OK, the good news: The filing cabinet is stored on your computer.
The bad news: It’s in a format only AOL can read. It’s a file with the same name as your screenname with no extensions, and it’s located within the AOL folder, inside the Organize subfolder. You’ll see several files with similar names, but the one you want has no extensions. (not yourscreenname.arl or yourscreenname.bag, etc.) AOL 3.0 and some versions of 4.0 install themselves in a folder called C:\AOL30 or C:\AOL40. AOL 5.0 and 6.0 will (if you don’t pick a different folder) be in C:\America Online 5.0 or C:\America Online 6.0. Versions 7 and 8 will be in C:\Program Files\America Online 7.0 (or 8.0). If you have a Mac…uh, well, I don’t know what file it’s in, so you might want to skip to solution 2. Forgive me, but I’m not sure how familiar you are with your computer, so I’m gonna give you the explicit instructions. If these aren’t clear enough, email me for my AIM name and I’ll walk you through it step by step.
Solution 1: Go into that folder mentioned above (click Start, Programs, Windows Explorer to open your hard drive) and find the file I mentioned. RENAME the file to yourscreenname.PFC. Do the same for all screennames you use (to rename, right-click the file name and left-click “rename” then type the new name and press enter.) Now, once you cancel AOL, keep the software on your computer. Don’t worry about signing on. Anytime you want to get some of that old email or whatever, open AOL, then click File in upper left>Open and choose yourscreenname.pfc. This will open a window with folders for your saved mail, address book, what have you. You can read anything there and copy it to your new email or address book. You’d want to do this if you just have scads and scads of saved info, I mean a LOT.
Solution 2: (you can use this along with solution 1 if you like, for backup) BEFORE cancelling AOL, sign on with each screenname. Open your PFC, and any mail you want to keep, forward to your new email address. If it says it’s too old to forward, copy and paste it to a new email. Don’t forget to note down anything in your address book, too. You may even want to consolidate by copying several messages into one email, especially if they’re on the same subject, and send them all at once (“Aunt Lucy’s Christmas Bread Recipe and Later Corrections” for example). If you want to use this option but can’t face forwarding all the mail, offer a child an ice cream cone to do it for you, or if you are a cruel executive, make your secretary do it.
Solution 3: You can save the PFC one email at a time by opening each one and clicking File>Save for each email. Again, this will take a while, you might have to buy TWO ice cream cones. Or you could select and print out any messages you particularly like.
There are utilities out there that will convert an AOL favorites (bookmarks) list to an IE or Netscape list, and a websearch will turn those up for you. I can’t think of anything else you’ll need besides saved mail, address book, and favorites.
If you need more specific instructions, or more help, just drop me an email…
Corr