A bug slipped through a crack and broke down the upgrade program rendering version 2.3 incapable of upgrading older database format (2.1 and older) to the current one. The problem only affected those who skipped version 2.2 because in the version 2.2 the upgrade program was working properly. This upgrade fixes the issue so upgrade of older database format now works again.

New features

• Contact selection window folder drop-down height is now larger (depending on window height)

Bug fixes

• Database upgrade for versions 2.1 and older to current version was broken

OE Classic 2.3 is here!

New features

• Group contacts in address book (also supports nested groups inside a group, with automatic duplicate filtering)
• Address book folders and shared folders/contacts
• Added folder selection in the Edit Contact window
• Added status bar in address book with contact count
• To/Cc/Bcc buttons in message editor no longer open Address Book for selecting contacts but instead open a specialized contact selection window (can be resized)
• Flag/Watch added into the Message menu of the main window (works for multiselected messages too)
• Create new folder opens a window for naming the folder before creating it
• Added Properties to local folders popup menu (right click menu)
• New Properties dialog for local folders which includes more information about a folder
• Added list of signatures as sub-menu of the Insert - Signature menu in the message editor
• Added New Folder button to Copy/Move window (target folder selection for message Copy/Move)
• Added "Local Folders" to the folder select dialog so that it can be selected as a root for New Folder or Multiple .EML export operations
• Added Expert tab to newsgroup account properties due to some servers misbehaving and to make the program more adjustable to such servers
• Editor window "From" dropdown can now also show "From" name and "From" email address in addition to the account name (display format can be customized in Options using custom text and tags #displayname#, #email#, #accountname# and #default# as placeholders)
• Added Debug menu tool for repairing and rebuilding DB index files from MBX data files (normally, this is not needed, but it helps in case of corrupted DB file caused by disk failure or by some other program)

Bug fixes

• Another "list index out of bounds" fixed in the message editor To/Cc/Bcc fields
• Update Now button in the update dialog shows UAC/elevation required indicator (shield icon)
• Sorting of address book items was inconsistent for different windows
• Rare issue with Received date decoding and improved Received date extraction logic
• Inconsistent dates and issues when switching between standard/daylight saving time
• Better tab order for Advanced settings in News account Properties
• SSL/TLS libraries have been updated for the latest bug/security fixes, including the fix for the FREAK flaw (March 2015) (v1.0.2a)
• Updated built-in SQLite for the latest bug fixes (v3.8.8.3)
• Adding recipients in To/Cc/Bcc which spans across multiple rows no longer makes items in the second row non-editable
• Hotkey for Close menu item changed to C instead of L (ALT + f, c)

What will follow next?

As planned, the most important feature version 2.4 should bring are incoming message rules (for example to sort messages automatically into certain folders, as they arrive). Of course, this will not be the only improvement and as before it will all be announced on this page.

Address Book Folders and Groups feature is now available for download in the latest version of OE Classic 2.3.

Some of the new features (more to come!):

• Group contacts in address book (also supports nested groups inside a group, with automatic duplicate filtering)
• Address book folders and shared folders/contacts
• Added folder selection in the Edit Contact window
• Added status bar in address book with contact count
• To/Cc/Bcc buttons in message editor no longer open Address Book for selecting contacts but instead open a specialized contact selection window

This update is only available to OE Classic Pro users.

If you are free user and don't have access to this new version here are some screenshots to see what you are missing out.

New features include Address Book Folders and Groups and Shared Folders/Contacts which are visible across all Identities

Folder selection is now possible from the contact editor without the need to open Address Book

Page 1 of Group contact editor - Name and members editor

Page 2 of Group contact editor - Group details

Group contact members selection

OE Classic 2.2 brings you lots of bug fixes and a completely new store folder file format which will allow us to add many new features you have requested.

If upgrading from version 2.1, please note that the file format used in 2.2 is no longer compatible with 2.1 format. The program will automatically upgrade your store folder from older format to the latest format during the installation. If you have store folder backup, please create a new, fresh backup after the automatic upgrade has completed as the old one will not be compatible with the new version.

One of the first features enabled by the new store folder format is the number of unread messages next to a folder name

New features

• New file format which is ready to support new features such as count of messages next to folder name, address book groups and other features (your file backups made for previous version won't be compatible with this version so please update them!)
• A number of file and folder functions have been rewritten or revised to be more stable and reliable, including Move/Copy function which was complicated and unreliable before
• Automatic upgrade from older version file format to this version file format
• Aggregate Properties in main window for viewing message properties (sender, recipient, headers, message source etc.), folder properties or contact properties
• Aggregate Properties in address book (folder or contact) and Properties in separate message viewer window
• Number of unread messages is now shown next to a folder name
• Added Save As in message viewer window (saves message as a single EML/NWS file)
• Various address book actions (in main window, message editor, address book) are now even faster and rarely use disk operation
• Deleting multi-selected contacts is much faster
• Folders can now store multiple copies of an identical message and are self-contained units
• Identity Manager menu key has been changed to "S" for faster switching using ALT + F, S key combination
• Program title bar now shows "Folder - Identity - Program name", instead of just "Program name" as before (this info is also visible in the taskbar)
• SSL libraries have been updated to address the SSL 3.0 POODLE flaw (v1.0.1j)
• Message decoder improved to be more resistant to malformed messages (which may contain long lines without line breaks, invalid Content-Transfer-Encoding etc.)
• Compact All is more resistant to certain types of errors and can correct them automatically

Bug fixes

• Updated installer to be more compatible with more recent Windows like Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10
• Message editor now opens much faster when there are lots of contacts in the address book
• Fixed blank space in To/Cc/Bcc edit boxes when using Reply All with lots of emails in a maximized window
• Removed delay before starting checking email on program startup
• Fixed blurred fonts on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 with high-DPI setup
• Lookup for email addresses in To/Cc/Bcc was not working properly
• Some missing shortcuts added like shortcuts for Reply, Reply-To-All, Forward, Mark as Read and a few others
• Removed problematic functions which could cause failure to start the program if a file error occurs
• Improved font rendering in message/folder/contact list which is no longer clipped on a higher DPI system
• Identity Manager focuses on the list of identities as the first control so identity can be selected immediately with up-down arrow keys (and Return/Enter key to switch to it)
• Fixed error which occurred after creating/renaming/deleting identities
• Improvements in how message download is triggered in the newsgroups - fast clicking on items won't confuse the program anymore and will also refresh items as they are downloaded
• Updates on folder open/close status (and also the new folder count) is now performed from memory only, without unnecessary disk read operation to slow it down (it is visible with larger number of folders)
• A number of issues associated with message count refresh have been fixed (while copying, moving, deleting, creating drafts etc.)
• Huge speed increase when saving message list in the newsgroups
• Message is now marked as read after moving from Outbox to Sent Items
• After sending a message, only Outbox and Sent Items are refreshed and not currently displayed folder (e.g. Inbox), causing message list reload and switching currently displayed message
• SSL 3.0 is no longer supported due to POODLE security vulnerability (use TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1 or TLS 1.2 instead)
• Updated built-in SQLite for the latest bug fixes (v3.8.7.4)
• Charset decoding improved, especially for African and Asian languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian as well as many others
• Fixed creating/moving/deleting too large messages (like 200 MB) which previously caused errors like "Out of memory" or "Invalid number of transaction parameters for operation 11"
• Message icon updated with arrow after a message has been replied or forwarded

What will follow next?

With this new file format we can now begin work on the implementation of some of the very frequently asked features such as address book groups and folders. In fact, version 2.3 will be focused a lot around many improvements to the address book and how the program manages contacts in general.

With the recent discovery of SSL 3.0 security flaw, better known as POODLE flaw and a couple of other security flaws found in the OpenSSL, we will be removing SSL 3.0 support from OE Classic completely. Of course, younger and more secure protocols TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 will still be supported as well as the upcoming TLS 1.3 protocol.

Even though there are likely some users who still might use SSL 3.0 to connect to their servers, we believe that it is for the best that such support is disabled completely. SSL 3.0 is a protocol from 1996 and most servers today use TLS 1.0 which is a direct replacement for it, a security protocol from 1999.

OE Classic also supports more recent TLS 1.1 and 1.2 for servers which support it.

The fixes to POODLE flaw, and disabled SSL 3.0 support will be released in the final update of version 2.2 (and future versions).

Even though this security flaw is mostly of concern to web browsers (you should upgrade your web browser to the latest version!), we prefer to stay on the safe side as user security is one of the primary concerns with the development of OE Classic.

After testing OE Classic on Windows 10, we are pleased to report it works without any glitches.

Windows 10 (preview) is very much like Windows 8.1 with the addition of the new Start menu so no major problems are expected for the final version of Windows 10 as well. Spell checker also functions just fine under Windows 10 just like on Windows 8 or Windows 8.1.

We're in the middle of large upgrade to OE Classic storage system. So here is an update about these changes - some of the features which this new system will allow to be added are the following:

• Address book group contacts and contact folders
• Shared contacts in address book (visible in all identities)
• Number of unread messages next to a folder name
• Additional folder attributes like custom icon and custom font (color, bold, italic)
• Independent folder files - each folder file will be a standalone unit and will no longer be dependent on _Folders.db file
• Ability to make an identical copy of a message in the same folder
• Same format for both email and newsgroup folders (moving of messages from newsgroups will be easier)
• Improved handling of message unique IDs ("leave a copy of messages on server" option)
• Reduced size of DB files due to change to UTF-8 encoding instead of UTF-16LE encoding which is being used right now

One important thing to note is that after upgrading to version 2.2 final it will be impossible to go to back to previous version because of new storage format and associated functions.

As a consequence - your older backup will no longer be compatible with the new version so you need to create a new backup of your store folder files after the upgrade to the final version 2.2.

For now, while it is under development, upgrading to 2.2 beta does not yet require this and it is still backward compatible.

Automatic upgrade will be performed on a backed up copy of all files - so if there is any error during the upgrade, your original files will be preserved and as such, upgrade will be safe to run. Once the upgrade completes successfully only then your existing data will be replaced with upgraded files.

More info about all of this soon, when we complete these changes.

At last, Find/Search tool is available. Along with a few very important bug fixes. Update is highly recommended!

New features

• Find/Search added

Bug fixes

• Additional trimming and validation of email addresses to avoid sending errors
• Message counters are refreshed when messages are downloaded, opened, marked as read/unread and moved/deleted
• Updated all built-in components and SSL/TLS libraries on which the program relies to include cumulative bug fixes and speed improvements
• Fixed authentication issues for some non-standards-compliant servers

This release fixes some of the issues we've noticed since the 2.0 release and also adds batch EML export. There are also new Expert options in Account Properties.

Expert tab in Account Properties gives you some essential options for experts and also moves them away from inexperienced users.

New features

• Batch EML file exporter
• User-Agent string has been updated
• Added Expert tab in Account Properties to avoid accidental configuring of wrong settings like wrong port numbers and to hold options usually needed by experts only
• Account Wizard now only allows entering standard port numbers (to enter non standard values there is an option for that in Expert tab in Account Properties)
• Manually checking for new version now also allows updating to paid version from the free version
• Installation now checks if paid version is installed to prevent accidentally replacing paid with free version

Bug fixes

• Drafts flag wasn't imported for draft messages

As we want our users to have the latest and greatest version we have added automatic updates which should make process of updating much easier. Automatic updates can also detect new beta versions now as well. Of course, there are numerous other goodies such as Drafts editing and EML import. Comprehensive list of changes follows.

New features

• Drafts functionality - saving unfinished message to Drafts folder and editing messages in Outbox or Drafts folders
• Installing new version updates is now much easier due to program being able to update itself
• Added EML import which can import multiple EML files from a folder and its subfolders
• Send message immediately option added in Options - Compose
• Added sending of Read Receipt request in message editor
• Insert background color, background image and background sound in message editor (sound tags are cross-browser compatible)
• Due to speed issues with Copy To/Move To folder menus, they have been replaced with window for selecting folder - users with a lot of folders will see significant speed increase when switching folders or identities
• Messages are reloaded less frequently when switching folders
• Jump to item in the list by typing a few letters (works for message list, folder list, contact list etc.)
• If Authentication Type is set to Automatic and connection is already SSL/TSL secured, doesn't use APOP/SASL because there is no need for it and it also avoids problems with some servers which don't properly support APOP/SASL
• Mark message as read after specified time or when opened in separate window (new option in Options - Read)
• Save Attachments added in message viewer menu
• Message viewer can be closed with Esc key
• Email address in editor window is cleaned for extra spaces to reduce validation error appearances
• Startup/shutdown code has been revised, as a result switching identities is now faster

Bug fixes

• OpenSSL libraries updated to v1.0.1g to fix the TLS heartbeat read overrun (CVE-2014-0160) security issue
• Changing account name in Account Properties window would reload wrong account data after clicking Apply button
• Attachments could not be opened by clicking on attachment under specific system setup
• Image attachments are no longer duplicated for inline (embedded) images when forwarding a message
• When attaching a shortcut file, the program no longer attaches a file pointed by the shortcut but instead attaches the selected shortcut file
• Improved encoding detection in incoming messages (improves display of international characters)
• Corrected issues with certain UU-encoded files (usually found in the Newsgroups)
• All mark as read/unread functions were rewritten to be even more stable
• Removed duplicate decoding which caused slow Previous/Next operation in message viewer
• Attachment Save As in message viewer reported error if file was overwritten
• Message viewer Delete button is working now

A major vulnerability has been discovered in OpenSSL software which is used to securely connect using encrypted connection. It is estimated that 60% of servers run OpenSSL which makes it a huge issue.

Vulnerability affects server software but it may be possible under specific conditions to affect clients as well (e.g. man-in-the-middle attack).

OE Classic 2.0 has been updated today to include the bug-fixed version of OpenSSL libraries. Although the attack of this kind is unlikely for client like OE Classic it is still highly recommended you update to the latest version 2.0 (issued today) which patches the problem. As for older versions, version 1.9 of OE Classic includes compromised libraries (v1.0.1f) so we highly recommend to update to version 2.0 as soon as possible. Version 1.8 uses older version of OpenSSL which has not been affected.

To fully protect yourself you need to modify your email password. This is especially important for users of Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook.com or similar popular email services because they have likely been attacked already, and even though most of them have already been patched compromised passwords may still be out there so you need to change your email password.

The vulnerability is known by the name Heartbleed - TLS read overrun (CVE-2014-0160) if you may want to search more information on this issue.