoom
  • Enhanced status bar in message viewer - zoom level and message type
  • Zoom In/Out and Zoom percentage in Main Window View menu
  • Popup menu with Load/Save/Copy/Paste/Select All in Message Rules - Add Condition (for text conditions)
  • Option to automatically add sender to address book when replying and an override option (in Message Editor) when auto-save is not needed
  • Optional sending read receipts to senders who request it (message disposition notification)
  • Option to request a read receipt for all sent messages (Compose options)
  • Options for returning requested read receipts to sender - Notify for each request / Never send (Send options)
  • Accessibility improvements for Account Wizard, Options
  • Program now communicates with web site using encrypted (HTTPS) connection (e.g. when using contact form or downloading update) - this may require Windows XP users to enable support for TLS 1.0 in Internet Explorer settings (already enabled in more recent Windows versions)
  • Warning if closing the program is attempted while there are still opened message editor windows
  • Improved text to HTML conversion to preserve multiple spaces/tabs (Insert text from file, Reply/Forward to plain-text messages, Insert plain-text signature)
  • Attachment file size shown after the file name and attachment Properties in right click menu (Message Editor)
  • Multiple Received dates shown in Message Properties and highlighting if date differs too much from Sent date
  • Added F5 as secondary shortcut for Send/Receive
  • Faster deletion of folders/newsgroups

Bug fixes
  • HTML stationery no longer includes repeated attachments at the bottom of the message
  • High DPI support in Message Editor (small button toolbar)
  • Message Editor no longer breaks HTML while switching from Source to Edit due to spaces being added at word wrap points
  • Blurry and uncentered high DPI text labels in Options fixed
  • Reinstalling the program could cause error and failure to start the program due to bug in uninstall script
  • Auto-select of subject line text is disabled for replies and forwards
  • Improved detection if attachments should be shown inline or not to prevent unresponsiveness
  • Updated SSL/TLS libraries with the latest bug/security fixes (v1.0.2l)
  • Updated built-in SQLite with the latest bug fixes (v3.19.3.0)
news


Wow! There is no other word for what we're about to announce!

For the last few years OE Classic depended on third party message decoder/encoder which worked OK, but always had certain annoying misbehavior as well as lack of flexibility in message decoding and bugs which were never fixed. For example, some messages were decoded improperly and there was no ability to user-customize them, such as user-selection of code-page so the incorrectly shown characters would be decoded properly for misbehaving messages. It was not very fast either and it offered no ability to skip decoding of unnecessary email items or decode them when they are really needed (on demand).

On top of that, some of these components are also very expensive - some of them cost a few thousand USD (per year!). Although we would happily pay for that, assuming they worked per our specification. But they did not.

Lacking control over the code and after years of asking (read: almost begging) for developers to fix these and other issues or at least make it more flexible, we finally got tired of all that and promised ourselves that we won't cause our users to suffer because of the lack of their understanding of what message decoder really needs to do.

So we decided to roll our own message decoder/encoder. It took about 2 weeks so far but the work done is just AMAZING. Over 2 times faster than the current one when decoding and over 3 times faster when encoding a message. Full flexibility to finally fix all the misbehaving messages which surfaced over the years. Ability to give user choice of code-page and much better auto-detection when code-page is not properly specified. And also, much faster evaluation of the message to determine if decoding is really needed or not.

The end result of this is that the operations related to message decoding (which is opening or downloading of any message) will be significantly faster and this will give users really great experience. It is highly addictive to get used to this speed - once we got used we didn't want to go back to the old one, but there is some more work to be done with regard to testing before we can roll it out to the public as we want it to be made with the same highest standards our users have come to expect from us over the years.

This means it has already passed through millions of auto-generated messages to test for any possible failures with zero errors. It also went though a few gigabytes of our test store folder.

This is big change although it won't be as visible as some other features - but this one literally will be experienced by every user of the program because 100% of the messages will be passing through this decoder/encoder so it is the core of the program. It is of utmost importance for this to be fastest and top quality piece of programming and any compromise with it just wasn't an option.

There is still some work to be done and we will be rolling it out gradually, but do expect a great decoding accuracy as well as speed improvement from it once it is merged into the main program!
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