Transfering Mail From Outlook To Thunderbird

[Gary Clarke]

Since we recently upgraded our computer (it's THAT year again) I seem to be
in a testing phase since I now have a spare PC to test with.

So we got Windows Vista pre-installed on our new PC, so I'll give it a test
drive and test Linux on the spare before deciding which to go with - or
whether to step back and stick with XP for a little longer. (Incidentally,
how much longer will MS support XP?) But I digress...

I'd like to try out Mozilla Thunderbird for my e-mail and I'd like to try it
our using my current mail which is in Outlook 2003 - that way I can fully
assess the software before making a decision on which application to go
with. (I'm not biased one way or the other but I do believe in trying out
software from different sources.)

Anyway I've heard that Thunderbird handles it mail files differently from
Outlook 2003 so I'd like to know how do I transfer my mail files (and/or
folders) from Outlook 2003 to Thunderbird.

Thanks to anyone who can help.
spear_1021

 

[Rutetuti]

Gary,

Be aware that if you don't like Thunderbird (I didn't) it's a real pain
transferring messages back into Outlook or Outlook Express/Windows mail.

Good luck

 

[Gordon]

Since we recently upgraded our computer (it's THAT year again) I seem to
be in a testing phase since I now have a spare PC to test with.

So we got Windows Vista pre-installed on our new PC, so I'll give it a
test drive and test Linux on the spare before deciding which to go with -
or whether to step back and stick with XP for a little longer.
(Incidentally, how much longer will MS support XP?) But I digress...

I'd like to try out Mozilla Thunderbird for my e-mail and I'd like to try
it our using my current mail which is in Outlook 2003 - that way I can
fully assess the software before making a decision on which application to
go with. (I'm not biased one way or the other but I do believe in trying
out software from different sources.)

Anyway I've heard that Thunderbird handles it mail files differently from
Outlook 2003 so I'd like to know how do I transfer my mail files (and/or
folders) from Outlook 2003 to Thunderbird.

Thanks to anyone who can help.
spear_1021

Thunderbird will import mail directly from Outlook.
Go to Tools-Import.
Thunderbird uses the MBOX file format for emails - one file + index per mail
folder. The major advantage of this form of mail storage is that the MBOX
file is just a great big text file, and so can be read by any text editor,
unlike pst files that can ONLY be read by Outlook.

In reply to the comment that it's very difficult to re-import email from
TBird to Outlook - it isn't. A bit longer process, but not difficult at all.
You need a utility called IMAPSize which will convert TBird mail boxes to
eml files. these can be imported into OE (or Windows Mail) and then exported
to Outlook.
http://www.broobles.com/imapsize/

HTH