I’m glad to hear you’ve cracked the problem — it was server-related all along!

I haven’t used Exchange for the better part of a decade, so I can’t offer any informed comment about the options available to you when it comes to local vs. server storage. It might be possible to store in both places, but with proviso that only local copies will retain Mac-based tags (which are, after all, maintained in the Unix filesystem, and so wouldn’t be expected to survive a transfer through the guts of Microsoft Exchange).

Assuming that the Exchange server is run by your employer, they might well have some policies in place regarding data retention and archiving, so it might be worth checking on.

All the best,
Greg

You were right, the problem had to do with files being moved on and off the server. The folders I had created were located on the company exchange server (NOT on my local machine), so every time I would move an email message from my inbox to the folder and back again, it was in essence downloading and uploading the file again.

I’ve since created a local folder which I plan to move all my email to once they’re tagged. As email in my inbox is read and no longer useful for anything but later reference, I’ll tag it and then move it to this local folder to keep my inbox clear of clutter. I already have smart folders set up to parse emails by tag.

I’m not too familiar with the relationship between exchange servers and email clients…when emails are stored locally on the machine, are they no longer kept on the server? Is there any reason why keeping my “archive” folder local would pose a problem down the road? The only potential things I can think of are:
1) storage limitation
2) lack of backup should something happen to my laptop
3) accessibility if ever the laptop were stolen

Thoughts?

Hmm, that is weird. Yep, same software versions, except I’m using Keyboard Maestro to invoke Tagger. My only suggestions would be to 1) verify whether tagging is definitely working fine before you move messages, 2) check that messages are definitely downloaded in full to your local machine and are staying on your local machine (tagging will work if they are not, but they will be lost as soon as they are fully downloaded) and not still sitting on the server or being moved back to it, 3) check whether this happens only with your ‘Archive’ folder or whether it applies to any folder anywhere, and 4) be extra extra extra sure, by looking directly at the underlying files in the Finder (e.g., using QuickLook) that the before and after files really are identical except of course for the missing tags.

I have the feeling it’s somehow related to files getting moved onto or off of the server, or otherwise being treated in some unusual way by the moving process.

The other wildcard is that word ‘Archive’… Mail has an archiving feature, which I don’t personally use and so can’t comment on, but it might be all down to your ‘moved’ messages actually being ‘archived’, and ‘moving’ not being the same thing as ‘archiving’…

All the best,
Greg

To tag the emails, I’ve been using Google Search Box (application launcher) to invoke tagger. I then type in my tag, and hit enter twice.

What version of Mail are you using? Here are my specs:

Macbook Pro
2.53 Ghz Intel COre 2 Duo
OS X 10.6.3

Mail.app
Version 4.2 (1078)

Tagger
Version 1.2.3

Hmmm, this isn’t what I experience at all — provided that a message has already been fully downloaded (as noted in the post), I haven’t found that moving messages between mailboxes has any impact at all on their tags. My tests were performed by 1) manually dragging messages from one mailbox to another, 2) using Mail Act-On rules to move them, and 3) using Mail’s own rules to move them. In all cases, the tags very definitely did not change, irrespective of whether the underlying message file wound up with a new name in its new location. If you’re using a third-party tool to move messages, perhaps it’s doing something differently than Mail itself does?

All the best,
Greg

It’s not necessarily a “bug”, but more just a result of how Mail.app handles the files representing each of your emails. A number of .emix file representing each of your mail messages (drafts, sent, received, etc.) are all located in corresponding folders here:
~/Library/Mail/

I did some trial and error and it appears that whenever an email is moved to a new folder, or a draft email is saved/autosaved, Mail.app doesn’t just move the .emix file…it creates an entirely new file with a different name and deletes the old one (e.g. what was “1452.emix” is deleted and a new file named “1453.emix” takes its place). Since technically it’s a new file, any tags associated with that email are lost.

I’m not sure if there’s a way to adjust the applescript embedded into Tagger to somehow overcome this obstacle. If Mail moved/copied and renamed the .emix file, it wouldn’t be a problem.

If anyone knows of a solution, or a way to adjust the applescript to circumvent or make up for this behavior, that would be amazing, but I’m guessing it’s not possible using Openmeta tagging.

I’d give Ali Rantakari a shout over at:

http://hasseg.org/tagger/

He’s really on top of this stuff and would probably be glad to know just in case what you’re experiencing should happen to turn out to be a bug.

All the best,
Greg

Only I’ve found a problem:
I’ve noticed lately that if I tag an email while in my inbox, the tag is removed when I move the email out of my inbox and into my “Archive” folder.

Does anyone know of a way around this? Why are the tags disappearing?