Moving NS 7.0 Profiles to Fx & TB 1.06

Hi Ramona:

I'm finally moving from NS 7.0 to FB & TB 1.05. When I installed TB, the import wizard came up showing both of my existing NS profiles, but only one could be selected for import. I did that and it worked fine for the first profile.

Can I get back to the Import Wizard to import the second profile or do I have to create a new account and copy the files in from the NS profile?

 

Bob,

Glad to see you are finally getting rid of that obsolete browser!

I'm hoping that 1.0.5 is a typo, and you meant 1.0.6. There were some problems in 1.0.5, and thus the brand new, released yesterday, Fx 1.0.6 and TB 1.0.6.

As to your question, yes, you can follow the same procedure for multiple profiles. If you have problems accessing the Profile Manager, then to the Desktop shortcut, at the end of the Target line path add -p. This will bring up the Profile Manager:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -p
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p

Let us know if you have more questions.

Ramona

 

Ramona:

Downloaded FB & TB yesterday am and ended up with 1.0.5's. So, I will uninstall them and go back for 1.0.6's. I'll be back to you later with questions.

Thanks,

 

I have not uninstalled the previous version of firefox, since they made it possible. Settings do not have to be rentered.
As for 1.0.5, I saw nothing wrong with it, although certain extentions were broken, but not for me.

 

I personally had no problems with 1.0.5 either, because I only use the SpellBound extension. However, if Bob likes extensions, then there would be no purpose for him to use 1.0.5 would there?

Ramona

 

Ramona & Westside:

I uninstalled the 1.0.5's and went ahead to download & install the 1.0.6 releases of FF & TB. I did run into the same issue in initially running FF -- that is, the import wizard appeared, told me there were 2 NS profiles available for import, but only one could be selected. I selected one and the import process worked perfectly. I could find no way to get back to the wizard to import the second profile in the same (seamless) manner, unfortunately, so I created a new profile and copied in the files from the NS profile in the same manner as you laid out for re-creating a corrupted NS profile from a back-up. I then changed the target to the new FF profile and all now seems to be well on both profiles.

I also added the " -p" to the shortcut target description for FF, and now the profile manager appears properly when launching FF as it does launching TB.

I can't express an opinion yet on extentions -- haven't gotten into exploring what's available and/or worthwhile yet, but I'll get back to you on that later.

My initial reactions are very favorable toward both FF & TB. They both seem quicker, smoother and more elegant than NS 7.0. I'm sure I will have some questions & additional thoughts as I work with them for a while, but here's a few quick questions out of the box:

1. I see that you can launch and access TB from FF through Tools >Read Mail. I haven't found a similar means of launching FF from within TB. Is that correct? It's really not an issue since TB can be easily launched separately -- just less effort if there's a way to do it forectly from within TB.

2. In TB, I miss the "Address" icon in the mail toolbar. In order to address a message, it appears that I need to hit Contacts and then select the address from the addressbook in the sidebar. That's not a hassle for single addresses, but multiple or an extensive number of addresses are clumsy to navigate to and select in the sidebar set-up. In NS, hitting Address brought the addressbooks and contents up on a full screen: books on the left and contents on the right. That format and full screen display made the selection of multiple addresses easier and quicker to accomplish. Is there a way to bring the Conatcts in TB up in the same manner or is the default sidebar display & selection the only option available?

3. Both FF & TB have individual profiles, as opposed to the single profile in NS. I asume that's because they are distinct programs where the browser & mail functionalities were integrated under NS. Since I religiously back-up my profiles daily (after the initial & repeated corruption problems I experienced going to NS 7.0), I assume profiles under both FF & TB should now be backed-up, correct?

4. Now that FF & TB are up and running smoothly, is there a value or need to retain NS 7.0, either temporariy or longer? The FF & TB profiles now conatin all of the NS profile data, so back-ups of those profiles should provide cover for recreating in the event of problems. I need to retain IE for certain uses, so I'd like to uninstall NS and free-up some space if there isn't a downside to doing so.

I'd appreciate your feedback on those items and I'm sure I'll have other questions as I get more familiar with both products. Also, if this thread is going to be the place for additional questions, perhaps the title should be revised from "...1.0.5" to "...1.0.6" -- I assume you can do that if you think it's appropriate. If future questions are better asked as new threads, I'll go that route -- lemmeno! Thanks.

 

BirdieBob,

Glad to hear that all went well with your transition from Netscape 7 to Firefox and Thunderbird 1.0.6! Congrats!

1. You are correct in your assumption that there is no option to select for launching Fx, from within TB, other than clicking a link in messages.
   
2. In TB you can create Lists and when addressing to a specific group of users, all that is necessary is to access the List. E.g., you create a List named Family. Access the Contacts, and select: Family. The messages will be sent to all addresses in your Family List.
   
   You can open the Address Book in lieu of Contacts:
   Open the Address Book
   Select addressee's by holding down the CTRL key then highlight the addresses
   Right click the highlighted addresses and select: "Write "
   The Compose window will open with all the addresses you have selected will be shown.
   
   When you start typing your "TO:" Address, if it is in your Personal Address Book the Address will automagically be filled in for you.
   
3. Fx and TB are unique applications and backups should be made of both.
   
4. There is no downside to deleting Netscape, using Add/Remove. Just for a week or so, you might want to backup the Profiles folder to storage media (CD, etc.) Don't forget to delete the C:\Program Files\Netscape folder
   
5. You can continue with this thread if you want. I did edit the Title.

Ramona

 

Ramona:

Here's additional question #1 regarding TB. When I send or forward a message to multiple people, I generally Bcc the addresses to protect the privacy of the recipients. In TB, going to Contacts brings up the addressbooks as mentioned above. The only buttons privided at the bottom of the pane, however, are "Add to To" and "Add to Cc ". I don't see the options available under NS for Remove or Bcc.

I found that I can select multiple addresses from a book, right click on the items and then select "Add to Bcc ". It's a clumsier process than NS to select. right-click, wait for the addition to be completed, then go on to other books for additional addresses and repeat the process again.

Is there a way to add a button or other shortcut for "Add To Bcc" to simplify that process?

 

Ramona:

Looks like our last messages cyber-crossed each other. I do use lists for standard purposes. But I handle a lot of mail for various purposes and in many cases the lists are more work to use and edit than simply selecting the desired address for that particular correspondence. It's for that type of use that I posed the question.

I also maintain multiple addressbooks to segregate contacts for various purposes, so all of my addresses are not contained only in the Personal Addressbook. It seems that your option of uaing the Addressbook rather than Contacts would work fine for addresses from one addressbook. But I assume selecting addresses from that book, then clicking on Write, would take me to the composition window. Adding additional addresses would then have to be done through Contacts, right? So if there are better options than what I've found and you mentioned to handle multiple address, from multiple addressbooks, sent as Bcc's, on a single message, I'd like to know them.

I have backed-up the NS profiles on CD so they are secure if needed. I'll go ahead and remove Netscape, including the Program Files folder. Thanks.

 

Right you are. I know of no other way to do it, using the Address Book first.

Ramona

 

Contacts Add BCC button - Thunderbird Extension

 

Ramona: Thanks for the confirmation.

Dennis L: Great find!! Thanks for the help.

 

Bob,

Sorry, I did overlook that question, and thanks Dennis L!

Here are a few tips for Fx settings in Tools | Options:

In the Web Features setting disable "Allow web sites to install software" until you want to install an extension from a trusted site.

In the Privacy setting, if you enable "Save information I enter on ....." this setting will also save your Searches, as in Google, etc. If you use Google as your Search engine you can double click a blank search field and search history will be viewable.

I also have some Fx Tips here:
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/index6.html#fftip
and
A fewTweaks here:
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/index6.html#fftwk

Ramona