>>>For some time I have been using an application called Smartserver which connects to an email pop server and retrieves the emails and files them all separately as text files in a given folder. Sadly this is a 16 bit application and I need to find a replacement - any ideas?
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>>Thunderbird keeps them as separate files, and that's text files, as received (plus whatever status info it inserts into the header afterwards), but that's one file per folder. That means you get one huge inbox, one junk folder etc.
>>
>>Once upon a time there was Eudora, which used the file system as a database (i.e. one message one file). I remember in some environments there would be tens of thousands of customer emails every year... don't know which file system would be fast enough with so many files. If you can't find a mailer which would do as Eudora did, there's a good reason for it.
>
>I use Eudora all the time and it doesn't keep messages as separate files in the folders - but cant get Thunderbird to work -I cant open the folders

Check this out --

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=386844

(I found that by Googling "view .msf files").