Importing from Eudora - Thunderbird: Difference between revisions
(pointing to Eudora data) |
|||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
Thunderbird must be able to find the Eudora data. If Eudora is not installed, then you must [http://alma.ch/blogs/bahut/2007/09/importing-eudora-address-books-into.html create a registry entry] that points to the Eudora data. Using this method, Eudora does not need to be installed for Thunderbird to process Eudora data. | |||
Thunderbird data import is not always successful - you may get bad messages, crashes, etc. So it is recommended that you backup Thunderbird and Eudora data prior to doing imports, so that if a problem does occur then you have the data needed to troubleshoot the issue, and rerun the process at a future date. | |||
== Automatic importing == | == Automatic importing == | ||
To migrate from Eudora to Thunderbird: | |||
* | * When starting Thunderbird for the very first time, migration is invoked and the Import Wizard will pop up, and you can then select the "Eudora" option to import your mail, address books, and settings. | ||
* Subsequent to launching Thunderbird for the first time, you can | * Subsequent to launching Thunderbird for the first time, you can use "Tools" menu, select "Import...", and then individually import your mail, address books, or settings from Eudora. | ||
==Importing Attachments== | ==Importing Attachments== | ||
Revision as of 17:08, 14 April 2010
Thunderbird must be able to find the Eudora data. If Eudora is not installed, then you must create a registry entry that points to the Eudora data. Using this method, Eudora does not need to be installed for Thunderbird to process Eudora data.
Thunderbird data import is not always successful - you may get bad messages, crashes, etc. So it is recommended that you backup Thunderbird and Eudora data prior to doing imports, so that if a problem does occur then you have the data needed to troubleshoot the issue, and rerun the process at a future date.
Automatic importing
To migrate from Eudora to Thunderbird:
- When starting Thunderbird for the very first time, migration is invoked and the Import Wizard will pop up, and you can then select the "Eudora" option to import your mail, address books, and settings.
- Subsequent to launching Thunderbird for the first time, you can use "Tools" menu, select "Import...", and then individually import your mail, address books, or settings from Eudora.
Importing Attachments
The two programs store attachments differently: Eudora detaches them from the e-mail and stores them separately as files, usually in a folder named "Attachments" or "Attach". Thunderbird keeps the attachment together with the e-mail.
When importing from Eudora, Thunderbird attempts to join the attachment back to the e-mail it came with. This can take quite a long time if there are a large number of attachments. Also, because they include the attachments, Thunderbird's mailbox files are larger than Eudora's, though that is usually harmless.
If you want to prevent Thunderbird from re-attaching the attachments, you can try to move the folder containing Eudora's attachments to a place where Thunderbird will not find it. IMPORTANT: Do not delete Eudora's attachments folder or you will lose all your attachments. Also, please note that this solution is untested; use it at your own risk.
Using pre-0.8 versions of Thunderbird
After importing mail from Eudora, you may find that many messages contain html tags, in angle brackets. In some cases it may be a simple "<x-flowed>" at the start of the message and a corresponding tag at the end, whereas in other cases a message might start out like this:
<x-html>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-2022-jp" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META content="MSHTML 5.00.2614.3500" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
This bug has been fixed in more recent version of Thunderbird and Mozilla Suite. Upgrade or use the eudora2mbox-script at eudora2mbox, which does pre-processing and converting of your Eudora mailboxes rather than cleaning them up after they've been imported. See these MozillaZine Forums threads for further discussion of how to use the script [1] [2]. You can also try the script discussed in this MozillaZine Forums thread, which is designed to be run after you have imported your Eudora mail.
Importing Eudora Mail with Eudora Rescue
Thunderbird 1.0 and onwards has improved importing of the Eudora e-mail, but it still cannot maintain the messages' status. Until this is fixed, perhaps the best method of conversion is with the use of the Eudora Rescue utility by Qwerky. See the README for instructions for using Eudora Rescue.
After you have used Eudora Rescue, you can import the mbox into Thunderbird or Mozilla Suite using the ImportExportTools extension.
Importing Eudora Mail with Eudora Mailbox Cleaner
Although it only runs on Mac OS X, you can use Eudora Mailbox Cleaner to import your Eudora messages from either the Mac or the Windows version of Eudora instead of using the import function built into Thunderbird. Eudora Mailbox Cleaner should be able to
- preserve all formatting of rich text and HTML messages
- correctly import non-ASCII (8-bit) characters
- preserve message status flags (such as read, replied, and forwarded)
- and re-attach attachments for received messages, unless they have been moved or deleted from the Eudora attachment folder.
Windows users who have had no luck with Windows native tools, might experience better results transferring to a Mac, converting and then transferring it back.
Outgoing Attachments Fixer
If Thunderbird didn't migrate attachments for sent messages use the Outgoing Attachments Fixer program to modify the *.mbx files and then import them again using the Tools menu. The program is run from a console window. For example:
- java -jar EudAttachFixer.jar "C:\Eudora" "C:\Eudora\FixedMailboxes"
Filters
Thunderbird 2 doesn't support importing filters so there is no support for importing .pce files. Thunderbird 3.0 does support importing filters but its not clear yet exactly what functionality it provides
See also
External links
- The "Rescue" vs "Mailbox Cleaner" forum thread has more background on Eudora Mailbox Cleaner and alternative applications.
- The Importing Outgoing Eudora Attachments forum thread announces the Outgoing Attachments Fixer utility.
- Bug report about problems importing attachments for sent messages.
