Pegasus Mail 3.2 File Formats

[Motivation] [File Extensions] [Chronology]

Motivation

This page is a collection of notes made in the process of converting some mail from Pegasus 3.2 (a Windows application with its own file formats) into a unix-mail style (flat files and directories).

I'd found a windows-based utility (details??), but it had the following disadvantages for me:

Individual messages were stored in individual files (I had around 8000 messages and wanted messages in a folder grouped together into a single file)
The tool didn't use the folder hierarchy, so the end result was many folders in a top-level directory (I wanted the hierarch of folders recreated)
The folders created had names like 'FOL045EF'

File Extensions

There was a bewildering number of file extensions in the MAIL/<username> subdirectory for each user.

Table of all Pegasus Mail file extentions found.
# of files found	Extension	Comments
1	BAK	PMAIL.BAK is an old version of the PMAIL.INI file
3881	CNM	Individual messages for the 'main' folder
1	INI	PMAIL.INI contains Pegasus 3.2 settings for <username>
1	OLD	PMAININI.OLD is another backup of PMAIL.INI
6	PM	A mishmash of files: FOLSTATE.PM -- List of files opened for view when Pegasus was last used HIERARCH.PM -- Folder hierarchy VIEWER.PM -- Relates file suffixes with viewer applications WINPMFUA.PM -- Most recently emailed recipients WINPMFUF.PM -- Recently attached files? WINPMFUP.PM -- Recently used folders for saving/attaching files?
1	PM!	Only one file, contains recipient names (not email addresses); same prefix as the .PMR file
1	PM#	Only one file, NB.PM#, and that was empty
142	PM$	Appear to be temporary files with attachments or other encodings, unreferenced by any folders -- possibly created as part of message-viewing process?
1 1	PM0 PM7	DESKTOP.PM0 and DESKTOP.PM7 refer to a subset of folders & trays -- possibly open folders?
1	PMC	Only one file; contains a single recipient(?) name; same prefix & names as .PMV file
97	PMI	Message indices; each has a corresponding .PMM file, except MAIN.PMI which corresponds to MAIN.PMT
1	PMJ	Only one file, STATE.PMJ, appears to contain window coordinates for various folders and other Pegasus desktop items
2	PML	Address lists - lists of recipients
96	PMM	Message files; each holds many messages and has a corresponding .PMI index file
2	PMO	? Postponed / Draft messages
1	PMP	Only one file, contains a single folder title
1	PMR	Only one file, contains recipient names and email addresses; mentioned in STATE.PMJ file
5	PMT	Message 'trays' -
1	PMV	Only one file; contains a single recipient(?) name padded with ASCII 0's to 128 bytes; same prefix & name as .PMC file
2	sav	FOLSTATE.SAV and HIERARCH.SAV are old versions of the FOLSTATE.PM and HIERARCH.PM files

Summary of file extensions useful for converting Pegasus files
# of files found	Extension	Comments
3881	CNM	Individual messages for the 'main' folder
1	INI	PMAIL.INI contains Pegasus 3.2 settings for <username>
1	PM	HIERARCH.PM -- Folder hierarchy
97	PMI	Message indices; each has a corresponding .PMM file, except MAIN.PMI which corresponds to MAIN.PMT
2	PML	Address lists - lists of recipients
96	PMM	Message files; each holds many messages and has a corresponding .PMI index file
5	PMT	Message 'trays' -

Chronology

2003-11-10 Started this page as a preliminary to converting my Pegasus 3.2 mailbox with 4000 or so messages into a unix-mail style (subdirectories and files). Added section on file extensions.
2003-12-30 Have done nothing for about 7 weeks. Added summary to section on file extensions.

	This page last changed: 30 Dec 2003
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