I just installed a 1 gb card and transferred some plain text (.txt) files in a folder. Is there any one of the programs built into Pearl that allow it to:
a. "see" these files? The folder in which they are is only seen when I put it in the music or the pictures folder. When I open it, it shows nothing in it.
b. read the textfiles? They were original Word .doc files, saved as .txt files and sent to the Pearl from the desktop through the USB connection.
I would appreciate any help!

No, the only way to read those files is if they are an email attachment. eOffice is an a third party app that will allow that but it's expensive and not that great.

Once they are received as attachments, can they be saved on the memory card and retrieved in some way through the mail?

Nope, it doesn't work that way. Out of the box the BB supports those as email attachments only. eOffice would be necessary.

Edit: Corrected-- .txt files CAN be saved to the device memory or the card and read with the explore feature in media. Thanks to dima1109 for bringing it to my attention.

John, dont say it if you dont know it.
It all works. Put the .txt on the memory card. Go to 'Media', push the menu button (the one to the right of the trackball, with BB logo), select 'Explore', find your file, select, click, and enjoy. You can view it just fine, cannot edit text though.
If your phone canot see the files, and you are transfering them through the desktop manager, try setting the phone to the mass storage mode and just copy the files using windows explorer.
If you want to read books or other long text files, you'd be better off getting Mobipocket Reader. Its free, with a desktop module that lets you convert any text document into its format and transfer it to the phone. The reader can remember the place you stopped, thats good for reading books.

Dima,
I don't mind being corrected if I'm wrong but no need to flame me over it. I do my best to help everyone here with what I've learned from these boards. If you know something someone else doesn't just enlighten us all. I read this board to learn too. I had the same results the OP had when I tried it. I will give your method a try and hopefully will have learned something in the process. Thanks for the info.

JC

Hey, that works! I can save them to device memory or the card through DM. I just wasn't using the "Explore" feature. I was trying to just click on the folder I created but the files wouldn't show up and I figured it wasn't possible. However, I still can't save a .txt (or .doc or .xls) email attachment to the phone memory or card. Thanks dima1109!

Many thanks! You have been most helpful. Happy New Year!

Glad it all worked out here, i wasn't sure if it could be done either. dima1109 you could have taken a bit more grace with that. John Clark has helped many including myself. If your not careful you will use his info someday too. Happy new years all!

Does anyone know how (if) we are able to store Mobipocket eBooks on the microSD card and then access them thru the Mobipocket reader on the Pearl?

I would try it, but I haven't gotten the card in the mail yet (eBay steal!). . .

Thanks for any and all responses. . .

Yes. The "eBooks" folder will be automagically created by the MobiPocket installer at the root of your memory card (so, at the same level as the "blackberry" folder, not inside it), just stick your .prc ebooks in there.