What are the
Archives
The archives are the collection past messages
that have been posted to the forums. There are many tens of
thousands of posts stored in their
original format (as individual email messages).
Who Can Access Archives
Any forum member may search and retrieve archives for the forum to which
they are a member. If you wish to retrieve archives but don't want to
receive postings from the list, simply join,
then set your mail options to suspend
incoming mail. You will still be able to post messages or retrieve
archives and digests whenever you wish.
Non members (as well as members) can also browse previous postings
by visiting the mirrored archives which are hosted on The Mail
Archive, a website devoted to archiving discussion forums. See How
To Browse
for links to the mirrored archives.
Browse or Search/Retrieve
What's the difference? Browsing allows you to view and
read past postings using your web browser. You can also perform
limited searches this way. It's a quick and simple way to stay in
touch if you don't have access to your email or a way of catching up on recent messages that you may have missed.
Browsing must be done on-line and it doesn't provide a way to save
messages.
Search/Retrieve is different from browsing in that it doesn't allow
you to read messages within your browser, instead it sends email/s to your email account
in the same format as the original post, and even retains the original
date. Since search/retrieve sends you copies of the original email
postings, you can permanently save them and read or print them at your
leisure when off-line just as you can do with any email message. The
search/retrieve method is ideal when you've missed messages due to
email failure or simply because you were not yet a member. Retrieving
messages also allows you to perform more exhaustive searches using
your email client or other software.
How to Browse
To browse the archives, visit one of the following
sites.
Protel
EDA Users [PEDA]
Protel
Developers [PDEV]
Open
Topic [OT]
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How to Search/Retrieve
Always use the Search mode before Retrieving to verify
that the number of emails is not too great. Careless use of the Retrieve
mode may result in many thousands of emails being delivered to your
inbox. Retrieve requests cannot be canceled after
they have been initiated.
The Search mode will send a single email to
you that summarizes the results of the search. The summary will list
all email postings that match your search criteria including subject, date, and
the member that submitted the email.
Once you've found what you are looking for in the summary, use Retrieve
mode with the same criteria as you did with the Search and all the emails listed in the summary
will be individually sent to you.
Use caution with the retrieve mode and always search first, otherwise
you may inadvertently request thousands of emails.
Using Search/Retrieve form is simple.
- Setting the mode to Search which will email you a
summary of all posts that match your search criteria.
- Choose a forum to search.
- Choose Date, subject, or sender's email and set your criteria.
Searches are not case sensitive and wildcards * and ? are allowed,
but use caution!
- Review the summary when in arrives in your email inbox. If you want to retrieve all the emails
listed in the summary, go to the next step, otherwise return to
step 1.
- Use the Retrieve mode with the same criteria as you did for the
search. All the emails will be sent to you.
Proceed to the Search/Retrieve form if you wish to
search or retrieve archived posts.
Retrieving Digests
Digests are a daily compilation of all the days
emails. Digests are archived and may be retrieved. Since digests contain
multiple emails, they cannot be searched, and retrieval is only by
date. You can use the search mode locate the date of emails that
interest you, then retrieve the digest/s for that date. Visit the Retrieve
Digest page if you wish to retrieve digests.
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