Email Address Collector

Functionality F.A.Q.

The F.A.Q. section was created by gathering the mostly asked problems related to Email Address Collector™, so please browse through the following F.A.Q. sections, as they will probably provide the answer to your problem...

Functionality ("how to") questions:

1.1. Why would I need Email Address Collector™?
1.2. What can I do with Email Address Collector™?
1.3. OK, tell me how Email Address Collector™ works?
1.4. Can I use Email Address Collector™ to move my email addresses from one computer to another?
1.5. Can I import email addresses from a .dbx file?
1.6. Can I use Email Address Collector™ to copy my mail folders from my laptop to my desktop computer?
1.7. Can I use Email Address Collector™ to back up my Outlook Express Rules?
1.8. Do I have to open my email client to add new contacts?
1.9. Can I save the email addresses I extract to a CSV (comma separated values) file?
1.10. Can I extract email addresses from multiple folders and save them to a single list?
1.11. How can I save the extracted email addresses to a custom Windows Address Book group or folder?
1.12. The Address Book panel is empty and I can't see my existing contacts. Why?
1.13. How can I know exactly what file Email Address Collector™ is using for the source of the listing in the Address Book panel?
1.14. Tell me more about using filters...
1.15. How can I use the new Mail to option?
1.16. What about the Find option?

1.1. Why would I need Email Address Collector™?
1.1. Ask yourself this question:
Do I have a number of email addresses located within any of my email folders that I want to send out a sales letter or company update?

If your answer is yes, the next question is how do I collect all of the email addresses from the saved email folder into the Windows Address Book, except by saving them one at a time?

You can do that with Email Address Collector™. Collect all of your email addresses from any folder of your email client and save them into the Windows Address Book in order to send an email to all of your potential customers, who have requested information from your company in the past.

You are not sending UCE/Spam, for these individuals have made contact with your company in the past.

Answering these two simple questions will definitely give you a clue about what Email Address Collector™ can do for you.

1.2. What can I do with Email Address Collector™?
1.2. The most important thing about Email Address Collector™ is its ability to collect all email addresses from email folders and record them into the Windows Address Book, that can be easily edited or exported. So keep that in mind and think of some possible situations:

- Your address book contains all the email addresses you have in your Inbox?
- Do you know how many email addresses you have?
- How can you move in a short time, a large number of email addresses from one computer to another?
- What happens to your address book in case of a drive crash?
- Can you bring your address book with you when you need it?

1.3. OK, tell me how Email Address Collector™ works?
1.3. Email Address Collector™ first takes a look at the email addresses you already have stored within the Windows Address Book (or WAB). Then it searches your email client folders to extract not only the email addresses it finds in the to, from, cc and bcc fields, but also the email addresses found in the body of the message.

Let's give an example: if a friend of yours sends an email to you and to other 5 associates, and if there are 10 email addresses in the body of the message, Email Address Collector™ will collect 15 email addresses (the 5 addresses in the cc field plus the 10 addresses in the body of the message).

More than that, Email Address Collector™ will automatically eliminate duplicate addresses when collecting the email addresses.

1.4. Can I use Email Address Collector™ to move my email addresses from one computer to another?
1.4. Sure, it's very simple: once you have extracted the email addresses from the selected folder, click on the Save Addresses option in the File menu (or press Ctrl+S) and select the desired location. Be sure to have Email Address Collector™ installed on both computers. Once you are on the other computer, launch Email Address Collector™, click on the Open Session option in the Session menu and select the location where you have saved your list of email addresses.

1.5. Can I import email addresses from a .dbx file?
1.5. Yes, Email Address Collector™ can import email addresses from dbx files! Click on the Import Dbx File option from the File menu, select the location of the dbx file you want to import and that's it!

1.6. Can I use Email Address Collector™ to copy my mail folders from my laptop to my desktop computer?
1.6. Sure! On your laptop, just open Email Address Collector™, select the folders to backup, right click on on them and select Backup. Copy the backup file to your desktop computer, open Email Address Collector and select where to restore the folders. Be sure to have Email Address Collector™ installed on your desktop computer too.

1.7. Can I use Email Address Collector™ to back up my Outlook Express Rules?
1.7. This is one of the most important functions, as Email Address Collector™ gives you the possibility to backup your Outlook Express rules to a safe location and restore it whenever you need.

1.8. Do I have to open my email client to add new contacts?
1.8. You don't need to launch Windows Address Book (wab.exe) or open your email client in order to create new contacts or groups. Email Address Collector™ has a built-in function for this task. Point your mouse on the right panel, then right click and select New Group or New Contact. Or use these shortcuts: Ctrl+G to create new WAB groups or Ctrl+C to create new contacts.

1.9. Can I save the email addresses I extract to a CSV (comma separated values) file?
1.9. Yes, after you have extracted the email addresses from your email client software, Email Address Collector™ will list them in the center panel. You can save the list to a CSV file by clicking on the Save Addresses option in the File menu.

1.10. Can I extract email addresses from multiple folders and save them to a single list?
1.10. Sure! For example, if you want to save the email addresses from your Inbox and Drafts folders into a single list, firstly extract the email addresses from your Inbox folder, then click on your Drafts folder. Unless you specify to clear session list first, Email Address Collector™ will add by default the new addresses found in the Drafts folder to the current list, so at the end you will have a single list of addresses that was created from 2 or more Outlook/Thunderbird folders.

1.11. How can I save the extracted email addresses to a custom Windows Address Book group or folder?
1.11. After you have extracted the email addresses (the results list is viewed in the center panel), double click on a Windows Address Book folder (the WAB folders and groups are listed in the right panel) and Email Address Collector™ will list the content of the selected WAB group/folder. Then, select the email addresses you want to export to WAB (point your mouse on the center panel and right click, then "Select All"). While the addresses are selected, click on the Session menu and choose "Add Selected" or hit the F11 key.

1.12. The Address Book panel is empty and I can't see my existing contacts. Why?
1.12. Email Address Collector™ displays the existing contacts using the contacts list from Windows Address Book. If you're using Microsoft Outlook 2000, then your Windows Address Book has an option called Data Sharing, allowing you to choose whether your contacts list should be shared with other applications or not. If the Address Book panel is empty and you can't see your existing contacts, then click on the Windows Start button and select Run. Type "wab.exe" and press Enter to open your Address Book and from the Tools menu, select Options. Select the first option "Share contact information among Microsoft Outlook and other applications" and then click OK. Close the Windows Address Book and restart Email Address Collector™. You should see your existing contacts in the Address Book panel.

1.13. How can I know exactly what file Email Address Collector™ is using for the source of the listing in the Address Book panel?
1.13. Email Address Collector™ extracts email addresses from the folders of your email client and saves them either to .csv files or to Windows Address Book. The problem is that the implementation of the Contacts folder is different depending on the Outlook version you're using. With Outlook 2000 or Outlook XP, for example, you can create contact lists through the Contacts folder of Outlook - these lists will be saved within the Outlook .pst file and NOT within Windows Address Book. However, if you want to use Email Address Collector™ to save the extracted email addresses to the Contacts folder, simply open the Outlook application, click on the File menu and select the Import&Export option. Then select "Outlook Express 4,5", deselect the "Rules" option, check the "Import Address Book" option and then choose to save the contacts to the Outlook Contacts folder.

1.14. Tell me more about using filters...
1.14. The Filters feature was implemented in order to provide the user with complete control over the email addresses extraction process. This means you can customize every aspect related to the way Email Address Collector™ 3.2 behaves while extracting the email addresses: you can apply Domain restriction rules (domain inclusion or exclusion), Date Restriction rules (“After”, “Before” or “Between” the reference date(s) you specify) or Message Fields Restriction rules (to, from, cc, bcc, subject and content). Simply apply the rules that best fit your search goals and save your settings as a custom filter you can use whenever you need. You can read more about filters in the Email Address Collector™ 3.2 help.

1.15. How can I use the new Mail to option?
1.15. The new Mail to option was added to speed up the time needed to send an email to multiple email addresses, and it’s also available on context menu, once one or several email addresses are selected. When writing an email, most people found it annoying to search for each email address they need and write it in the appropriate field (to, cc, bcc). With the new Mail to function from Email Address Collector™ 3.2, all you have to do is pick up the email addresses you need from the session list and click on the Mail to option from the Session menu (or right click on your mouse in the center panel, then select Mail to) to display the Mail to dialog box. Click on the appropriate button to place the selected email address(es) in the appropriate fields (to, cc, bcc), select the email client you want to use and that’s it: type the message and send it. Imagine how comfortable this is when you have to send an email to dozens of email addresses!

1.16. How about the Find option?
1.16. Selecting the Find option allows you to quickly locate an email address or alias within the session list. This option is particularly useful when you have to deal with very large session lists, containing thousands of email addresses. You can search within Alias name (then email addresses entries will be ignored), or by email addresses (then alias names entries will be ignored). However, the default setting is to search both within email addresses and alias names. You can set the search direction (Up or Down), or you can choose to find whole words only, ignoring text strings which are part of larger words.