Switching from Thunderbird to Mozilla Mail

Hi All,

I Am in the process of transfering everything to a new computer.

I am using Mozilla 1.7.3 and was using thunderbird. Now I want to just use the e-mail included with Mozilla.

How can I get all my settings transferred int othe Mozilla e-mail. I have 4 e-mail accounts plus the address book and the messages.

Thanks!!!

Mark

 

Hi Mark,

Create the four Mail Accounts on your new PC, once you have installed Mozilla. Create them exactly as you now have them in Thunderbird, then exit Mozilla.

Open Windows Explorer, navigate to the Mail Folder of Mozilla 1.7.3, and rename the folder XMail.

Now copy the Thunderbird Mail folder with the four accounts to the Mozilla salted (*.slt) folder.

Next, copy the abook.mab file from the Thunderbird salted folder to the Mozilla salted folder.

When you open Mozilla Mail the four accounts should appear. Some of the folders may have questions marks rather than the number of messages. If so just click on the folders and the message count will appear.

Post back with any further questions.

Ramona

 

Missing something

Thanks Ramona,

I am not sure where I am screwing up. I did as you said, made all the accounts and sub-folders just as they were on old computer. After restarting Mozilla, then looking back in Explorer, there are and extra 4 folders showing up for mail.
Also, None of my messages show up in Mozilla Mail. ell, a couple of times some of them showed up in the wrong folders.

I even tried to install Thunderbird, and cannot get them to show up there either. I have lost none of the messages, I have a double back-up of them, just kinda need to figure out how to get them to be seen.

In Thunderbird, I have filters set up also, can that ***** it up? Each account has some sub-folders created under its own inbox too (which I recreated).

I am at a total loss right now. I think I have been trying to hard for too long now.

Can I go about it in a different way?

Thanks so much, Mark

 

Mark,

I believe you tried to do too much. All you needed to do was to create the Mail Accounts in Mozilla.

Close Mozilla, Quick Launch, and Thunderbird.

Open Windows Explorer, and rename the Mail folder in Mozilla anything you like, BadMail, OldMail, XXMail. In other words disable the Mail folder in Mozilla. You can even move it to a temporary folder if you wish.

Don't open Mozilla and create subfolders, etc. They are contained in the Thunderbird Mail folder. Once you have disabled the Mail folder in Mozilla, and copied the Mail folder from Thunderbird to Mozilla, the subfolders will be in place, including your filters, and your Junk Mail settings, etc.. Do none of that manually.

Copy the Thunderbird Mail Folder to the Mozilla salted folder. That's all you have to do. That's about as simple as it can get.

Try once more following exactly what I have outlined above, and if it doesn't work, then we can take the longer, more tedious route.

I have done this three times tonite, and I know it works.

Ramona

 

LOL, sometimes I feel like an idiot...........

I did just as you said.

Entered my four e-mail accounts.

Closed all applications down...

Disabled the Mail folder in Explorer (under Administrator - Application Data - Mozilla - Profiles - default - ******.slt) Am I in the proper place?

I did not create any subfolders or anything, just the four accounts with their respective 'inbox'.......'trash "...etc.

Then copied the "Mail" folder from Thunderbird. When re-opened the Mozilla Mail, the only thing that was transfered(and into wrong account) was the messages that should have been in my default account, but were in my daughters account.

Plus, in the "Mail" folder in Mozilla Mail, it has a total of 10 folders.
In Thunderbird I had: Local Folders ; mail.*****.net ; mail.*****-1.net ; mail.*****-2.net ; mail.*****-3.net

Now in Mozilla Mail there are also: Local Folders-1 ; mail.*****-4.net ; mail.*****-5.net ; mail.*****-6.net ; mail.*****-7.net

This has happened each time, and I am kinda getting lost to say the least.

I do think I will re-start this tomorrow, maybe a fresh start will work. BUT, let me know you thoughts.

Thanks again!!! mark

 

Local folders are ok. They are used, mainly, to store mail sent from Newsgroups.
Anyway you make these Copy/Paste with only windows Explorer open. The path looks ok for WinXP.
I think that there is one major problem with the assignment of -1,-2, etc. to accounts from the same ISP. To avoid confusion, I rename the folder in a way that I know what it is, but then this new name must replace the original name in the Local directory line of each account. Select Browse in the Server settings, and then the new name.
In case, I can figure out which account is which, I right click|open with Wordpad. It does not take long to see which Inbox is which.
I have no idea what you did, and it is getting too late for me to read carefully your e-mails, but if you created the four accounts in exactly the same way in Mozilla as they were in Thunderbird, you needed to read click|copy the Thunderbird Inbox (one account at the time), then right click paste into the Mozilla account folder. You should be asked if you wanted to replace the existing Inbox, and then you can go on. You can copy/paste the subfolder (.sbd). If you know what you are doing it is safe to copy/paste the Inbox, but there is any delay, and the original file was inactive, it is safer to rename the TB Inbox to anything else, and copy that file. In such case, you will have, in Mozilla, two folder, and Thunderbird one will be inactive.
It is much safer to copy/paste just the Inbox of each account. I would not be confortable copying the entire mail folder. I think that that's where the problem began. My way takes more steps (you have to repeat the copy paste for the sent file), but it is fool-proof.
I feel that if a folder with four mail folders would be copied into one which has four folders, i.e. accounts, you would end up with at least a total of eight, and those with numbers up to three, the original, and 4-7 would be from Thunderbird. You don't need all that.

 

Mark,

A fresh start is always best, and you must be doing something out of order, because I just tried it again with no problems. You should have only 4 accounts if you created the accounts exactly as they were created in Thunderbird.

Don't knock yourself out with this, as we can do it the long way, and get results. I was trying to save you some tedious renaming, but it's not the worst way to move mail by any means.

To move the mail manually, this is the way:

Create your four Mail Accounts in Mozilla
Exit Mozilla and Quick Launch

Open Windows Explorer
Navigate to Thunderbird and open the default Mail Account folder
Rename the files without MSF extensions: Inbox, Templates, Drafts, Sent
Name them TBInbox, TBTemplates, TBDrafts, TBSent
(If you have no mail in these files, then don't bother renaming them.)
Now copy the renamed files and paste them into the Mozilla Default Mail folder
At the Windows' prompt answer YES, to replace existing folders
Copy all SBD folders to the NEW Mail folder (These are the subfolders)
Delete files in the subfolders with .MSF extensions
Also copy rules.dat

From the Thunderbird *.slt folder copy:
training.dat - This is your Junk Filter training data
persdict.dat - This is your Personal Dictionary

Follow the same procedure for the three remaining Mail Accounts.

Wait at least a day, then you can copy the messages in the renamed folders to your Mozilla Mail folders. Then, remove the renamed folders. You want to be certain all messages are accessible once you have exited Mozilla several times.

Copy the messages in the renamed folders by highlighting the TBInbox in the left panel, or whatever folder you wish to delete
Press CTRL+A, which will highlight all messages
In the right panel, right click and select Copy to
In the next menu select the appropriate Mail Account, and then the appropriate folder.

Ask away if you have further questions.

Ramona

 

Mark,

In your first post you said:

I assumed you had not yet set up Mail Accounts in Mozilla. Is this correct? Just want to clarify. If you had already set up accounts, that's where the problem lies...

Thanks!

Ramona

 

Sorry for no updates.

Not been feeling well and have not been able to get back into work on this.

I will let ya know what happens.

Thanks!

 

Mark,

Not to worry, as we're sure not going anywhere. Take your time and get back to us when you are feeling better. I sure hope that is soon!

Cheers!

Ramona