Import windows vista mail accounts to thunderbird

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theailer
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Import windows vista mail accounts to thunderbird

Post by theailer »

Hi!
I exported my mail account settings from windows vista mail and then installed windows xp sp2 and thunderbird.
But now I can't seem to import my *.iaf account files into thunderbird, doesn't work in outlook express either.
What to do ?
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SK.
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Post by SK. »

Thunderbird does not support importing IAF files. You may want to review this knowledge base article. It references this extension.
John 3:16 and Philippians 4:13
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Daifne
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Post by Daifne »

It would have been better to just keep the Vista Mail files in their original .eml format. Thunderbird, with the help of the extension, can import those just fine.
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AlanMintaka
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Post by AlanMintaka »

Daifne wrote:It would have been better to just keep the Vista Mail files in their original .eml format. Thunderbird, with the help of the extension, can import those just fine.


The first poster was talking about mail account settings, not message files. Windows Mail stores account settings in .oeaccount files. The poster exported those into .iaf files.

Either way, as the responder pointed out, account settings from Windows Mail cannot be imported into Thunderbird as either .iaf or .oeaccount files.

Besides, when it comes to importing eml message files, ImportExportTools falls well short of being useful when it comes to message folder structures. It doesn't automatically import subfolders or the eml files in them. Only the eml files in a folder's top level are imported. Any subfolders and the subfolders inside them must all be imported one by one.

I made heavy use of mail folder structures in Outlook Express, then in Windows Mail when I upgraded Windows XP SP2 to Vista. In order for me to use this tool, I'd have to manually import hundreds of folders and subfolders until I had the entire structure duplicated in Thunderbird.

This makes Thunderbird inaccessible to me, which is too bad. I like the way it works a lot better than Windows Mail but I have to have those folders in order to maintain my work.

If you or anyone else knows of a way to get Thunderbird to import eml folder structures, I'd certainly like to know. I can't believe it's that hard upgrade ImportExportTools to do just that. I hope the folks who develop it are thinking along these lines.

Just my two euro cents,
Big Al Mintaka
Last edited by AlanMintaka on January 20th, 2008, 7:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Daifne
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Post by Daifne »

How about contacting the extension's author? He is very helpful and may be able to do something about this.

Since version 2.0 of Thunderbird was finalized before Microsoft released Vista (and thus Mail) to developers, it's not surprise that this is not available in the program yet. Maybe in 3.0. In other words, who says that Mozilla (or now MailCo) aren't actively seeking ways?
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AlanMintaka
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Post by AlanMintaka »

Daifne wrote:How about contacting the extension's author? He is very helpful and may be able to do something about this.

Since version 2.0 of Thunderbird was finalized before Microsoft released Vista (and thus Mail) to developers, it's not surprise that this is not available in the program yet. Maybe in 3.0. In other words, who says that Mozilla (or now MailCo) aren't actively seeking ways?


That was over a year ago, and the SDK was available to developers like Mozilla before that. It's been long enough for other developers to keep pace, so why not Mozilla?

But - that having been said, it's just another second-guess to add to the one I made in my previous post. You're right about that, of course. I don't really know what's going on behind the scenes there, so anything I conclude is sheer guesswork. I should have not included that last sentence at all. It was an unfair conclusion.

In fact I'll edit it out right now.

The Mailco thing is news to me. Is the Mozilla name changing, or has Mailco taken up Thunderbird development?

Oh yeah, I did send an email to the extension's author. I'll post anything he/she has to say in this thread, if the response comes soon.

Have a good one,
Big Al Mintaka
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Daifne
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Post by Daifne »

He.

Mozilla split off Thunderbird to a new corporation named MailCo, for now. They are still in the organizing/hiring/planning stages. See these:
http://ascher.ca/blog/
http://scott-macgregor.org/blog/
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/rumblingedge/
Jewittenator
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Post by Jewittenator »

I transferred my files and folders from Windows Mail to Thunderbird VIA Outlook 2003!! I had an old trial copy of Office 2003 saved on a disk and re-loaded it. Took a while but it worked. Just checked and see you can still download a trial version of Office but 2007.
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AlanMintaka
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Post by AlanMintaka »

Jewittenator wrote:I transferred my files and folders from Windows Mail to Thunderbird VIA Outlook 2003!! I had an old trial copy of Office 2003 saved on a disk and re-loaded it. Took a while but it worked. Just checked and see you can still download a trial version of Office but 2007.


Moley! I already have Office 2007 on my system. I just never installed the Outlook component because I had no use for it back in the XP/Outlook Express days. I'll have to look more closely at this because I don't know of Outlook 2007 will run in Vista. But it's certainly worth a shot. Here I go...

Big Al Mintaka
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AlanMintaka
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Post by AlanMintaka »

Jewittenator wrote:I transferred my files and folders from Windows Mail to Thunderbird VIA Outlook 2003!! I had an old trial copy of Office 2003 saved on a disk and re-loaded it. Took a while but it worked. Just checked and see you can still download a trial version of Office but 2007.


It worked !!!! I already had Office 2007 on my system but hadn't installed the Outlook 2007 component. I installed Outlook and used its import function to import messages and contacts from Windows Mail. This took a long time but it was automatic so I didn't care. I got the import going and took a long and well-deserved sleep session.

When that import was done, I ran Thunderbird and imported the messages and contacts directly from Outlook. Once again it was slow, but so what? The important thing is that it worked!! My complete heirarchy of messages, folders, and contacts were in Thunderbird. The only minor glitch is that the distribution lists in my Outlook Contacts folder came through as individual entries without email addresses. That's not a big problem for me since I can just run the two address books side-by-side and rebuild the lists by hand.

It was an elegant, uncomplicated solution to a complicated problem. This fact makes you a genius, Jewittenator, because you came up with the method. Give yourself a hundred or so IQ points !!!

Have a good one,
Big Al Mintaka

PS: Is that "Jewitt" as in the guy who co-discovered the first Kuiper Belt object?
NC Troglodyte
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Windows Mail

Post by NC Troglodyte »

Forgive me--I'm new at this. I have a brand new HP computer that came with Windows Vista and Windows Mail. I've had nothing but trouble with all of it. Several people have recommended I switch to Thunderbird, which I just downloaded. Now I find that there are no options for moving my Windows Mail to it. I read the discussion here about it, and confess that I don't understand a word of it. Please--could somebody tell me in simple English, what to do?

Many thanks--
Troglodyte & proud of it
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AlanMintaka
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Post by AlanMintaka »

AlanMintaka wrote:
Jewittenator wrote:I transferred my files and folders from Windows Mail to Thunderbird VIA Outlook 2003!! I had an old trial copy of Office 2003 saved on a disk and re-loaded it. Took a while but it worked. Just checked and see you can still download a trial version of Office but 2007.


It worked !!!! I already had Office 2007 on my system but hadn't installed the Outlook 2007 component. I installed Outlook and used its import function to import messages and contacts from Windows Mail. This took a long time but it was automatic so I didn't care. I got the import going and took a long and well-deserved sleep session.


I should clarify for anyone reading this that the import operation successfully transferred messages, message folders, and contacts ONLY. Mail account settings were not transferred and there does not seem to be a way to do this in any of Thunderbird's built-in import tools or the add-ons that people in other threads have been recommending.

The add-ons that don't work so far:

ImportExportTools version 1.6: only works for EML and MBOX files. Account settings for any of the MS email programs aren't stored in such files

AccountEX version 0.2.3: only imports RDF account settings files. These are the files used by web-based email services. Not useful for client-sided programs such as the MS email programs.

I'm going to start a new thread on this topic to make sure I haven't screwed up with those add-ons.

Have a good one,

Big Al Mintaka
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Daifne
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Post by Daifne »

ImportExportTools is NOT intended to import settings. It's for email only.
Kashinka
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Post by Kashinka »

Jewittenator wrote:I transferred my files and folders from Windows Mail to Thunderbird VIA Outlook 2003!! I had an old trial copy of Office 2003 saved on a disk and re-loaded it. Took a while but it worked. Just checked and see you can still download a trial version of Office but 2007.


I copied Jewittenator's brilliant solution, but another issue persists:

I have two e-mail accounts with the same ISP, and for some reason, Thunderbird downloaded only the first from the server. I opened Windows Mail and set up an account for the second one, then uploaded my Outlook 2003, exported the WinMail messages to it, then imported them into Thunderbird. And removed the account from WinMail.

Okay, that got those messages that WinMail had already scooped up into Thunderbird, but how do I get future messages in there? I had the account set up; all the settings look just like the ones in my first account, which downloads without a hitch. What am I doing wrong, or (more likely) not doing?
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Daifne
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Post by Daifne »

Kashinka,
Please start a new topic. Your question is really unrelated to this topic. When you do, please include the exact wording of the error message you are getting.
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