Using Agent 2.0 I frequently wish to use Post / Forward Verbatim to send on
to a third party as a attachment an email message that I had received. With
the majority of messages this works well but for a minority the forward does
not leave Agent via SMTP and just sits hanging as a red colored item in
Agent's Outbox. Does anyone know why this happens or can offer me any tips
on how to deal with it?

On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:44:49 -0500, "Anthony R. Gold"
<not-for-mail@ahjg.co.uk> wrote:

>Using Agent 2.0 I frequently wish to use Post / Forward Verbatim to send on
>to a third party as a attachment an email message that I had received. With
>the majority of messages this works well but for a minority the forward does
>not leave Agent via SMTP and just sits hanging as a red colored item in
>Agent's Outbox. Does anyone know why this happens or can offer me any tips
>on how to deal with it?

I had something similar with "funny" characters and Eternal September.
The cure (IIRC, and it has been so long I may not) was to change the
Usenet text to "Quoted printable". With "MIME Headers" checked.

Generally, the Task Manager's Error List should show why it was
rejected. That may or may not suggest a solution.

To repost a normal message, it is apparently necessary to make a new
copy, modify it as needed, and try try again.

Note that Eternal September/Agent had no trouble /downloading/
messages with "funny" characters in them.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:44:49 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:

> Using Agent 2.0 I frequently wish to use Post / Forward Verbatim to send on
> to a third party as a attachment an email message that I had received. With
> the majority of messages this works well but for a minority the forward does
> not leave Agent via SMTP and just sits hanging as a red colored item in
> Agent's Outbox. Does anyone know why this happens or can offer me any tips
> on how to deal with it?

There could be a number of reasons ***. You will need to start by finding
out why this is happening.

If you are getting a pop-up error message when trying to send your email,
the best place to start is by noting down what that pop-up error says.
Otherwise, the best place to start would be by getting Agent to create a
verbose log while trying to send the message.

See below for how to create a verbose log †††.

*** There is more than one reason why this could happen.
Here are some examples:

(a) You clicked 'Send Later' instead of 'Send'. The message in
the outbox has an up-arrow icon at the left. You can use
"Online >> Post Usenet and Email messages" to send it, or
Agent might ask you when you close Agent.

(b) Before clicking 'Send', you deleted the original email that
you were forwarding.

(c) You clicked 'Send Later' to put the email in the outbox for
sending later. You deleted the original email that was
being forwarded, before your own email was actually sent
from the outbox.

(d) Your mail server rejected your email, because the total
message size exceeded the maximum your server allows.
You might, for example, have forwarded an email with embedded
pictures, and added a few more pictures of your own.

(e) Your mail server rejected your email, because it contained an
invalid recipient address.

(f) Your mail server rejected your email for some other reason.

††† Here is how to create a verbose log

1. With Agent closed,
* Edit your AGENT.INI file
* In the [Debugging] section of AGENT.INI,
change VerboseLog=0 to VerboseLog=1.

2. _Before_ you attempt to send your email, open the Agent 2.0
Log window
Window >> Open Log

3. Leave the Log window open while attempting to send the email.

4. After attempting to send the email, look in the already-open
Log window.
In the Log window, commands from Agent to the mail server
are prefixed with ‘<’ while the responses from the mail server
to Agent are prefixed with ‘>’.
< EHLO ....
> 250 ...
< MAIL FROM: ....
> 250 ...
< RCPT TO: ....
> 250 ...
< DATA
> 354 ...
...
> 250 ...
Look for any responses from the mail server which begin with a
number in the range 300-499.
Also Look for any error messages with or without a '<' or '>'.

You cannot copy the text from the Log window, unfortunately.
But you can get Agent to create a debug log file with the same content
as the Log window.

5. If the Agent 2.0 "Online" pull-down menu does not have these two
entries at the bottom
"Debug Log to AGENT.LOG"
"View Debug Log Options"
then:
5.1 Dismiss the "Tools" pull-down menu
5.2 Press Ctrl+Shift+D
5.3 Look again.

6. In "View Debug Log Options", make sure that all the
options are UNchecked.

7. To create a debug log file of Agent trying to send the email

7.1 Turn on "Debug Log to AGENT.LOG" just _before_
sending the email

7.2 Try to send the email.

7.4 When the attempt ends, make sure you turn OFF
"Debug Log to AGENT.LOG".

8. Look for the file "agent.log" in Agent's data folder.

--
Kind regards
Ralph Fox
🦊

Between the hand and the mouth, the broth is many times shed.

On Thu, 14 Dec 2023 09:42:25 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> wrote:

> On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:44:49 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>
>> Using Agent 2.0 I frequently wish to use Post / Forward Verbatim to send on
>> to a third party as a attachment an email message that I had received. With
>> the majority of messages this works well but for a minority the forward does
>> not leave Agent via SMTP and just sits hanging as a red colored item in
>> Agent's Outbox. Does anyone know why this happens or can offer me any tips
>> on how to deal with it?
>
>
> There could be a number of reasons ***. You will need to start by finding
> out why this is happening.
>
> If you are getting a pop-up error message when trying to send your email,
> the best place to start is by noting down what that pop-up error says.
> Otherwise, the best place to start would be by getting Agent to create a
> verbose log while trying to send the message.
>
> See below for how to create a verbose log †††.
>
>
> *** There is more than one reason why this could happen.
> Here are some examples:
>
> (a) You clicked 'Send Later' instead of 'Send'. The message in
> the outbox has an up-arrow icon at the left. You can use
> "Online >> Post Usenet and Email messages" to send it, or
> Agent might ask you when you close Agent.
>
> (b) Before clicking 'Send', you deleted the original email that
> you were forwarding.
>
> (c) You clicked 'Send Later' to put the email in the outbox for
> sending later. You deleted the original email that was
> being forwarded, before your own email was actually sent
> from the outbox.
>
> (d) Your mail server rejected your email, because the total
> message size exceeded the maximum your server allows.
> You might, for example, have forwarded an email with embedded
> pictures, and added a few more pictures of your own.
>
> (e) Your mail server rejected your email, because it contained an
> invalid recipient address.
>
> (f) Your mail server rejected your email for some other reason.
>
>
> ††† Here is how to create a verbose log
>
> 1. With Agent closed,
> * Edit your AGENT.INI file
> * In the [Debugging] section of AGENT.INI,
> change VerboseLog=0 to VerboseLog=1.
>
> 2. _Before_ you attempt to send your email, open the Agent 2.0
> Log window
> Window >> Open Log
>
> 3. Leave the Log window open while attempting to send the email.
>
> 4. After attempting to send the email, look in the already-open
> Log window.
> In the Log window, commands from Agent to the mail server
> are prefixed with ‘<’ while the responses from the mail server
> to Agent are prefixed with ‘>’.
> < EHLO ....
> > 250 ...
> < MAIL FROM: ....
> > 250 ...
> < RCPT TO: ....
> > 250 ...
> < DATA
> > 354 ...
> ...
> > 250 ...
> Look for any responses from the mail server which begin with a
> number in the range 300-499.
> Also Look for any error messages with or without a '<' or '>'.
>
>
> You cannot copy the text from the Log window, unfortunately.
> But you can get Agent to create a debug log file with the same content
> as the Log window.
>
> 5. If the Agent 2.0 "Online" pull-down menu does not have these two
> entries at the bottom
> "Debug Log to AGENT.LOG"
> "View Debug Log Options"
> then:
> 5.1 Dismiss the "Tools" pull-down menu
> 5.2 Press Ctrl+Shift+D
> 5.3 Look again.
>
> 6. In "View Debug Log Options", make sure that all the
> options are UNchecked.
>
> 7. To create a debug log file of Agent trying to send the email
>
> 7.1 Turn on "Debug Log to AGENT.LOG" just _before_
> sending the email
>
> 7.2 Try to send the email.
>
> 7.4 When the attempt ends, make sure you turn OFF
> "Debug Log to AGENT.LOG".
>
> 8. Look for the file "agent.log" in Agent's data folder.

Many thanks.

Unfortunately the log is very verbose and I am unfamiliar with its use. I
can view it but don't know how to save it into a file or even copy lines
from the screen.

The key line in the log appears to be:

Unable to open attachment"subject of mail to be forwarded".:Connected

The SMTP server is local program Hamster that runs on the same machine as
Agent. That server's log shows this sequence:

connection lost
disconnected
connected

To your general suggestions, this is not a matter of "finger problems" such
as selecting to send later. It is also unrelated to message size. One
commonality between messages that will not allow Agent to forward them
verbatim is that all were sent to me by users of Microsoft Outlook.

Any ideas?

On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 21:28:35 -0500, "Anthony R. Gold"
<not-for-mail@ahjg.co.uk> wrote:

>On Thu, 14 Dec 2023 09:42:25 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:44:49 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>>
>>> Using Agent 2.0 I frequently wish to use Post / Forward Verbatim to send on
>>> to a third party as a attachment an email message that I had received. With
>>> the majority of messages this works well but for a minority the forward does
>>> not leave Agent via SMTP and just sits hanging as a red colored item in
>>> Agent's Outbox. Does anyone know why this happens or can offer me any tips
>>> on how to deal with it?
>>
>>
>> There could be a number of reasons ***. You will need to start by finding
>> out why this is happening.
>>
>> If you are getting a pop-up error message when trying to send your email,
>> the best place to start is by noting down what that pop-up error says.
>> Otherwise, the best place to start would be by getting Agent to create a
>> verbose log while trying to send the message.
>>
>> See below for how to create a verbose log †††.
>>
>>
>> *** There is more than one reason why this could happen.
>> Here are some examples:
>>
>> (a) You clicked 'Send Later' instead of 'Send'. The message in
>> the outbox has an up-arrow icon at the left. You can use
>> "Online >> Post Usenet and Email messages" to send it, or
>> Agent might ask you when you close Agent.
>>
>> (b) Before clicking 'Send', you deleted the original email that
>> you were forwarding.
>>
>> (c) You clicked 'Send Later' to put the email in the outbox for
>> sending later. You deleted the original email that was
>> being forwarded, before your own email was actually sent
>> from the outbox.
>>
>> (d) Your mail server rejected your email, because the total
>> message size exceeded the maximum your server allows.
>> You might, for example, have forwarded an email with embedded
>> pictures, and added a few more pictures of your own.
>>
>> (e) Your mail server rejected your email, because it contained an
>> invalid recipient address.
>>
>> (f) Your mail server rejected your email for some other reason.
>>
>>
>> ††† Here is how to create a verbose log
>>
>> 1. With Agent closed,
>> * Edit your AGENT.INI file
>> * In the [Debugging] section of AGENT.INI,
>> change VerboseLog=0 to VerboseLog=1.
>>
>> 2. _Before_ you attempt to send your email, open the Agent 2.0
>> Log window
>> Window >> Open Log
>>
>> 3. Leave the Log window open while attempting to send the email.
>>
>> 4. After attempting to send the email, look in the already-open
>> Log window.
>> In the Log window, commands from Agent to the mail server
>> are prefixed with ‘<’ while the responses from the mail server
>> to Agent are prefixed with ‘>’.
>> < EHLO ....
>> > 250 ...
>> < MAIL FROM: ....
>> > 250 ...
>> < RCPT TO: ....
>> > 250 ...
>> < DATA
>> > 354 ...
>> ...
>> > 250 ...
>> Look for any responses from the mail server which begin with a
>> number in the range 300-499.
>> Also Look for any error messages with or without a '<' or '>'.
>>
>>
>> You cannot copy the text from the Log window, unfortunately.
>> But you can get Agent to create a debug log file with the same content
>> as the Log window.
>>
>> 5. If the Agent 2.0 "Online" pull-down menu does not have these two
>> entries at the bottom
>> "Debug Log to AGENT.LOG"
>> "View Debug Log Options"
>> then:
>> 5.1 Dismiss the "Tools" pull-down menu
>> 5.2 Press Ctrl+Shift+D
>> 5.3 Look again.
>>
>> 6. In "View Debug Log Options", make sure that all the
>> options are UNchecked.
>>
>> 7. To create a debug log file of Agent trying to send the email
>>
>> 7.1 Turn on "Debug Log to AGENT.LOG" just _before_
>> sending the email
>>
>> 7.2 Try to send the email.
>>
>> 7.4 When the attempt ends, make sure you turn OFF
>> "Debug Log to AGENT.LOG".
>>
>> 8. Look for the file "agent.log" in Agent's data folder.
>
>Many thanks.
>
>Unfortunately the log is very verbose and I am unfamiliar with its use. I
>can view it but don't know how to save it into a file or even copy lines
>from the screen.
>
>The key line in the log appears to be:
>
>Unable to open attachment"subject of mail to be forwarded".:Connected
>
>The SMTP server is local program Hamster that runs on the same machine as
>Agent. That server's log shows this sequence:
>
>connection lost
>disconnected
>connected
>
>To your general suggestions, this is not a matter of "finger problems" such
>as selecting to send later. It is also unrelated to message size. One
>commonality between messages that will not allow Agent to forward them
>verbatim is that all were sent to me by users of Microsoft Outlook.
>
>Any ideas?

Do they have funny-looking characters? Specifically, quotation marks
that /curve/ in towards the text, or extra-long hyphens?

Can you respond to the email you are trying to copy/forward or does
the same error occur?
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 21:28:35 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>> On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:44:49 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>>
>>> Using Agent 2.0
....
> Many thanks.
>
> Unfortunately the log is very verbose and I am unfamiliar with its use. I
> can view it but don't know how to save it into a file or even copy lines
> from the screen.

For how to save it into a file, see these in my previous reply:
I. The paragraph which comes before step 5;
II. Steps 5 to 8 after that paragraph.

> The key line in the log appears to be:
>
> Unable to open attachment"subject of mail to be forwarded".:Connected

Here are some things which might cause this particular error:

(b) and (c) from my previous reply.

(g) In some versions of Agent, this can happen when the email one
is forwarding does not have a Message-ID header with a unique
message-ID.

(h) This will happen if one files the original email into another
folder before clicking 'Send'. For example...
i. One receives an email in one's Inbox.
ii. One selects the email and use "Post >> Forward Verbatim"
which opens the compose window
iii. One deliberately files the original email into one's
'Jokes' folder.
iv. One then complete the email one is sending and click 'Send'.
When Agent tries to send one's email, Agent will not find the
original email to attach (because it is no longer where it used
to be). One must leave the original message where it is until
*after* one's message is sent.

> The SMTP server is local program Hamster that runs on the same machine as
> Agent. That server's log shows this sequence:
>
> connection lost
> disconnected
> connected

This is consistent with the above error, "Unable to open attachment".

> To your general suggestions, this is not a matter of "finger problems" such
> as selecting to send later. It is also unrelated to message size. One
> commonality between messages that will not allow Agent to forward them
> verbatim is that all were sent to me by users of Microsoft Outlook.
>
> Any ideas?

Check out cases which are not "finger problems". Case (g) above is
about what is or is not in the received email. Cases (b), (c), and
(h) are one's deliberately chosen order of actions.

--
Kind regards
Ralph Fox
🦊

Look before you leap, for snakes among sweet flowers do creep.

On Sat, 16 Dec 2023 16:42:59 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> wrote:

> On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 21:28:35 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>>> On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:44:49 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>>>
>>>> Using Agent 2.0
> ...
>> Many thanks.
>>
>> Unfortunately the log is very verbose and I am unfamiliar with its use. I
>> can view it but don't know how to save it into a file or even copy lines
>> from the screen.
>
>
> For how to save it into a file, see these in my previous reply:
> I. The paragraph which comes before step 5;
> II. Steps 5 to 8 after that paragraph.
>
>
>> The key line in the log appears to be:
>>
>> Unable to open attachment"subject of mail to be forwarded".:Connected
>
> Here are some things which might cause this particular error:
>
> (b) and (c) from my previous reply.
>
> (g) In some versions of Agent, this can happen when the email one
> is forwarding does not have a Message-ID header with a unique
> message-ID.
>
> (h) This will happen if one files the original email into another
> folder before clicking 'Send'. For example...
> i. One receives an email in one's Inbox.
> ii. One selects the email and use "Post >> Forward Verbatim"
> which opens the compose window
> iii. One deliberately files the original email into one's
> 'Jokes' folder.
> iv. One then complete the email one is sending and click 'Send'.
> When Agent tries to send one's email, Agent will not find the
> original email to attach (because it is no longer where it used
> to be). One must leave the original message where it is until
> *after* one's message is sent.
>
>
>> The SMTP server is local program Hamster that runs on the same machine as
>> Agent. That server's log shows this sequence:
>>
>> connection lost
>> disconnected
>> connected
>
> This is consistent with the above error, "Unable to open attachment".
>
>> To your general suggestions, this is not a matter of "finger problems" such
>> as selecting to send later. It is also unrelated to message size. One
>> commonality between messages that will not allow Agent to forward them
>> verbatim is that all were sent to me by users of Microsoft Outlook.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>
> Check out cases which are not "finger problems". Case (g) above is
> about what is or is not in the received email. Cases (b), (c), and
> (h) are one's deliberately chosen order of actions.

Thanks but those suggestions ignore the facts of my situation. I have
regularly been Post Forward Verbatim emails for a very long time and with
zero issues. I am now having 100% failures but only with messages that
originate from Outlook. In the light of this pattern I don't see that your
suggestions address that fact pattern. Maybe there is something in Outlook
messages, such over-long header lines, impermissible Message IDs or
problematic character strings that look like end-of-file markers etc. that
cause this. My present workaround is to print out Outlook messages to .pdf
documents and then to attach those, but I was hoping that my problem had
previously been reported and had already been solved.

In alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent, on Sat, 16 Dec 2023 20:52:45
-0500, "Anthony R. Gold" <not-for-mail@ahjg.co.uk> wrote:

>On Sat, 16 Dec 2023 16:42:59 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 21:28:35 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:44:49 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Using Agent 2.0
>> ...
>>> Many thanks.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately the log is very verbose and I am unfamiliar with its use. I
>>> can view it but don't know how to save it into a file or even copy lines
>>> from the screen.
>>
>>
>> For how to save it into a file, see these in my previous reply:
>> I. The paragraph which comes before step 5;
>> II. Steps 5 to 8 after that paragraph.
>>
>>
>>> The key line in the log appears to be:
>>>
>>> Unable to open attachment"subject of mail to be forwarded".:Connected
>>
>> Here are some things which might cause this particular error:
>>
>> (b) and (c) from my previous reply.
>>
>> (g) In some versions of Agent, this can happen when the email one
>> is forwarding does not have a Message-ID header with a unique
>> message-ID.
>>
>> (h) This will happen if one files the original email into another
>> folder before clicking 'Send'. For example...
>> i. One receives an email in one's Inbox.
>> ii. One selects the email and use "Post >> Forward Verbatim"
>> which opens the compose window
>> iii. One deliberately files the original email into one's
>> 'Jokes' folder.
>> iv. One then complete the email one is sending and click 'Send'.
>> When Agent tries to send one's email, Agent will not find the
>> original email to attach (because it is no longer where it used
>> to be). One must leave the original message where it is until
>> *after* one's message is sent.
>>
>>
>>> The SMTP server is local program Hamster that runs on the same machine as
>>> Agent. That server's log shows this sequence:
>>>
>>> connection lost
>>> disconnected
>>> connected
>>
>> This is consistent with the above error, "Unable to open attachment".
>>
>>> To your general suggestions, this is not a matter of "finger problems" such
>>> as selecting to send later. It is also unrelated to message size. One
>>> commonality between messages that will not allow Agent to forward them
>>> verbatim is that all were sent to me by users of Microsoft Outlook.
>>>
>>> Any ideas?
>>
>> Check out cases which are not "finger problems". Case (g) above is
>> about what is or is not in the received email. Cases (b), (c), and
>> (h) are one's deliberately chosen order of actions.
>
>Thanks but those suggestions ignore the facts of my situation. I have
>regularly been Post Forward Verbatim emails for a very long time and with
>zero issues. I am now having 100% failures but only with messages that
>originate from Outlook. In the light of this pattern I don't see that your
>suggestions address that fact pattern. Maybe there is something in Outlook
>messages, such over-long header lines, impermissible Message IDs or
>problematic character strings that look like end-of-file markers etc. that
>cause this. My present workaround is to print out Outlook messages to .pdf
>documents and then to attach those, but I was hoping that my problem had
>previously been reported and had already been solved.

If it's been solve, the solution may have been implemented in later
versions of Agent. Agent is not that expensive so it might be worth
trying an upgrade.

If you do so you should make a copy or two of all your data first
because later versions are not backwardly compatible. When you run
version 4 on the old data, iirc it changes the data so you can no longer
run version 1.93 (or 2, I think). There may be two such
incompatibilities between version 1.93 and version 6. I don't know
beyond that. Version 8 is primarily for binaries, but if it also was
the one with a fix of your problem, maybe it wouldn't have been worth
emphasizing since it effects so few people. Release notes might mention
something that will mean more to you than to me.

Version 4 allowed multiple personas that you can post with.
Version 5 remembers from one session to another all your open newsgroups
and posts that are being composed, and displays them as tabs, but along
with this comes an annoying problem.
Like iirc Firefox when it first came out with tabs, when a new tab
was opened from a link in, say, the 2nd tab out of 6, it put the new tab
at the far right. It made the new tab tab 7. Then if later you wanted
to look at the tab that brought you there, you had to hunt for it. Soon
after they changed Firefox so that the new tab was placed right next to
the tab you were currently in, so in this example, it became the 3rd
tab, and tabs 3-6 got pushed to the right (becomeing tabs 4-7). That
works much better. Now in Firefox if you want to refer to the tab you
were looking at before you clicked on something in it and made a new
tab, all you have to do is press Shift-Ctrl-tab and it will take you
there. Whereas in Version 6 of Agent, Shift-Ctrl-tab will take you to
the tab just to the left of the one you are in, which is probably not
the one you want.

I dont' know if this got changed to the way I like it in versions 6,
7.1, or 8.

On Tue, 19 Dec 2023 12:09:54 -0500, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

> In alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent, on Sat, 16 Dec 2023 20:52:45
> -0500, "Anthony R. Gold" <not-for-mail@ahjg.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 16 Dec 2023 16:42:59 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 21:28:35 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>>>>> On Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:44:49 -0500, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Using Agent 2.0
>>> ...
>>>> Many thanks.
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunately the log is very verbose and I am unfamiliar with its use. I
>>>> can view it but don't know how to save it into a file or even copy lines
>>>> from the screen.
>>>
>>>
>>> For how to save it into a file, see these in my previous reply:
>>> I. The paragraph which comes before step 5;
>>> II. Steps 5 to 8 after that paragraph.
>>>
>>>
>>>> The key line in the log appears to be:
>>>>
>>>> Unable to open attachment"subject of mail to be forwarded".:Connected
>>>
>>> Here are some things which might cause this particular error:
>>>
>>> (b) and (c) from my previous reply.
>>>
>>> (g) In some versions of Agent, this can happen when the email one
>>> is forwarding does not have a Message-ID header with a unique
>>> message-ID.
>>>
>>> (h) This will happen if one files the original email into another
>>> folder before clicking 'Send'. For example...
>>> i. One receives an email in one's Inbox.
>>> ii. One selects the email and use "Post >> Forward Verbatim"
>>> which opens the compose window
>>> iii. One deliberately files the original email into one's
>>> 'Jokes' folder.
>>> iv. One then complete the email one is sending and click 'Send'.
>>> When Agent tries to send one's email, Agent will not find the
>>> original email to attach (because it is no longer where it used
>>> to be). One must leave the original message where it is until
>>> *after* one's message is sent.
>>>
>>>
>>>> The SMTP server is local program Hamster that runs on the same machine as
>>>> Agent. That server's log shows this sequence:
>>>>
>>>> connection lost
>>>> disconnected
>>>> connected
>>>
>>> This is consistent with the above error, "Unable to open attachment".
>>>
>>>> To your general suggestions, this is not a matter of "finger problems" such
>>>> as selecting to send later. It is also unrelated to message size. One
>>>> commonality between messages that will not allow Agent to forward them
>>>> verbatim is that all were sent to me by users of Microsoft Outlook.
>>>>
>>>> Any ideas?
>>>
>>> Check out cases which are not "finger problems". Case (g) above is
>>> about what is or is not in the received email. Cases (b), (c), and
>>> (h) are one's deliberately chosen order of actions.
>>
>> Thanks but those suggestions ignore the facts of my situation. I have
>> regularly been Post Forward Verbatim emails for a very long time and with
>> zero issues. I am now having 100% failures but only with messages that
>> originate from Outlook. In the light of this pattern I don't see that your
>> suggestions address that fact pattern. Maybe there is something in Outlook
>> messages, such over-long header lines, impermissible Message IDs or
>> problematic character strings that look like end-of-file markers etc. that
>> cause this. My present workaround is to print out Outlook messages to .pdf
>> documents and then to attach those, but I was hoping that my problem had
>> previously been reported and had already been solved.
>
> If it's been solve, the solution may have been implemented in later
> versions of Agent. Agent is not that expensive so it might be worth
> trying an upgrade.
>
> If you do so you should make a copy or two of all your data first
> because later versions are not backwardly compatible. When you run
> version 4 on the old data, iirc it changes the data so you can no longer
> run version 1.93 (or 2, I think). There may be two such
> incompatibilities between version 1.93 and version 6. I don't know
> beyond that. Version 8 is primarily for binaries, but if it also was
> the one with a fix of your problem, maybe it wouldn't have been worth
> emphasizing since it effects so few people. Release notes might mention
> something that will mean more to you than to me.
>
> Version 4 allowed multiple personas that you can post with.
> Version 5 remembers from one session to another all your open newsgroups
> and posts that are being composed, and displays them as tabs, but along
> with this comes an annoying problem.
> Like iirc Firefox when it first came out with tabs, when a new tab
> was opened from a link in, say, the 2nd tab out of 6, it put the new tab
> at the far right. It made the new tab tab 7. Then if later you wanted
> to look at the tab that brought you there, you had to hunt for it. Soon
> after they changed Firefox so that the new tab was placed right next to
> the tab you were currently in, so in this example, it became the 3rd
> tab, and tabs 3-6 got pushed to the right (becomeing tabs 4-7). That
> works much better. Now in Firefox if you want to refer to the tab you
> were looking at before you clicked on something in it and made a new
> tab, all you have to do is press Shift-Ctrl-tab and it will take you
> there. Whereas in Version 6 of Agent, Shift-Ctrl-tab will take you to
> the tab just to the left of the one you are in, which is probably not
> the one you want.
>
> I dont' know if this got changed to the way I like it in versions 6,
> 7.1, or 8.

Thanks and I did already buy license keys for versions 3/4, 6, 7 and 8. The
problem is that each versions appears to come with its own bugs. This is the
world we live in when we are left using orphan software from dead (or
hiding) authors. For example, when I tried Version 8 I found I was unable to
launch attachments to outgoing emails still in the composition window.
Apparently the first listed attachment is always unlaunchable.

Yes, I could backup my files and return to previous versions only for my
historical emails, but there could be no going back for new mails received
under a later version.

If being unable to attach messages from Outlook users as Verbatim Forwards
is the worst bug in my current Agent version, and if no-one has a solution,
then better the devil I know ...