Address books

I have set up 4 profiles under Thunderbird 2.0.0.12, including an Imap account for Gmail. How do I move my address books from my 3 POP accounts to the Gmail account? I do not want to overwrite the address books, but need to merge them.

If I cannot do that then I want to copy one of the address books to the Gmail account.

 

The address books are in a single file in Thunderbird, and earlier related programs. It is called abook.mab. I have a number of POP and IMAP accounts, totalling 10 accounts), and, I see little point to created individual address books. Unless you have groups set up. I use, beside the Personal address book, a few individual ones, to which I give specific names. Between my wife and I, we have a grand total of one group, which in a separate address book.
If you want to create separate address books, you select from the open Address Book, File|New|Address Book|give it a name, and drag and drop the desired addresses, which will not be deleted from the main address book. In a set up mail programs, separate address books are not associated with a specific account, but you can do that, for your convenience.

 

This is where you lost me. I can create a new address book, but the only way I've been able to access it is from the Contacts sidebar in a Composition window.

As far as dragging and dropping addresses is concerned, I've found no way to have both address books open at the same time. How did you manage that?

 

Agree with some things said, and disagree with some other things said.

AFAIK, you can drag from the RIGHT panel of one open book -to the LEFT panel
- addressbook name -
Holding the left mouse button....the small indicator will show a small
square.........if you release the left mouse button the selected entries are REMOVED from the right panel (addressbook)ie DELETED and placed in the destination book.

You must hold the the CTRL key while releasing the left mouse button - small square turns into a "+" to COPY the entry. (leaving the original entry in the right panel.

No problem accessing address book from main window by selecting Address Book from menubar (assuming that you have Address Book displayed in the menubar ???

I agree, I can't either.....

Just my HO...and I could be wrong.

regards:captjlddavis

 

I never said that I wanted to keep two address books open at the same time.
As for dragging and dropping, I was doing the simplest possible way.
Considering that I, usually, e-mail only to people I know, all I need to do is to type in the To: line, the first few letters of the name. I may get two or three choices. It is usually very simple to select the right address.
In view of this, one address book is all I need, and don't even bother opening the address book, any more.
I may have been mistaken about the details, as I have not opened an address book since Netscape7.1, or may be even earlier. Or, things may have changed.

I, finally, decided to edit my address books in Thunderbird. I had not looked at the contents of my address books since NS7.1, as I indicated before, so, I had a lot of obsolete addresses, and duplications. As a test, I decided to move some addresses from my Personal to any other AB. And, indeed, a no gimmick drag and drop removed the card from the personal address book. Then, after making sure that I had no duplication, selected to Write an e-mail, entering only the first three letters of the name. The card was only in my Family AB. Only the one address in the Family AB came up, provinng my point that separate ABs are not needed. Only groups may be needed, but they are part of the AB.
So, other than for the fact that one may wish to enter more info that the name, and address, there is no necessity of separate address books. And, even those address books which were edited don't help, as the moment I send an e-mail, the address will go in my mail (personal AB).
So, as for retaining the addresses in the address book on the right, after drag and drop, either things have changed, or I am totally wrong. I never tried to just copy the addresses.

 

My apologies to rgm88 for hijacking his thread, but Westside's responses contained some statements that I'd like him to explain. In addition, captjtlddavis's response requires a reply. The Capt. first ...

My address book shows only one panel. As far as I can tell, there's no way of making it a two-panel display.

The only address book I can display (other than in the Contacts sidebar of a composition window) is the Personal Address Book.


Now, Westside ...

Forgive me if I seem confused, but that's what I inferred from these lines in your initial post ...

"If you want to create separate address books, you select from the open Address Book, File|New|Address Book|give it a name, and drag and drop the desired addresses, which will not be deleted from the main address book. "​

What way is that? Dragging from where, and dropping where? Please explain, as the concept of multiple address books is new to me.


Addendum:

I beg to differ. I receive a lot of newsletters, containing graphics, from trusted sources. As far as I can tell, the only way to have the graphics load automatically is to have the sender's address in an address book. I put them in an address book called Non-Personal Addresses, and they no longer clutter up my Personal Address Book.

 

JIM,

When you select "Address Book" - do you not get the attached.....

With data in right pane - and list in the left pane ?

Or am I confused....

regards:captjlddavis

 

Jim,

When you are in Thunderbird, and click on the Address Book tab, you should get a two panel window. I have a thumbnail of my AB below, which shows my multiple Address Books.

When I open one of the Address Books in the left panel, I can then copy addresses from the right panel to the left.

 

Ramona,

Hello stranger ( I am the stranger ) - that is pretty much what I get except for the card information ( per screen shot ) just raise the lower edge to get this.

And I haven't renamed the PAB ....

regards:captjlddavis

 

Ramona, Capt ...

Remember the old aphorism about not being able to see the forest because of the trees? Originally, I suppose, I may have had a double-pane Address Book display (I've been using TB for over five years, and the ol' rememberer isn't as good as it used to be) but, because I never used anything except the default Personal Address Book, I may have made it a single-pane display.

It's only recently that I began adding non-personal addresses to my Personal Address Book, so that the graphics contained in the messages sent from them would load automatically (see the addendum to my post #6). And, it was only in the last day or two, because they were beginning to clutter up the Personal Address Book, that I decided they needed their own address book. I was able to create it, but I couldn't see it. I expected to find a menu selection, similar to that in TB's View > Layout menu, which would provide a double-pane window, but it wasn't there. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but it never occurred to me, until this morning, to drag the left edge of the Address Book window to the right.

Anyway, as you can see from the attached screenshot, all's right with the world (this tiny part of it, at least ). As for card information, I already have what little I need displayed in the right-hand pane (it's out of sight in my screenshot).

 

Consider that I said nothing. There is no way to make myself clear.
But, drag and drop is from the right panel, where the addresses are, to the left panel where the address books are listed. Is there any other possible way?
As for separate address books, it may be matter of habit. The default settings are Options|Composition|Addressing tab to send outgoing addresses to the Personal Address Book. You can uncheck the box, of course, but if you don't, wouldn't the clutter start all over.
Sometimes, I skim through things, but I can see that there is no way, for me, to make myself clear, unless I go into tremendous details. I could always stop contributing.

 

Westside ...

If you read my last post, you'll see why I was confused ... I was working with a single-pane address book.

Messages from the addresses in my Non-Personal Address Book require no response, so those addresses would never be added to the Personal Address Book. Therefore, no clutter.

Incidentally, in your first post in this thread, you made the following statement:

If an address is dragged from one address book and dropped in another, it is moved, not copied. Therefore, it is deleted from the original address book.

 

To ALL,

I believe that this is a SYSTEM thing.

regards:captjlddavis

 

Capt ...

You're right, of course. I completely glossed over that part of your first post because I didn't have a right or left pane at that time. Now that I do, it never would occur to me to hold the Ctrl key (or any other) while dragging and dropping. Selecting, yes ... dragging and dropping, no.

 

We, all, have our ways. I have no idea how to make it a single panel. Two panels is my default. In case we are talking about different things, I am talking about the address book which has the ABs listed on the left, and the addresses on the right. I think that there is a total misunderstanding. The only list of addresses which is visible is that of the highlighted address book.
And, with Thunderbird, if select Contacts, there will be a single panel to the left of the text.
The possibilities of misunderstandings are endless. No wonder that this thread is going on and on.