Hi,

if you receive the PICList as a daily digest, and would like to
extract the individual messages (very useful to follow threads
and/or to search for old messages), read on.

I've just (succesfully) converted last six months of PICList
archived by Netscape Messenger (v4.5).

What do you need to do this:

- A text editor (or any other text file tool) able to search and
  replace strings extending on multiple lines. If you haven't one,
  try the free Programmer's File Editor (PFE), downloadable from:
  http://www.lancs.ac.uk/people/cpaap/pfe/
- Netscape Messenger (I have v4.5, but I think this trick works also
  with other versions). If you have another mailreader this method will
  problably NOT work, but who knows... your mileage may vary...

How to do this:

1) Locate the file containing your piclist digests. You will find
the file in the "Mail" folder of Netscape, the path is probably
something like this:

  C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\OUR_NAME\Mail\Inbox.sbd\piclist

The file name correspond to the name of the Messenger folder
where you store the piclist.

2) When you have located the file do a backup-copy of it.
3) Load the file in the editor.
4) Go to the start of file (1st line) and then Replace ALL the
occurrence of:
   <------------------------------\n\nDate:    >
With:
   <From -\nDate:    >

NOTE: the "<" and ">" at beginning and end of the string are
not part of the string, I've inserted them to show the spaces
at the end of the string.

NOTE 2: "\n" represent a linefeed (the string extends to more
than one line). This notation can be used directly in the
search & replace dialog of PFE. Other editors may vary.

This step extracts all messages (Messenger wants a "From -" line
before a valid message).

5) Go to the start of file (1st line) and then Replace ALL the
occurrence of:
 <Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="----------------------------"\n>
With:
 <>  (null string)

See notes above. This step converts each digest from a multipart message
to a standard message (de-encapsulate messages).

6) Save the file (and to be safe, close all programs, prepare the fire
extinguisher, etc.. in case the next step will crash your PC :-)

7) Launch Messenger and select the piclist folder. If all is OK,
Messenger
will be busy for some time (depending on the number of messages)
reindexing
the folder. If there an error, exit Messenger, go to the directory where
you piclist file is, delete the corresponding index file (it has the
extension .smn), and go back to 7. Maybe this time will work.

Adriano