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Cannot import all mail folders

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by sfhowes

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Trying to input all my email/ folders from MS Outlook 2011 (Mac) to Thunderbird. Have used Emailchemy to export the data from Outlook to a mbox format. When I used Tool > import, it only gives me Apple Mail as an option. Tried it, nothing to import. There was no other options, no way to select a different folder.

Then added the ImportExportTool add-on. That helped somewhat. It would allow me to select all files with .mbox but not any of the folders. I have many folders. Some folders have multiple layers of folders.

I am using a MacBook Pro, running High Sierra (Mac OS 10.13.2), I have downloaded the most recent version on Thunderbird (52.5.2).

Any suggestions/ ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Trying to input all my email/ folders from MS Outlook 2011 (Mac) to Thunderbird. Have used Emailchemy to export the data from Outlook to a mbox format. When I used Tool > import, it only gives me Apple Mail as an option. Tried it, nothing to import. There was no other options, no way to select a different folder. Then added the ImportExportTool add-on. That helped somewhat. It would allow me to select all files with .mbox but not any of the folders. I have many folders. Some folders have multiple layers of folders. I am using a MacBook Pro, running High Sierra (Mac OS 10.13.2), I have downloaded the most recent version on Thunderbird (52.5.2). Any suggestions/ ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

All Replies (3)

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The Import wizard has been broken for quite a while, but it used to work in older versions of TB. Install TB 17, run the wizard, and then install TB 52. Alternatively, you could install TB 58beta, which is supposed to fix the Outlook import.

Not sure if it matters, but ImportExportTools may work better if you remove the .mbox extension from any mbox files.

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Thanks for your reply. Neither solution worked. TB 58 beta 2 had the exact import issues as before. ImportExportTools did not work at all.

TB 17 gave me one other import option (Eudora) but otherwise no difference. ImportExportTools was not available.

Other thoughts? Should I export to a different format?

Thanks.

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The import wizard only works if Outlook and TB are installed on the same computer. If they are on separate machines, the usual approach is to install TB on the Outlook computer, do the import, then transfer the TB profile to the other computer.

ImportExportTools should be available in any version of TB on which it's installed, but note that it is partly broken in TB versions higher than 52.

I notice that Emailchemy exports to Apple .mbox files, RFC-2822 mbox files, as well as 'Thunderbird folders', which I presume is a form of mbox. Also, eml files, which can be imported to TB, either directly via drag-and-drop, or with ImportExportTools (import to Local Folders).