My life has many facets to it. One that is undeniable is that if I lose my e-mail, I lose my mind. The last time I checked, I have well over four thousand separate e-mails that I cannot afford to lose no matter what. Many of these puppies date clear back to over 3 years ago. And in that time, I have found that I moved from one e-mail app to another like a herd of buffalo looking for a greener pastures. Unfortunately, migrating e-mail from client to client is not always as smooth as we are led to believe.

Some point earlier this month, I was asked to do a piece on a software program called Aid4Mail. Interested, I did some checking before accepting the assignment outright. The more I studied what this program could offer, the more impressed I was. Not only does Aid4Mail make migration from just about any e-mail app to another a breeze, creating safe, non-proprietary backups can happen without a second thought.

Let’s start off by looking at what Outlook’s import tool can do to your e-mail:

Eudora Outbox imported into Outlook 2003 with Outlook’s Import and Export tool

And with Outlook Express’ import tool:

Eudora Outbox imported into Outlook Express with OE’s Import tool

Wow, that did not come out how we wanted now did it? Now take a look at the very same Outbox imported with Aid4Mail:

Eudora Outbox converted to Outlook 2003 with Aid4Mail

Now, I think that it is pretty clear that migrating e-mail needs to be done in a safer environment than what most e-mail apps can provide. In my opinion, Aid4Mail provides just such an environment. I tested this theory with my Thunderbird e-mail that I needed to convert to Outlook for various reasons. No, I most certainly am not dumping my preferred e-mail client for Outlook. Still, I am investigating using Outlook on my notebook in specific situations from time to time. Now, I could try to import them myself using Outlook’s importing software. Besides the fact that it is not going to work right, it is likely going to be a real pain in the behind to get it to come out properly in the first place.

So, I decided to warm up my copy of Aid4Mail. By gosh, it worked exactly as promised - no hang-ups at all. Not only was I able to make the conversion happen with ease, I was floored at the compression this app offered me. For those of us with a ton e-mail, this can translate into a real space saver.

At this point, I like to think that I have been able to get my point across to each of you - try this software. Seriously, I am loving it! But I would hate for you to think that it is merely a fancy way to archive and export e-mail. No, this utility also allows you to export attachments from within the e-mail messages themselves and place them into the folder of your choosing. Not only that, you can preview your e-mail in a format that can be viewed by your Web browser. That’s right, browse through your e-mail without having to really know what you are looking for, all from your browser window. I thought this was pretty cool since using utilities like Google Desktop search are only going to help you locate mail and only then when it is in a format it can read.

Well, folks, I covered a lot of ground here. So I would like to take a moment to rehash some points that were made today:

• There is no better way to safely archive and/or export your critical e-mail from one e-mail application to the other. Aid4Mail is the best, period.

• Never again find yourself in a situation where you are trying to retrieve old archived e-mail from a format that is not supported by your current client.
• Save space with Aid4Mail’s compression and save time with its browser previewing abilities. Any time old, archived e-mail can be previewed from easily from a Web browser is a win - win situation for the user.

All right, assuming I have made myself clear, at this point you ought to be a little bit curious as to what this app feels like, right? I mean after all, I like to hear great things about a program as much as the next guy. But there is something to be said about being able to try it before buying it. Well, Aid4Mail does offer a trial download.

Before downloading though, I have one request. Take a few moments to read through its Web site. While I try to capture as much of its insight about the program as I can, my job today is give you my impressions of the software, not just the company’s. One thing to note is that this program will run on anything - even a machine with Win 95 and 32 MB of RAM. How’s that for thinking ahead? Seriously, check it out and save your mail in a way that will be accessible for many years to come.