I would like to import Thunderbird mailboxes containing a few thousand
messages in Entourage. I work on a pop mail server and I have to retain
the mail status of the messages e.g. read, unread , forwarded, replied
etc. in Entourage.
Does anyone know how to perform this correctly? Perhaps with an apple
script, plugin, something else..?
You are in luck! With just a little effort, you can get Entourage to do this
for you, since Thunderbird uses MBOX type mailbox files.
1. Locate the Thuderbird folders you want to import. They live in
~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/default.bb1/Mail/Local Folders/; the mailbox
files are the ones with just the name of the folder, like "Inbox". This is
for my system; I'm not sure of the "default.bb1" part, but it's what shows
for me. You may have to poke around a bit to find the folders you want.
2. Entourage insists that mailbox files have the extension of ".mbx", so use
Cmd-D to make a copy of each folder you want to import, and then rename the
copy so it is, for instance, "Inbox.mbx". You also must set the file type to
TEXT; select the file(s) in Finder and run this script in Script Editor:
on run
try
tell application "Finder"
set theFiles to the selection
repeat with aFile in theFiles
set file type of aFile to "TEXT"
end repeat
end tell
on error theMsg
display dialog theMsg
exit repeat
end try
end run
3. In Entourage, use the File->Import menu, and specify that you want to
import mail from a mailbox file. You'll reach a file dialog; navigate to
your Thunderbird folders, and select one to import. You can import them one
folder at a time. Each imported folder will show up as a separate folder in
Entourage.
I tested this with a folder of 88 messages; worked great! It preserved
categories, attachments, pretty much everything, including read status.
However, it does NOT appear to preserve replied to info...and I don't think
you will get that in anything that exists.
