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Thunderbird - Import Netscape 4.x email

Discussion in 'Firefox, Thunderbird & SeaMonkey' started by TonyT, 2005/02/09.

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  1. 2005/02/09
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff Thread Starter

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    I have a client running win95 on an old IBM laptop. He uses Netscape 4.x and Communicator 4.x for email. His new IBM laptop is now running Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird. It was easy to import the address book from the 4.x Communicator.

    How do I import the mail folders from Communicator 4.x into T-Bird? (I've copied the entire Mail folder from the old laptop to the new one, almost 1 GB of messages) And actually, all that needs to be imported into T-Bird is the Inbox.
     
    TonyT,
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  2. 2005/02/09
    Westside

    Westside Inactive Alumni

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    You should be able to Import Mail from Communicator from Options|Import.
    You mail folder will end up in Local Folders (I hate that, because I never dream to look there).
    How was the address book imported?
     
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  4. 2005/02/09
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff Thread Starter

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    Yes, the import would work IF Netscape 4.x was installed on the new laptop, but it's installed on a separate different old laptop. How do I get T-Bird to see the Mail folder I copied to the new laptop?

    Address book was first exported as txt and then imported.

    The Thunderbird Import Tool seems limited in that one cannot Browse... to locate a dir or network share where the mail folders of other programs reside.
     
    TonyT,
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  5. 2005/02/09
    Ramona

    Ramona Geek Member Alumni

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    Tony,

    No can do if Netscape 4.x isn't installed (Import). What you can do is this:

    Open the 4.x Mail Folder, and copy the files without SNM extensions. These are the files which contain the mail, e.g., Inbox, Drafts, Templates, Sent, etc., and any SBD folders which contain subfolders, if any. Delete any files with the SNM extension in the SBD folders.

    With TBird closed, open Windows Explorer
    Navigate to the Mail Account Folder
    Paste the files into the Mail Account Folder
    See: Profiles Folder Location

    Caution: if there is existing Mail in the Thunderbird Mail Account, before copying the files without SNM extensions from 4.x, rename those files. E.G., OldInbox, OldDrafts, etc. Once pasted into the TBird Mail Account Folder, they will appear in the Mail Account when TBird is opened. The client can then move the messages in the OldInbox, etc., to the current Inbox.

    Ramona
     
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  6. 2005/02/09
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff Thread Starter

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    Ramona,
    Mucho thank you's your way. That worked just fine. Message opened in Thunderbird right away, all 500 MB of them. Client is overjoyed,
    TonyT
     
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  7. 2005/02/09
    Ramona

    Ramona Geek Member Alumni

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    Tony,

    My pleasure!

    Did you say 500 MB? :eek: Your client better do some archiving with that Mail, or he might just wind up losing it. If he has a large Inbox, especially. The Inbox is not intended for archiving, and I get a little nervous if mine is 2 MB. I've helped users with a huge (beau coup MB) and they wound up losing everything!

    Word to the wise, and all that...... ;)

    Ramona
     
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  8. 2005/02/10
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff Thread Starter

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    Thanks.
    And yes, I instructed him to create some new folders and organize those messages.

    You should have seen my face when I first copied that NS4.x mail folder over the network and the file copy animation said "29 minutes remaining ". It was quite shocking to see a mail dir that was slightly under a GB in total size!
     
    TonyT,
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