exporting a folder

[cindyjj]

I'm right clicking on a folder to export it in mbox format to my computer.
This message pops up: "you're exporting the local copy of a IMAP or NEWS folder. The local folder could not have all the messages present in remote folder. Are you sure you want to continue?"
This pops up whether I want to save a folder with two messages or 2000 messages.
I need all of the emails to get saved, not random ones.

[tanstaafl]

Choose "export remote folder", not "export folder" from the context menu.

[cindyjj]

It saved it in "text edit" not mbox.

[tanstaafl]

"export remote folder" worked fine for me with TB 91.3.1 and ImportExportTools NG version 10.0.2. What do you mean by saved it in "text edit"?

One good test if its a real mbox file is to use tools -> importexporttools ng -> "import mbox file" to import the file into a child directory in the Local Folders special account.

A Thunderbird version of a mbox file is a 7bit ASCII text file named after the folder, with no file extension, containing all of the messages for the folder. Each message is separated by a From_ line. 8bit data in the messages (such as image attachments) is either base64 or quoted-printable encoded. That causes the big blocks of characters all run together after the message body if you view the mbox files contents in a text editor.

"From - Sun Nov 21 00:35:14 2021" is an example of a From_ line, not to be confused with the From: header.

[cindyjj]

It didn't look like a typical mbox file - the blue file box shape. It looked like a document, which I opened. It said text edit on the top left and read like a text file. I tried "export as pdf" and it made a pdf but it had some encoded print etc with it and wasn't a typical pdf. This was a sent folder with 2663 emails. The pdf was about 15,000 pages long.
I made a smaller folder with two regular emails and three emails with attachments (I wanted to see if the attachments went through or could be found). It again saved it in text edit format. I exported as pdf and it saved those five small emails in a 650 page pdf which was full of encoded print and the emails were barely decipherable.
I then did what you said and tried importing it as mbox. It did import with emails landing as they should, except only the three emails with attachments were there, not the two regular emails.

I checked in the text edit/mbox document and all five emails were there. I check again in the mbox folder in Thunderbird, used the arrow key to make sure I scrolled all the way up, and there were only the three emails there.

[cindyjj]

By the way, can you export a folder as a pdf?

[tanstaafl]

Yes. See the "export all messages in the folder" menu item. It has many options, including "pdf format".

You're using a Mac. I don't know its conventions so I have no idea of the significance of a blue box shape. I'm using Windows 10. However, most operating systems typically do not understand what a mbox file is. Since it has no file extension and probably has a MIME type of either text/plain or application/text your file explorer thinking its some sort of document is reasonable.

https://www.enfocus.com/Manuals/UserGui ... types.html

[cindyjj]

1. I tried to the do the pdf and got this message: "[Java Script Application] Because of a Thunderbird bug, the feature is not available on this platform."

2. I exported a folder with a few sample emails, about 5 with attachments and 35 without, using "expert remote folder" as mbox to my desktop. To test it to make sure they were all there, I imported it by right clicking on Local Folders and selecting Import mbox file. A box opened that said "Choose the import way" and had five selections, with the first one automatically selected "import directly one or more mbox files." I clicked ok for that one. The folder landed under Local Folders, but it contained only three emails with attachments. I tried it again, and it did the same thing, the same three emails. I checked in the mbox on my desktop (it looks like a text edit document) and all the emails appeared to be there, along with a bunch of code text.

Why isn't it saving the emails properly as mbox? Is there another way?

[tanstaafl]

1) Sounds like a Mac specific bug

2) Works for me. I don't remember reading about similar problems in other threads.

Try enabling offline folders in synchronization & storage (if its not already enabled by default) and compare the mbox file it creates with the one you create by exporting.

You could try exporting the messages in the remote folder as .eml files. See if it exports all of the messages. If it does, then see what happens if you import that into a new folder, and then export that new folder as a mbox file. The reason for trying this is to try to see what the dependencies are.

[cindyjj]

I didn't see where to enable offline folders in synchronization and storage. I just saw "keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer" under Message Synchronizing, and "synchronnize all messages locally regardless of age" and "always keep starred messages" under Disk Space.

[cindyjj]

I exported the folder (it wasn't a remote folder I don't think - it wasn't under Local Folders) - as .eml. All messages exported. I didn't see a way to import it - when I right clicked on Local Folders, the only selection for importing was to import an mbox file.

[tanstaafl]

tools -> importexporttools ng -> "import all messages from a directory".

"keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer" is how you enable offline folders. When you are working online Thunderbird shows the contents of the remote folders. If you are configured to work offline it shows the contents of the offline folders instead, which only exist if you checked that checkbox.

Enabling offline folders is a good way to export the remote folders as mbox files. However, if you want to rely upon them as a backup you need to copy them elsewhere as whenever you sync the offline folders are updated. This includes if you delete the remote folder (not just some of its messages).

Unchecking that checkbox doesn't delete any existing offline folders, they're just ignored.

[cindyjj]

Thanks for pointing that out. In Apple Mail, offline folders in mbox are always ignored, unless there are other settings I don't know of.

"Keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer" was checked already by default. So the mbox file occurred as said.

"Import all messages from a directory" is greyed out. The only available selection for importing is "import mbox file".

[tanstaafl]

Try using the tools menu instead of right clicking on the target folder.

[cindyjj]

What is the cursor highlighting before I click the tools menu? Right now I have it on Local Folders. The selection to import is still greyed out, but when I highlight a random folder, it isn't greyed out.
Should I create an empty folder, not under Local Folders because I don't think a folder can be created there, to import into?