My email life as it now is; multitasking from a single point. Cool!

Right now I’m grinning from ear to ear, feeling like a girl with small bust who just came out of augmentation surgery . My life’s much more organized now, specifically email wise. As a follow up to my previous post I just upgraded, got with the IMAP movement, figured out Thunderbird and migrated fully from Yahoo Mail to Gmail.

Prior to this and after my previous post the situation I found myself in was similar to this:

How can I import old emails into Thunderbird? I am trying to import emails from ALL of my folders and subfolders into Thunderbird, however, it’s not working at all. The only mail that is imported is from my “Inbox” all other mail is stuck on my old e-mail service. It is just one e-mail account. There is the main folder, which is the INBOX where all incoming e-mail goes. Then there are a series of sub-folders. For instance, anytime I send an e-mail a copy of it is in my “Sent” folder. Also, if I get e-mails that are specifically work related or school related sometimes I send them to sub folders that I created (i.e., “School”, etc) So these folders encompass everything from the default folders of “Sent” “Draft” “Outbox” etc. and ones that I’ve created which are like “saved” and “school”. When I set up Thunderbird it only imported mail from the “Inbox” not any of the other folders. This is a school email address (that is, .edu). When it expires I don’t want to lose all of my email memories. You know, it’s kind of important.

Worried was I and so I reached out to more knowledgeable people. Oluniyi David Ajao responded with this advice:

Try using IMAP as your “server type” instead of POP. IMAP should download all your folders exactly as they appear on your webmail. Best wishes.

Yes, just like Yahoo Mail can be tweaked to work with POP it can also be tweaked to work with IMAP. Gmail explains the difference between IMAP and POP thus:

Unlike POP, IMAP offers two-way communication between your web Gmail and your email client(s). This means when you log in to Gmail using a web browser, actions you perform on email clients and mobile devices (ex: putting mail in a ‘work’ folder) will instantly and automatically appear in Gmail (ex: it will already have a ‘work’ label on that email the next time you sign in).

And so I got working. I met with success, setbacks and ultimately perfection. It took a tip from the master Bijan Soleymani himself to set me straight and towards the finishing line though.

Here’s how I did it. I first of all installed his modified Thunderbird 3 for Windows XP, found here.

Then I used this to set up:

Incoming server: imap.mail.yahoo.com (IMAP port 143)
Outgoing server: smtp.mail.yahoo.com (SMTP SSL port 465)
Username: Yahoo username@yahoo.com
Password: same as yahoo webmail

Of course remembering to select IMAP when setting up the account (add mail account).

I then set about making the Yahoo Mail to Gmail switch. This article should guide you. It did for me though copying stopped working after a while. What I did was to break every thing down into small pieces and copy batch by batch via creating new folders and then consolidating them all into one once they were into Gmail.

Voilà I’m good! I now have all my Yahoo Mails (6 years thick) into Gmail, and with Gmail’s Mail Fetcher I can operate my Yahoo account plus my other two email accounts all from my single Gmail account! Gmail is brilliantly yakpayaski!

Update: After reading this and before implementing anything it’s highly recommended that you also read: IMAP, Thunderbird, Yahoo Mail and Gmail

If this post sounds like gibberish to you don’t be alarm, people have different interest and we’re probably not operating on the same frequency. Some others though could read this and be like “kini big deal?” But anyway considering the problems the issues I’m about to discuss posed for me and factoring in the time spent researching and looking for a solution I think it’s wise I put this down to help all those going forward that might be saddled with this same issue.

Props here will be going to Gmail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Google Search and the host of geeks, nerds, software developers, bloggers and helpful people online who bless the internet with useful tips here and there on ICT focused websites. While proper disrespect will accordingly be going to Microsoft Outlook and Yahoo! Mail for their shortcomings. Ok let’s go there…

It so happened recently that in one of my usual day to day sniffings around the World Wide Web I decided to finally try Gmail in-depth and as faith would have it I saw the light this time around. It was fun discovering all the cool things Gmail could do which Yahoo! Mail couldn’t. Of particular interest to me was Gmail’s Mail Fetcher feature and in exploring it is when I got reintroduced to the world of Post Office Protocol (POP). I was smitten so much by Gmail and this particular feature that I decided to consolidate all my emails into one account, the biggest task of which would be integrating my over six year old Yahoo account. Google Search always being my friend unlike the Nigerian Police and there always being so much information online from geeks and nerds alike I discovered that there was actually a way to get POP access for free Yahoo Mail accounts. And that is simply by changing your preferred content setting to Yahoo! Asia (Note: this might not work for some newly created accounts).

In the end after several tweakings and trials I decided against accessing my Yahoo Mail via Gmail and instead turned my focus to re-establishing my use of email clients which I last utilized at my former job. Microsoft Outlook being what I was used to I decided to set it up on my system. Set up was easy and automated (here’s the manual setup instructions) but little did I know that one of its default setting was that it does not leave a copy of messages on the server! Man I was screwed! On seeing my inbox depleted I felt empty as if a major part of me had been ripped out. Luckily though it had only downloaded 72 messages from my inbox before I discovered and rectified. But still the big issue now was getting those mails back to my inbox. All hope seemed lost as via research it appeared the only hope was manually resending the affected mails to myself vis-à-vis the labourious and risky option of resetting my system date and time while doing so (to get them back in their proper positions). And so I embraced Google Search some more and when it seemed like all hope was lost I finally found meaning in the phrase “Mozilla Thunderbird”.

Open source and Mozilla, the Firefox people rock! The solution was to be found on Mozilla Thunderbird (an alternative email client) via its “Mail Redirect” Add-on. I simply followed this tutorial but with the additional tweak of doing so with the current versions of Mozilla Thunderbird and its “Mail Redirect” Add-on. (After installation I first of all synced it with the downloaded messages on Microsoft Outlook, then I set up/added my mail account followed by the actual redirecting). And everything was back to normal! The only difference spotted being the Return-Path and Resent-From values in the full email header. This though is largely insignificant. And consequently I lived happily ever after.

the summary

Effective information management is a bit like multi tasking and getting it right

Anyone that really knows me in person should be aware that I like to be on top of things information wise. Like the seeker I take great pride in getting relevant info and go to great lengths to organize that info for effective use (I think I got this quality from my dad). And feeling particularly generous or scholarly today I want to bless you with my “Seven habits of highly effective information managers”; hereby referred to as HEIMs. On a Zain level I’m in a frenzy like one of my previous bank big boss, who was twice flown in from Lagos to lecture us in training school, and on both occasions ended up basing his talk (both talks independent of the other) on Stephen R Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. So let’s get started on capacity building information management wise.

1) HEIMs abhor illiteracy in all its forms because to really appreciate the importance of information management one has to be technologically aware, pragmatic and open minded. HEIMs would probably work in intelligence if they were in the army. For the young ones in secondary school my advice would be not to limit oneself to only reading the Bible, religious books and self help books but to explore the world of contemporary Nigerian fiction. Personally my favourite reads are informative/write ups/novels which come with a heavy dose of humour.

2) We would all the more be HEIMs in Nigeria if we probably had a good database management system in place. All my analysis leads me to the conclusion that if we fixed that we would be on the road to resolving a lot of our national problems. From census and population planning, to voter registration, to crime detection/prevention, to fiscal control and bank loan supervision, to academic records availability and so on and so forth. That’s why it behooves on us to take the issue of record keeping and maintenance seriously in our daily dealings. There are little things in life as sweet as being updated about the past in a jiffy and thus being privileged to make inform choices in the present that will affect your future positively.

3) HEIMs excel in phone bookkeeping and are forever grateful for the miracle that is telecommunication. They understand the beauty of talking the talk and getting thoughts across at the touch of a button. So characteristically they are always reachable by phone, text and call generously as the need arises, excel at colleting contacts of useful people and those they just must deal with on the daily, have a good contact backup culture, have more than one line considering the peculiar unstableness of our telecoms networks, and understanding the importance of networking strive for phone number retention. Some extra tips: for ease of backups you might want to jot down your numbers daily as you collect them and exploit the PC suite and sync function of your phone. Also aim for hand sets with unlimited contact storage. To get ahead 200 SIM memory plus 200 phone memory handsets are not the way to go. Additionally learn to save names in full or with descriptive suffixes for ease of recall.

4) HEIMs understanding the reality that is information overload, trash programming and junk content are constantly trying to stay geeky/nerdy yet work and leisure balanced. By analyzing and sieving what is available before brain consumption they stay on the natural high. Personally I try not to over indulge myself and stay away from things that don’t add anything substantive to my IQ. This means I’m constantly battling procrastination in favour of studying and computer programming. And when it comes to news feed, favouring blogs with original content as against gossip blogs and news recyclers.

5) HEIMs being aware of the power of the world wide web/computers practice the complete use of it as a means to an end. Here’s what you’ll find them doing. They streamline their email addresses as much as possible and harness the powers of Gmail and email clients. You’d be hard press to find them on the loosing end of domain drops because of unread/unreceived renewal reminders. They are on top of password management (at my former job FinnOne, a banking suite software failed partly because of the issue of password forgetfulness). And they embrace the idea of website and company portals as information nests. A case in point: it’s dumb…almost criminal for INEC not to publish the list of qualified candidates/test invitees on its website during it recent recruitment exercise. Also as seen in many companies the issue of sending out important memos/policy updates only via email without repository on the company’s portal for easy long term reference is akin to dishing out instructions and the receivers inundating it from one ear and letting it slip out through the other.

6) HEIMs are by nature effective. In line with this they wholly embrace the use of a diary in their day to day planning. Not being cyborgs people grapple with the issue of forgetfulness but HEIMs keep on top of their schedule and plan accordingly with diary entries and reminders. Be them electronically on phone/computers or in hand in books. A follow up trait of effectiveness is getting things done without having to be prodded and doing so as if the direct gain was for oneself. In other words HEIMs treat with dispatch issues which require their attention. And in doing so they keep it scientific, scientific in the sense that their workings are carried out in a way that on analysis a third party can easily understand what has transpired thus and take relevant follow up action.

7) Lastly but also very importantly HEIMs don’t have an attitude problem. With globalization should come the common sense that nobody’s indispensable and that we all need each other sooner or later and as such we should treat each other with courtesy and respect. On a Majek Fashek-2face Idibia tip, little little patience and cordialness in our conduct now can have big positive implications later. Tolerance, politeness, a thank you here, excuse me or sorry there can in some way get you that information when the need arises that’ll help you break fronts.

The world Cup South Africa 2010 being now 40 days away, the true Super Eagles fan should have these three World cup songs on his/her playlist:

1) Power of Naija. Guinness commissioned World Cup song performed by Omawumi, 2face Idibia and Cobhams
2) Waving flag (Nigerian Version). Coca-Cola commissioned K’naan’s World Cup song performed by Banky W & M.I.
3) Goalaaaso (Inside The Net). Paj featuring Tolumide. From Paj of “Ghana go hear wien (2006)” and “skatta dem (Ghana go hear wien part II 2008)” fame.