Is it somehow possible to import the mail files from Thunderbird into Outlook?

Thanks...

Bill

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Export_mai..._or_Apple_Mail

Couple of ways outlined there...



"Bill Martin" wrote in message
...
Is it somehow possible to import the mail files from Thunderbird into
Outlook?

Thanks...

Bill

When I click on that link, it brings up a formated page that says "There is
currently no text in this page). It does contain an ad link to a $995 program
though.

I have trolled through the Mozillazine fora and all I can really find are
statements that importing from TB is the responsibility of the importing program
- which of course Outlook and OE do not do from TB. And links to a $50 program
that alleges to do the conversion. It appears that converting to TB was a
one-way conversion.

Bill
-----------------------
Tom Felts wrote:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Export_mai..._or_Apple_Mail

Couple of ways outlined there...



"Bill Martin" wrote in message
...

Is it somehow possible to import the mail files from Thunderbird into
Outlook?

Thanks...

Bill

Weird...here is the text:


Export mail into Outlook (Express) or Apple Mail
From MozillaZine Knowledge Base
Apple Mail, Outlook Express, and Outlook cannot recognize Thunderbird's
mailbox files in order to import them. If you try to import the mailbox
files, you may get an error message such as "Import Error-The mail folder
could not be opened. If another application is using this file, please close
it and try again."

Below are some ways you can export your Thunderbird e-mail into Apple Mail,
Outlook and Outlook Express based on actual users' experiences. Before
trying any of these methods, it is recommeded that you first try to get rid
of all special characters in the names of mailbox folders (for example, "@",
commas, and so forth). Otherwise, you might run into trouble later and might
not get error messages even if something wrong does occur during the import
process.

If and only if you have a small number of messages in your Inbox, you may
also just select each message individually and click "File - Save As -
File" so that the e-mail is now saved with an .eml extension, which you can
then import into Outlook/Outlook Express or most other e-mail clients. If
all else fails, you can still open the file with any text editor such as
KWrite, gedit, or Notepad.

Contents
[hide]
a.. 1 Using Netscape Communicator V4.7
b.. 2 Using Eudora
c.. 3 Special software
d.. 4 Using IMAP



[edit]Using Netscape Communicator V4.7
You can use Netscape Communicator V4.7 to export email folders to
Outlook(Express). Follow the following steps:

a.. download and install Netscape communicator V4.7 from Get Netscape. Do
not run Netscape yet!
a.. Go to the "Mail" directory in your Thunderbird profile folder. (If you
are using the Global Inbox in Thunderbird, you will need to go to "Local
Folders" inside the "Mail" folder.)
a.. Get Thunderbird's mail files (the ones which have no filename
extension, such as "Inbox"). Copy them to the message folder of Netscape
Communicator. You can find this folder in Netscape Messenger under
Edit-Preferences- Mail & Group News - Mail Servers. Do not copy the .msf
files!
You can also use the MBOX autosave extension in Thunderbird to save your
folders: Get MBOX Autosave
a.. Start Netscape Messenger
a.. Now all folders will be loaded by Netscape. In order to have them
ready for export, you should open/view the folders one by one. This way,
Netscape creates the index .snm files.
a.. Now start Outlook Express and use the import message function:
File-Import Messages-Netscape Communicator and select the location again
where Netscape stores it mailfolders. All messages will be imported
perfectly.
a.. From Outlook you can now import again from Outlook Express



[edit]Using Eudora
You can try importing your Thunderbird mail into Eudora, and then importing
into your other mail client from there. Note, however, that some users have
reported that Eudora actually will not properly import Thunderbird messages
with attachments or rich text formatting. (See this page for user
discussion.)

a.. Get Eudora (there is a freeware Light version) and install it.
a.. Go to the "Mail" directory in your Thunderbird profile folder. (If you
are using the Global Inbox in Thunderbird, you will need to go to "Local
Folders" inside the "Mail" folder.)
a.. Get Thunderbird's mail files (the ones which have no filename
extension, such as "Inbox"). Copy them to a new location and then rename
them to have an ".mbx" extension. For example, "Inbox" should become
"Inbox.mbx".
a.. Make sure Eudora is closed. Find its profile folder (on a default
install on Windows, it is at C:\Documents and
Settings\myusername\Application Data\Qualcomm\Eudora) and copy the newly
renamed Thunderbird mail files to that folder.
a.. Now open Eudora and access all the folders you just copied. This makes
Eudora create the ".toc" index files that Apple Mail, Outlook Express, and
Outlook look for in the import process.
a.. If you still experience trouble importing using Outlook, you should
try importing the Eudora ".mbx" files into Outlook Express and then into
Outlook.

NOTE: Because of differences between Eudora .mbox and Thunderbird's .mbox,
all attachments will be lost by using this method

[edit]Special software
You could also use third-party utilities such as mbox2eml, mailbag
assistant, IMAPSize, or mbx2eml to create EML files and then drag and drop
them into Outlook Express (plain Outlook won't work). The Thunderbird
AutoSave extension can also be used to save an entire folder as individual
EML files [1].

[edit]Using IMAP
If you have an IMAP server available, create a new account on it, recreate
your local folder structure as best you can (IMAP clients usually require
every folder to be a subfolder of Inbox), then copy the contents of each of
your local folders over to its pair on the IMAP account. Now create a new
IMAP account in Outlook and point it to the one you've been working with.
Once you can see it, again create your folder structure and copy your
messages into Outlook's folders.

This method loses at least the 'replied to' flag, unfortunately. This seems
to be Thunderbird's fault, as it doesn't add the flag to the messages as it
copies them to the IMAP server.

"Bill Martin" wrote in message
...
When I click on that link, it brings up a formated page that says "There
is
currently no text in this page). It does contain an ad link to a $995
program
though.

I have trolled through the Mozillazine fora and all I can really find are
statements that importing from TB is the responsibility of the importing
program
- which of course Outlook and OE do not do from TB. And links to a $50
program
that alleges to do the conversion. It appears that converting to TB was a
one-way conversion.

Bill
-----------------------
Tom Felts wrote:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Export_mai..._or_Apple_Mail

Couple of ways outlined there...



"Bill Martin" wrote in message
...

Is it somehow possible to import the mail files from Thunderbird into
Outlook?

Thanks...

Bill

Thanks. I decided to try the Netscape 4.7 route which *almost* works. I'm able
to get maybe 90% of my TB files transferred into Netscape. The last 10% keep
crashing Netscape whenever it trys to import them. The ones that do make it
into Netscape seem to then move into OE pretty seamlessly.

I'm busily trying to figure out what's in the remaining TB folders that keep
crashing Netscape, but so far it's all up hill.

Thanks for your assistance.

Bill
------------------------------------
Tom Felts wrote:
Weird...here is the text:


Export mail into Outlook (Express) or Apple Mail
From MozillaZine Knowledge Base
Apple Mail, Outlook Express, and Outlook cannot recognize Thunderbird's
mailbox files in order to import them. If you try to import the mailbox
files, you may get an error message such as "Import Error-The mail folder
could not be opened. If another application is using this file, please close
it and try again."

Below are some ways you can export your Thunderbird e-mail into Apple Mail,
Outlook and Outlook Express based on actual users' experiences. Before
trying any of these methods, it is recommeded that you first try to get rid
of all special characters in the names of mailbox folders (for example, "@",
commas, and so forth). Otherwise, you might run into trouble later and might
not get error messages even if something wrong does occur during the import
process.

If and only if you have a small number of messages in your Inbox, you may
also just select each message individually and click "File - Save As -
File" so that the e-mail is now saved with an .eml extension, which you can
then import into Outlook/Outlook Express or most other e-mail clients. If
all else fails, you can still open the file with any text editor such as
KWrite, gedit, or Notepad.

Contents
[hide]
a.. 1 Using Netscape Communicator V4.7
b.. 2 Using Eudora
c.. 3 Special software
d.. 4 Using IMAP



[edit]Using Netscape Communicator V4.7
You can use Netscape Communicator V4.7 to export email folders to
Outlook(Express). Follow the following steps:

a.. download and install Netscape communicator V4.7 from Get Netscape. Do
not run Netscape yet!
a.. Go to the "Mail" directory in your Thunderbird profile folder. (If you
are using the Global Inbox in Thunderbird, you will need to go to "Local
Folders" inside the "Mail" folder.)
a.. Get Thunderbird's mail files (the ones which have no filename
extension, such as "Inbox"). Copy them to the message folder of Netscape
Communicator. You can find this folder in Netscape Messenger under
Edit-Preferences- Mail & Group News - Mail Servers. Do not copy the .msf
files!
You can also use the MBOX autosave extension in Thunderbird to save your
folders: Get MBOX Autosave
a.. Start Netscape Messenger
a.. Now all folders will be loaded by Netscape. In order to have them
ready for export, you should open/view the folders one by one. This way,
Netscape creates the index .snm files.
a.. Now start Outlook Express and use the import message function:
File-Import Messages-Netscape Communicator and select the location again
where Netscape stores it mailfolders. All messages will be imported
perfectly.
a.. From Outlook you can now import again from Outlook Express



[edit]Using Eudora
You can try importing your Thunderbird mail into Eudora, and then importing
into your other mail client from there. Note, however, that some users have
reported that Eudora actually will not properly import Thunderbird messages
with attachments or rich text formatting. (See this page for user
discussion.)

a.. Get Eudora (there is a freeware Light version) and install it.
a.. Go to the "Mail" directory in your Thunderbird profile folder. (If you
are using the Global Inbox in Thunderbird, you will need to go to "Local
Folders" inside the "Mail" folder.)
a.. Get Thunderbird's mail files (the ones which have no filename
extension, such as "Inbox"). Copy them to a new location and then rename
them to have an ".mbx" extension. For example, "Inbox" should become
"Inbox.mbx".
a.. Make sure Eudora is closed. Find its profile folder (on a default
install on Windows, it is at C:\Documents and
Settings\myusername\Application Data\Qualcomm\Eudora) and copy the newly
renamed Thunderbird mail files to that folder.
a.. Now open Eudora and access all the folders you just copied. This makes
Eudora create the ".toc" index files that Apple Mail, Outlook Express, and
Outlook look for in the import process.
a.. If you still experience trouble importing using Outlook, you should
try importing the Eudora ".mbx" files into Outlook Express and then into
Outlook.

NOTE: Because of differences between Eudora .mbox and Thunderbird's .mbox,
all attachments will be lost by using this method

[edit]Special software
You could also use third-party utilities such as mbox2eml, mailbag
assistant, IMAPSize, or mbx2eml to create EML files and then drag and drop
them into Outlook Express (plain Outlook won't work). The Thunderbird
AutoSave extension can also be used to save an entire folder as individual
EML files [1].

[edit]Using IMAP
If you have an IMAP server available, create a new account on it, recreate
your local folder structure as best you can (IMAP clients usually require
every folder to be a subfolder of Inbox), then copy the contents of each of
your local folders over to its pair on the IMAP account. Now create a new
IMAP account in Outlook and point it to the one you've been working with.
Once you can see it, again create your folder structure and copy your
messages into Outlook's folders.

This method loses at least the 'replied to' flag, unfortunately. This seems
to be Thunderbird's fault, as it doesn't add the flag to the messages as it
copies them to the IMAP server.

"Bill Martin" wrote in message
...

When I click on that link, it brings up a formated page that says "There
is
currently no text in this page). It does contain an ad link to a $995
program
though.

I have trolled through the Mozillazine fora and all I can really find are
statements that importing from TB is the responsibility of the importing
program
- which of course Outlook and OE do not do from TB. And links to a $50
program
that alleges to do the conversion. It appears that converting to TB was a
one-way conversion.

Bill
-----------------------
Tom Felts wrote:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Export_mai..._or_Apple_Mail

Couple of ways outlined there...



"Bill Martin" wrote in message
...


Is it somehow possible to import the mail files from Thunderbird into
Outlook?

Thanks...

Bill

Bill Martin wrote:

When I click on that link, it brings up a formated page that says
"There is currently no text in this page). It does contain an ad
link to a $995 program though.

Works for me.
--
Brian Tillman