Got dose NS 7 / XP Pro / Mail Importing blues

I'm running NS7 freshly installed on a new laptop under XP Pro. My problem lies in importing lots (~ 1 G) of old mail archives from a couple of old machines which ran Outlook and NS 6. The NS7 import wizard isn't working since the files are stored in a non-standard location (presently in a temp directory on the hard drive.) I know that I've got to copy those files somewhere, but I'm not sure where.

The directory structure is confusing me; is XP storing the mail in hidden directories? with scrambled user names?

 

Welcome to the Forum, svannorden!

Hi svannorden,

Yes, the Profile Folder is a hidden folder in Windows XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename\xxxxxxxx.slt
NOTE: These files are hidden by default.
To see hidden files:
1. On the Tools menu in Windows Explorer, click Folder Options
2. Click the View tab
3. Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders

You will find your Mail Folder in this location. To move the archived Mail files to the new location:

With Netscape closed, open Windows Explorer:
copy the archived files with no extensions in the archive folder (Inbox, Templates, Drafts, etc.)
paste the files with no extension in the new Mail folder
Caution: they will replace any existing files in the new Mail folder. You may want to create a new folder for the archived files, in Netscape 7.0 first. This way you will lose no existing mail.

Back up all Mail Folders before doing this edit. Better safe than sorry!

Please post back if this is not perfectly clear to you.

Ramona

 

I ALSO "Got dose NS 7 / XP Pro / Mail Importing blues "

I also am having this problem. i ran NS7 from my old winME machine, and i've just installed a new harddrive and placed winXP-pro on it.

i copied my profile accross from D:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Users50
to
C:\Documents and Settings\BenDog\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles

everything seems to copy over fantasticly, but when i go to check my mail, there's none there...
the files have copied accross, so i know they are there.

i tried sending a new email. it sent and then alerted me saying it could not place a copy in my sent mail folder.

i tried deleting all the files WITH extentions from the mail folder (similar to the above instructions).. no change.

could it have something to do with comression?


BenDog

 

Welcome to the Forum, BenDog!

Hi BenDog,

I'm not Windows XP literate, but it could be that if you burned the Old Profile to CD-ROM, and didn't zip the files, then the file Attributes were changed to Read Only.

Check the Properties on all your Profile Files and if the File Attributes were changed, then remove the "Read Only" tick.

Let us know if this helps.

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona;

First, many thanks for your help which got me well on the road to recovery. Just a couple of bugs remain, though...

I found that if I copied whole mail folder trees over (i.e. those things that end in .sbd and which show up as directories in Explorer) NS7 would not recognise them. However, if I then told NS7 to create a new folder with that name, **presto** the entire mail folder tree, complete with contents, would magically appear in my folder view.
(If this is not clear, let me know and I'll try to describe it more precisely.)

This trick combined with your fool-prooof instructions solved 95% of my problems. Only one remains -- it is similar to BenDog's problem -- empty folders are shown instead of ones with content.

Example: To consolidate two e-mail accounts, I'll take the file "InBox" from account A, rename it to "InBoxFromA" and then copy and paste it into the Mail folder for account B. If I then start NS7 and investigate, I have a new folder called "InBoxFromA" shown under account B, but NS7 shows no content in this folder. This despite the fact that the file is big and looks kinda like a mail file when viewed with a text editor. No, the file has not been marked "Read-Only" (although file permissions look way more confusing in XP Pro!)

Thanks again for bailing me out.

 

svannorden,

Instead:
With Netscape closed
Open Windows Explorer
Copy Inbox from Account A
Paste into the Mail Folder for Account B

When you open Netscape, Mail files should be in Inbox.

Ramona

 

Ramona;

Problem is, the existing "InBox" is full of messages I don't want to lose.

Hmmmmm. Ah!

So you mean
1) copy existing "InBox" messages to another (temp) folder within NS.
2) Do what you said.
3) Move messages from temp folder back to InBox
4) Voilà! Files consolidated.

Wish I'd thought of that.


Thanks!

 

Ooops! Uh.... Ramona?

So I tried what I just described. In NS7 I moved the contents of InBox to a new folder "NewInBox." InBox now looks empty in NS7, but upon quitting Explorer says it is still a big file. Went back to NS7, emptied trash cans, compressed files, exited; "InBox" is now small.

I then deleted "InBox" and "InBox.msf ".
I then renamed "OldInBox" to "InBox ".

When I restarted NS7, I see InBox is still empty.
When I exit NS7 I see that InBox has size 0.
Okay, lesson #1: never rename files - copy them.
But I'm surprised this doesn't work. What am I missing?

 

svannorden,

You should start again from scratch. You have backups, correct?

With Netscape closed, do this:

Open Windows Explorer to the Profiles folder, and rename the Mail Folder in Netscape 7.0 to "OldMail "
Now create a new folder and name it "Mail "

Open Netscape and check to see if the Account Name is there.

Close Netscape
Open Windows Explorer
Copy Archived Mail Files with NO Extensions. Do NOT copy *.sbd files. Only files with no extension.

Paste these files into the new 7.0 Mail folder.

Do you use NAV Email Protection? If so, then you should have a Mail subfolder "127.0.0.1 ". In that case, you would paste the files into the 127.0.0.1 folder. Check the Target location in Server Settings to ensure that it is pointing to the correct folder.

I guarantee you that if you follow these directions explicitly, it will work. I just did this myself, transferring Mail from Communicator and then from Mozilla, into Netscape 7.0, and there were no problems.

Post back and let me know when you have accomplished the above.

"Problem is, the existing "InBox" is full of messages I don't want to lose. "

We can deal with this after you have moved your Archived Mail into 7.0.

If you have more questions, lemmeno.

Ramona

 

NS7 mail from ME to XP

i tired it all and i finally got my mail to copy.
i deleted all teh profiles and then i made a new default profile.

then in that profile i added the pop3 accounts that i use.

then i'd close netscape and copy the files from my old harddrive
D:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Users50\b.fitzhardinge\kaztvrb7.slt\Mail\{accountname}
to
C:\Documents and Settings\BenDog\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\Default User\agdej6uj.slt\Mail\{accountname}

this worked fine...

but then i decided to copy accoss all my other preference files, and BUH-BOW(the sound of loosing)... my mail accounts were no longer available... it would show the accounts... but it wouldn't show any folders.
(for an image http://westska.ii.net/temp/mailXP.gif )

there must be a setting somewhere that is conflicting with my email folders.
i'm thinking its either the news folders or there's some nasty setting in my preferences somewhere.

any thoughts?

BenDog

 

its not the News

i tried importing everything other than my news folders.
and again Buh-BOW...
no luck!

it must be a preference somewhere.
any advice on which files i should try and single out?

BenDog

 

to be a bit more clear.
when i say preference
i mean, "one of the files from the root-user-folder i'm copying accross "

for example
D:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Users50\b.fitzhardinge\kaztvrb7.slt\{filename}

thanks again
BenDog

 

i went to http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns7pctopc.html

and as instructed i copied the following files
bookmarks.html
cookies.txt
custom.dic
prefs.js
user.js
abook.mab
(except for user.js because i couldn't find it on my machine)

and i also copied abook1.mab - abook5.mab

and i found that my mail stopped working again.
i'm assuming its a problem with prefs.js

so i'm going to copy all the other files except for that one and see what happens.

BenDog

 

prefs.js was the problem,
i now have all my bookmarks and email,
but i have none of my old settings.

any idea what part of prefs.js may be causing this problem?

BenDog

 

Many of your settings will not transfer over if you store them in the prefs.js file. It is recommended to use the user created user.js file (create in your profile directory) whenever possible for non-profile specific preferences. Many of the lines in the prefs.js are profile specific, and they include that salted directory name in the path, and must be changed by hand if you wish to use them in a new profile. Any text editor with a search and replace function should be able to accomplish this. However, if your previous prefs.js file is old, it is recommended to start from scratch to eliminate any incompatibilities. You may still be able to copy/paste/edit lines that refer to your mail accounts, but success is not guaranteed.


old
D:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Users50\b.fitzhardinge\kaztvrb7.slt\{filename}

new
C:\Documents and Settings\BenDog\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\Default User\agdej6uj.slt\Mail\{accountname}

Note the salted name kaztvrb7.slt, which has changed to agdej6uj.slt for your new profile directory.

HTH

tranquilo

 

for some reason I didn't have a user.js ...

i managed to go through my preferences line by line and salvage most of what i needed...
which was basicly the calls for my 6 address books.

its all working very well now, thanks everyone for you help!

gratefully
BenDog

 

Hi BenDog,

The user.js is a file that you create, i.e., a user generated file. Neither Netscape or Mozilla will overwrite the user.js file. Another perk of the user.js file is that you can edit the file with Netscape or Mozilla open, unlike the prefs.js. The scripts entered in this file will override the prefs.js scripts.

You must also be mindful that any edits to the user.js file are recorded in the prefs.js file. Thus, if an entry is deleted in the user.js, you will also need to delete that entry in the prefs.js file.

This is a List of Scripts For the USER.JS File. Some users have only one entry, and others have multiple entries. Scroll to the bottom of THIS PAGE for an example.

Ramona

 

Ramona;

In reply to your last post

Yes, I get the same old account name, now without any mail folders.

Okay, so I copy from OldMail/acctname/*. to Mail/*.

Nope.

Sorry. All I get now in NS7 is my old account name with no content shown. Not even an Inbox.

Should I have recreated the subdirectory for the account name?

 

Hi svannorden,

With Netscape closed, and using Windows Explorer, you should copy Inbox, Drafts, Templates, Sent, Trash, (without the .msf extension) from the "OldMail" into the "new" Mail folder, that you created in Windows Explorer. Is this what you did?

If you followed the above steps, that would have created all the above listed subdirectories under your Account Name.

tranquilo mentioned that you are using an old Profile. It might be in your best interest to create a new Profile, and again, follow the directions as outlined.


Ramona

 

Ramona;

Yes, I copied Inbox, Sent, Templates, Trash and Drafts from OldMail/acctname/*. to Mail/*.

However, I suspect we're working at cross purposes on the directory structure. I took your instructions literally, so I copied those files to a location one step higher in the directory tree than where they came from (i.e. from *.slt/OldMail/acctname/*. to *.slt/Mail/*.) I would have thought that you'd want me to copy them to *.slt/Mail/acctname/*.
No?