

   EXPORTING MESSAGES FROM BBS X & IMPORTING THEM TO PCBOARD
                             by
                      James G. Stolich


The purpose of this text file is to instruct those who wish
to transfer the messages in their BBS' conferences to
PCBOARD 15.1.  PCBOARD is, in my opinion, simply the finest
BBS System Software ever made and many sysops are converting
their current systems to the PCBOARD standard.  Usually the
most difficult part of switching to a new BBS software is
transferring all of the messages.  What follows is a simple
way for accomplishing that formidable task, easily and
painlessly.  I personally went from POWERBOARD to PCBOARD,
but this will work for any BBS software on the market.

First, you will need a copy of PCBOARD 15.1 (for obvious
reasons!).  This may work with older versions of PCBOARD,
but I have not verified that.  Secondly, you will need a
copy of the most recent version of CAM-MAIL.  The non-
registered SHAREWARE version will work fine and is readily
available on most bulletin boards.  However, please register
CAM-MAIL.  It is a wonderful mail door and without it I
could not have transferred all my messages to PCBOARD.

From your old BBS software you will need to acquire a .QWK
packet of ALL your messages in ALL of your conferences.  The
only problem is how do you tell the board software to
download ALL of the messages, even though they have already
been read and therefore not marked for download.  Some BBS
systems allow the user to set the number of the last message
read in each available conference..  If this is the case,
then all you need do is logon as SYSOP and set the last
message read to 0 and then download the .QWK packet from
your BBS' mail door.  You will receive every message on the
board as the system believes you have not read any of them.
However, if this is not possible (as in my case with
PowerBoard), then create a new user and give him the same
level of access as the SYSOP.  Then log in under the new
account and download all messages.  The BBS should send them
all as this new user is a SYSOP and can read all mail and
has never been on the system before, and hence has never
read any of the messages.

Install PCBOARD and configure it to your liking.  Create
each of your conferences and, if possible, number them the
same as they were in the previous BBS software you were
using.  Create one message in each conference.  This is very
important so make sure you have at least one message (one
word is fine; length is not the issue here) in each message
base.

Next, install the CAM-MAIL door and make sure it runs
properly under PCBOARD from the DOORS menu.

From DOS in the C:\CAM-MAIL directory (or wherever it
happens to be on your system) run USERSM.EXE.  Set each of
the conferences to NET STATUS by choosing Option A, EDIT
USER FLAGS.  NET STATUS is the first field displayed.  Type
a Y over the N.  Use the PGDN key to scroll through all the
conferences and turn the NET STATUS flag to Y.

Now exit back to DOS and run NETSM.EXE (also in the CAM-MAIL
directory).  Select Option E, DEFINE CONFERENCES.  For each
conference set the HOST CONFERENCE NUMBER to reflect the
number of the corresponding conference in your old BBS
software.  If you were not able to keep the same numbers for
the conferences in PCBOARD then you can assign a different
number for the conference to be imported.  For example, say
Conference #10 in your old software was COMPUTER DISCUSSION,
but in PCBOARD that same conference (COMPUTER DISCUSSION) is
number 11 instead of 10.  In this case you would set the
HOST CONFERENCE NUMBER for Conference 11 to 10.  In other
words, the messages to be imported into Conference 11
(COMPUTER DISCUSSION) will be taken from Conference 10
(COMPUTER DISCUSSION) in the .QWK packet.

Set the EXPORT/IMPORT field to Y for each message base or
conference.  This field is listed immediately after the HOST
CONFERENCE NUMBER.

NOTE:  Your conference numbers will probably not match up.
PCBOARD has a pre-defined conference called MAIN BOARD.  It
is configured as Conference #0.  You may wish to import the
general messages from your BBS software into this
conference.  With a little work you can make everything
match up, but it really makes no difference as long as you
follow the above procedure and match the numbers of the
corresponding conferences.  (i.e. PCBOARD to .QWK packet).

If you have made it this far without any problems,
congratulations!  Take a moment to wipe the perspiration
from that shiny brow!

Now comes the easy part!  Place a copy of your .QWK packet
(containing all the messages from your previous BBS) into
the CAM-MAIL subdirectory called QWK ( \CAM-MAIL\QWK\ ).
Now execute the following line from the \CAM-MAIL\
directory:

IMPORT     BBS.QWK     /DUPS   /LOG

The BBS.QWK of course is the name of your .QWK packet,
whatever it may be called.  The two switches on the end of
the command simply instruct CAM-MAIL to create a log of what
it did.  In the chance any errors occurred you can go back
and check the logs for details.  This process should not
take more than a few seconds, but the time will vary on the
number of messages in your .QWK packet.  I had about 500
messages and it took about three seconds to import all of
them on a 486DX2-66.

That's it!  Call up PCBOARD and logon on!  You should find
all your messages there.

Be forewarned that none of these messages will have been
read, which means that when you logon you will be inundated
with new messages.  Just scroll through them quickly without
reading them to satisfy PCBOARD.  Some of these messages may
be set to PRIVATE when they should be configured as PUBLIC.
Whether or not this occurs depends on the type of .QWK
packet your previous BBS created.  With PowerBoard I had a
number of messages that were flagged incorrectly as PRIVATE
when they were in fact PUBLIC.  The remedy was to spend a
couple of hours going through them on PCBOARD and changing
the status to PUBLIC.  By experimenting with CAM-MAIL you
may find a way to circumvent this glitch.  By and large,
though, the EXPORT/IMPORT process should be fairly trouble-
free and smooth.

Undoubtedly there are alternative methods for transferring
files from one BBS system to PCBOARD, but the process
described in this document WORKED well for me and it was
swiftly accomplished.  However, I could not have completed
it without the help of CAM-MAIL's author, Cam DeBuck--my
sincere thanks to Mr. DeBuck for his help.  He can be
reached on his BBS at 801-489-8905 (14.4 v.32bis) and 801-
489-3558 (HST DS 16.8K).  VOICE:  801-489-4878 (1pm to 6pm
Tuesday - Friday).  The registration fee for CAM-MAIL is
$28.00 U.S. dollars and I encourage everyone to register.

Questions, corrections, criticisms?  Letters of undying
gratitude??

You can reach me in one of the following manners:

INTERNET:  72440.3076@compuserve.com
COMPUSERVE:  72440,3076
EL OBSERVADOR BBS:  408-372-9054 (2400-14.4 v.32bis)
VOICE:  408-372-4321

James G. Stolich
May 6, 1994
Monterey, California.



This text Copyright (C) 1994 by James G. Stolich.  All
rights reserved.
This text may be distributed freely in both electronic and
written form so long as it (the text) is not modified in any
way, shape or form and proper credit is given to its author,
me!  I also wish to be notified if this text is to be
published in a written form in any sort of newsletter or
other official journal.

