Under the File menu, there is a Utilities submenu. Currently, this provides access to functions to compact your message file and to unARC files.
Compacting/Repairing the Messages File:
As time goes on, your messages file tends to become larger and to become fragmented. Since it grows to accommodate the largest number of messages that you have at any one time, a couple of big packets coming in together can make your file quite huge. MacWoof will automatically reuse the space previously occupied by messages, but in the process, parts of messages get scattered throughout the file. This is similar to disk fragmentation.
To eliminate this fragmentation and to reduce the size of your messages file back to the minimum possible size, go to the File menu and select the Compact Message File... option. This option can also be used should the messages file become corrupted. Signs of the file being corrupted include things like messages saying “end of file” while trying to read messages, etc. The Compact... option will go through a corrupted message base and will recover as many messages as possible, copying them to a new file that is free from the corruption.
UnARCing Files:
Under some circumstances, MacWoof is unable to determine that a file it has received has been ARC’ed. So rather than make you go find a copy of MacARC or some similar utility, MacWoof has a manual unARC utility built in. Located in the Utilities submenu of the File menu, the UnARC a File… choice brings up a standard file dialog which you use to select the file to unARC.
Importing Messages without using a modem:
To import messages, either have your mailer unARC ARCMail leaving just .pkt files, or use the unARC File… item on the Utilities submenu, placing all the .pkt files in the same folder. Select Import Msgs… from the File menu and select any of the .pkt files. The program will process and delete all of the .pkt files in the selected folder.
Exporting Mail without using a modem:
To export messages for use with a separate mailer, select Export Msgs from the File menu. You will be shown a standard new file dialog box with a suggested filename based upon FidoNet conventions for .pkt files. MacWoof will automatically append new messages to an existing packet if you press the “Replace existing…” button when a packet file already exists. Generally, you must use the default name with MacWoof, but you can change the name if you are using a separate mailer. Change the 8 digit hexadecimal number if you need to, but be sure that the new number is 8 digits long and that you still have a .pkt suffix.
