Import emails into TB from Excel

[i75Dave]

Using Thunderbird Email Address extractor software, I have searched and saved about 1,500 email address from one of my Thunderbird local folders and have them stored in column "A" of an Excel spreadsheet.

Can anybody tell me how I can now import these back into Thunderbird's Address Book, into a specific Personal Address Folder so I can send a bulk message to them all?

Are there any limits to the number sent or do I have to divide the emails into smaller groups?

Many thanks for any help,

Dave.

[DanRaisch]

You'll want to manipulate that Excel spreadsheet for the import to go smoothly and easily.

Add four columns before the current column "A" in the speadsheet. Title them First Name, Last Name, Display Name, and Nickname in row 1 of the spreadsheet. You don't necessarily have to populate them but adding them will move that column of email addresses to the fifth position, where TB expects to find the address. Name that column Primary Email in row 1.

Open the Address Book window of Thunderbird and use menu path Tools-Address Book->Tools->Import->Address Books->click on "Next"->etc. The result will be a new address book listed in the left hand pane of the Address Book window which should have the same name as the file imported.

[i75Dave]

Dan, forgive my delay in getting back to you but this is the first chance I've had to follow your excellent instructions. I have a further question though.

I followed the path Tools-Address Book->Tools->Import->Address Books-> and ended up with a menu list as follows:
Becky! Internet Mail
Outlook
Text file (LDIF, .tab, .csv, .txt)
vCard file (.vcf)

I have my 5 column spreadsheet (in OO Calc, ready to convert to .xls if necessary) with headings in Row 1.

Should I now save it as a text file - presumably .csv?

Again, thanks for your guidance.

Dave.

[i75Dave]

I haven't heard back from Dan who gave me excellent advice about importing my email addresses from Excel (well, OO calc, actually) to TB. But I am still stuck on the final import stage (see message above).

Can Dan or someone else help me?

Thanks,

Dave

[DanRaisch]

Sorry for the delay in responding. Somehow I didn't see your reply of Sept 3.

Thunderbird can import from a text file format like CSV but not from XLS or other spreadsheet file formats. Export from OO Calc to a CSV text file then use that fourth menu option listed above to bring the data into TB.

[i75Dave]

Thanks Dan - will try it on Monday. Dave.

[i75Dave]

Dear Dan,

It's been a hectic week with various business trips so have only just got back to attempting to import emails into TB. Although I've followed your instruction implicitly, I still am having no success. Within TB, my screens don't exactly follow your description - I'm using v60.0 32 bit). I have jpg screen shots of each stage of my import attempt with a short test file but am not sure how to attached these to the message.

So I'll try to describe them:
1. After creating the 5 column spreadsheet with the email addresses in column "E," I saved it as a "TXT (CSV)" file.
2. On the OO prompt, I keep the current format.
3. I use the Western Europe export test format.
4. In TB, I select the "Address Book" import option.
5. Then select the Import Text (LDIF, tab, csv, txt) format.
6. I then select the appropriate test.csv file created in steps 1, 2 & 3.
7. The next screen may be where I'm coming adrift. I check the box in the left column beside First Name, Last Name, Display Name, Nickname. Then align Primary Email with Primary Email and check that box. This is now the 5th item in the list.
8. Then receive the "Addresses successfully Imported" message - with "Finish"
9. The appropriate Test file name appears under the Personal Address Book list - but there is no data.

Any help, advice would really be appreciated.

Dave.

[i75Dave]

Dan,
Ignore the above - I think I've had some success playing around with my test file - "TEST email list."

I found it in the main Address Book listing, rather than under the Personal Address Book category.

I tried to write a test email. In the "To:" I entered "TEST email list" but none of the emails appeared. Is there a special way of somehow accessing this info , when sending an email?
Thanks,
Dave.

[DanRaisch]

You can't use an address book name in the "To" field. You'll have to create a mailing list within that address book to be able to enter one name to represent all of the contacts in that book as one list. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Mailing_lists

Click on the name of the "TEST email list" in the left hand pane of the Address Book window, then use menu path File->New->Mailing list. Give the list a name (and optionally a nickname and/or description.) Make sure that "Test email list" is shown in the drop down at the top of that dialogue. Don't try to enter any email addresses at this point, just click on the "OK" button. Now, right click any contact name in the right hand pane. Press CTRL+A to highlight all records in that imported address book and drag and drop the selected records on to the mailing list name in the left hand pane.

Oh, and many email providers limit the number of addressees in a single outgoing message as a way to reduce the risk their system will be used for sending spam. If you get an error message from the server about too many recipients, you can create multiple mailing lists, dividing the total number of contacts into the various lists so that each will be within the limit set by the provider.