Importing into Entourage 2008

[hpoelzig]

I installed Office 2008 today and launched Entourage. I asked it to
import my 3.1 gig database from Entourage v. X. It saw it where it had
been preserved in the Microsoft User Data folder and agreed to do the
import, but claimed it was complete a second later and asked me to
click the "finish" button, and it had imported nothing.

I tried navigating to a copy of the database on an external hard drive
and the result was the same.

The Old database had been freshly compacted, with all deleted mail
emptied as was suggested on the Entourage Help Blog.

Any suggestions?

 

[Stephen]

I had the same problem. My 2 gig database from Entourage v. X would not export into the new Entourage 2008.

 

[hpoelzig]

I installed Office 2008 today and launched Entourage. I asked it to
import my 3.1 gig database from Entourage v. X. It saw it where it had
been preserved in the Microsoft User Data folder and agreed to do the
import, but claimed it was complete a second later and asked me to
click the "finish" button, and it had imported nothing.

I tried navigating to a copy of the database on an external hard drive
and the result was the same.

The Old database had been freshly compacted, with all deleted mail
emptied as was suggested on the Entourage Help Blog.

Any suggestions?

I neglected to mention that I am using OS X 10.4.11.

 

[William Smith]

I installed Office 2008 today and launched Entourage. I asked it to
import my 3.1 gig database from Entourage v. X. It saw it where it had
been preserved in the Microsoft User Data folder and agreed to do the
import, but claimed it was complete a second later and asked me to
click the "finish" button, and it had imported nothing.

I tried navigating to a copy of the database on an external hard drive
and the result was the same.

The Old database had been freshly compacted, with all deleted mail
emptied as was suggested on the Entourage Help Blog.

I don't think this is the exact same problem but can you verify that a
cache file does not exist in the same location as your Database file? If
it does, delete it and try again.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>

 

[Diane Ross]

I installed Office 2008 today and launched Entourage. I asked it to
import my 3.1 gig database from Entourage v. X. It saw it where it had
been preserved in the Microsoft User Data folder and agreed to do the
import, but claimed it was complete a second later and asked me to
click the "finish" button, and it had imported nothing.

Check the size of the database file in the Finder to be sure it's not a
blank database. The Entourage X database is 400 KB, the database cache 4 KB.

If you are pointing to your working database and Entourage 2008 is not
importing it, this needs to be reported. Use the Send Feedback feature under
Help or Instant Feedback in the Menu bar. I'll also esc this to MSFT.

There are other ways to get your data out of Entourage X. You can drag each
folder and subfolder to the desktop as MBOX files. These can be dragged into
any version of Entourage.

Easy way: MBOX files: Run this script on your messages: Export folders (this
gets subfolders too). The script will fail on a folder with corruption. If
you have subfolders with same name you will need to rename them so they can
be matched up to the root folder. The script does not put subfolders in a
subfolder.

<http://scriptbuilders.net/files/exportfolders1.1.html>

Contacts can be exported as a tab delimited file. Under File --> Export make
your selection.

For Rules, Mailing List Manager and other settings, You will need to start
from scratch. Use screen shots to help with the details.

 

[hpoelzig]

I don't think this is the exact same problem but can you verify that a
cache file does not exist in the same location as your Database file? If
it does, delete it and try again.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>

The folder contains a 3.1 GB database, a 20 KB Database cache, Mailing
Lists file of 16 KB and Signatures file of 140 KB. I removed the 20 KB
Database Cache file and then tried the import function and now the
browser says "No Entourage X identities found."

My Microsoft User Data folder contained a folder that is called
Identities, and another called Office X Identities, and the latter
contains the 3.1 GB database I wish to import. That is the one I'm
navigating to and which fails.

 

[hpoelzig]

Check the size of the database file in the Finder to be sure it's not a
blank database. The Entourage X database is 400 KB, the database cache 4 KB.

It is definitely being pointed at the folder containing the Entourage
X database of 3.1 GB.

Additionally, I exported my contacts from Entourage X and Entourage
2008 does not recognize this file, it being grayed out when I tried to
import it separately.

If you are pointing to your working database and Entourage 2008 is not
importing it, this needs to be reported. Use the Send Feedback feature under
Help or Instant Feedback in the Menu bar. I'll also esc this to MSFT.

I already used the feedback feature under help to make a report.

There are other ways to get your data out of Entourage X. You can drag each
folder and subfolder to the desktop as MBOX files. These can be dragged into
any version of Entourage.

Will these still include the links to replies and the data regarding
attachments which have been removed? That is crucial for me.

Easy way: MBOX files: Run this script on your messages: Export folders (this
gets subfolders too). The script will fail on a folder with corruption. If
you have subfolders with same name you will need to rename them so they can
be matched up to the root folder. The script does not put subfolders in a
subfolder.

<http://scriptbuilders.net/files/exportfolders1.1.html>

Contacts can be exported as a tab delimited file. Under File --> Export make
your selection.

For Rules, Mailing List Manager  and other settings, You will need to start
from scratch. Use screen shots to help with the details.

I'm hoping to find a better solution than the manual approach, and I
thank you for the assistance.

 

[Diane Ross]

My Microsoft User Data folder contained a folder that is called
Identities, and another called Office X Identities, and the latter
contains the 3.1 GB database I wish to import. That is the one I'm
navigating to and which fails.

I believe the Identity folder is for Outlook Express. The Microsoft User
Data folder can contain multiple Identities.

 

[Diane Ross]

Additionally, I exported my contacts from Entourage X and Entourage
2008 does not recognize this file, it being grayed out when I tried to
import it separately.

Have you upgraded to Leopard? I'm wondering if this is a permissions
problem.

If you did upgrade to Leopard, move your Microsoft User Data folder and the
contacts file to Shared folder. Next in System Preferences create a new test
User. Switch to the new User and drag the Microsoft User Data folder to your
Documents folder, Open Entourage 2008 and try importing your Entourage X
Identity. What happens? Can you import the contacts file in the new User?

Will these still include the links to replies and the data regarding
attachments which have been removed? That is crucial for me.

I don't believe they will contain the links. You can loose links rebuilding
too.

Usually, import fails because of problems with database corruption. It's not
clear yet if there is a bug in importing some Entourage X database files or
if it's a Leopard issue.

 

[hpoelzig]

Have you upgraded to Leopard? I'm wondering if this is a permissions
problem.

If you did upgrade to Leopard, move your Microsoft User Data folder and the
contacts file to Shared folder. Next in System Preferences create a new test
User. Switch to the new User and drag the Microsoft User Data folder to your
Documents folder, Open Entourage 2008 and try importing your Entourage X
Identity. What happens? Can you import the contacts file in the new User?




I don't believe they will contain the links. You can loose links rebuilding
too.

Usually, import fails because of problems with database corruption. It's not
clear yet if there is a bug in importing some Entourage X database files or
if it's a Leopard issue.

I'm still using Tiger, 10.4.11. I didn't update to Leopard as I had
read online that Office v. X didn't work under Leopard. The database
was rebuilt and compacted prior to any attempts to import it, it still
opens fine in Entourage X, and I repaired all permissions before
attempting this software installation.

 

[hpoelzig]

I believe the Identity folder is for Outlook Express. The Microsoft User
Data folder can contain multiple Identities.

Thank you! I never have used Outlook Express, so that explains why
that folder has been untouched.

 

[hpoelzig]

Have you upgraded to Leopard? I'm wondering if this is a permissions
problem.

If you did upgrade to Leopard, move your Microsoft User Data folder and the
contacts file to Shared folder. Next in System Preferences create a new test
User. Switch to the new User and drag the Microsoft User Data folder to your
Documents folder, Open Entourage 2008 and try importing your Entourage X
Identity. What happens? Can you import the contacts file in the new User?




I don't believe they will contain the links. You can loose links rebuilding
too.

Usually, import fails because of problems with database corruption. It's not
clear yet if there is a bug in importing some Entourage X database files or
if it's a Leopard issue.

I also have a fresh Tiger 10.4.11 install on a second internal hard
drive. I booted from that drive, installed Office 2008 and tried again
to import Entourage X's database and the behavior was the same - in a
second it claimed the import was complete and invited me to click the
finish button, and then nothing was imported.

 

[Diane Ross]

I also have a fresh Tiger 10.4.11 install on a second internal hard
drive. I booted from that drive, installed Office 2008 and tried again
to import Entourage X's database and the behavior was the same - in a
second it claimed the import was complete and invited me to click the
finish button, and then nothing was imported.

There doesn't seem to be a known cause for the import not working. You
mentioned that you can't select the Tab-delimited file for you contacts. Try
opening it with Excel. Do you see your data?

Have you tried dragging in one of the MBOX files to see if they work?

One thought would be to see if Apple Mail can import your data. If that
doesn't work, it's indicating something wrong with your data. If it does
work, then you could try using it as a bridge to import your data into
Entourage.

 

[hpoelzig]

There doesn't seem to be a known cause for the import not working. You
mentioned that you can't select the Tab-delimited file for you contacts. Try
opening it with Excel. Do you see your data?

The contacts exported as a TXT file, and the data is there, I can see
it with Text Edit.

Have you tried dragging in one of the MBOX files to see if they work?

No, since as I mentioned before that route is not one I want to take.
I have hundreds of folders with sub folders and cannot have the
messages losing information about whether there has been a reply or
not.

The database works fine in Entourage X - no problems whatsoever - and
I'm using it again there and probably will until somebody at Microsoft
can figure out why Entourage won't import data from v.X.

One thought would be to see if Apple Mail can import your data. If that
doesn't work, it's indicating something wrong with your data. If it does
work, then you could try using it as a bridge to import your data into
Entourage.

If I import it into Apple Mail I will probably just use that instead
of Entourage.

Bill above asked about there being a cache in the folder along with
the database, and there always is - the Office X Identities folder
contains a Newsgroup Cache file and a folder labeled Main Identity.
Main Identity contains five files: Database, Database Cache, Mailing
Lists, Rules, Signatures. I suspect that if a similar folder in
Entourage 2004 does not contain a database cache file (I don't know, I
did not think it was a useful upgrade and stuck with v. X), perhaps
the importer is confused by that cache file, imports the miniscule
cache and then considers its work done. However, if that cache file is
removed from the folder as Bill suggested, the importer does not
recognize the other files in there.

The importer automatically navigated to the Main Identity folder, and
indeed the proper database is in there. It doesn't crash when trying
to import as I suspect it would if there was something wrong with the
data (and as I said above the database still works fine in Entourage
X). The import seems to be of a very small file which takes less than
one second before it says click to finish. This must be a bug.

I wonder how many people have successfully imported databases from V.
X into 2008?

 

[Dave S.]

I have just spent 95 minutes on the line with Microsoft Technical Support, trying to resolve the problem of importing data into Entourage 2008 from v.X, with no success. It does appear that the addition of the Database Cache in the v.X identity folder is the wild card in making this transfer work. Does anyone have any additional thoughts on this matter? As it was said above, removal of the "Cache" file makes the import manager unable to see the identity as even existing, but with it left in place, the files will not import.

If this can't be resolved, this 2008 package is pretty much worthless to me.

 

[Michel Bintener]

Can you still launch Entourage v.X? In that case, there are a number of
possibilities to export your data in a format that can subsequently be
imported into Entourage 2008. Let us know!

I have just spent 95 minutes on the line with Microsoft Technical Support,
trying to resolve the problem of importing data into Entourage 2008 from v.X,
with no success. It does appear that the addition of the Database Cache in the
v.X identity folder is the wild card in making this transfer work. Does anyone
have any additional thoughts on this matter? As it was said above, removal of
the "Cache" file makes the import manager unable to see the identity as even
existing, but with it left in place, the files will not import.

If this can't be resolved, this 2008 package is pretty much worthless to me.

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)

*** Please always reply to the newsgroup. ***

 

[hpoelzig]

Can you still launch Entourage v.X? In that case, there are a number of
possibilities to export your data in a format that can subsequently be
imported into Entourage 2008. Let us know!

I am still using v.X as the alternatives for exporting mail messages
are ones which lose the data kept in each separate message which lets
you know if a reply was made, when it was made, with a quick link to
it. Keeping track of several hundred thousand messages with this data
is the reason I stick with Entourage. If the 2004 version could import
the database from v.X, one would think that the 2008 version should be
able to solve this as well.

I also have many mailing lists and many signatures which would take
some time to recreate. Having paid the price for software that seems
to say that it can import everything from v.X, then we customers
should be offered a way to do this without a going through such manual
efforts. If MS needs to supply us with some means to convert to the
2004 version and then into the 2008 version, that might solve things.

Dealing with the confusing v.X cache file should be something the
coders could solve.

 

[Linotype]

Bill above asked about there being a cache in the folder along with
the database, and there always is - the Office X Identities folder
contains a Newsgroup Cache file and a folder labeled Main Identity.
Main Identity contains five files: Database, Database Cache, Mailing
Lists, Rules, Signatures. I suspect that if a similar folder in
Entourage 2004 does not contain a database cache file (I don't know, I
did not think it was a useful upgrade and stuck with v. X), perhaps
the importer is confused by that cache file, imports the miniscule
cache and then considers its work done. However, if that cache file is
removed from the folder as Bill suggested, the importer does not
recognize the other files in there.

The importer automatically navigated to the Main Identity folder, and
indeed the proper database is in there. It doesn't crash when trying
to import as I suspect it would if there was something wrong with the
data (and as I said above the database still works fine in Entourage
X). The import seems to be of a very small file which takes less than
one second before it says click to finish. This must be a bug.

OS X 10.4.11
Office X

Reading all the problems here about importing Entourage data from X to
2008 has me scared stiff to even open my box containing the Home &
Student Edition of Office 2008.

The MUD folder in my Documents folder has these folders:

Outlook Express Temp
Entourage Script Menu Items
Script Menu Items
Saved Attachments
Entourage Sound Sets
Identities
Printing Forms
Entourage Temp
Office X Identities

The "Identities" folder and the "Office X Identities" folder look like
this:

Identities
Main Identity
Database
Database Cache
Mailing Lists
Messages
Preferences
Rules
Schedules
Signatures
Newsgroup Cache

Office X Identities
Main Identity
Database
Database Cache
Mailing Lists
Rules
Signatures
Newsgroup Cache

What's the deal with the two "Main Identities" folders with the
duplicate folders inside of them?
Is this normal?

How much trouble would you predict I will have when I try to install
2008 and import Entourage X data?

 

[Diane Ross]

What's the deal with the two "Main Identities" folders with the
duplicate folders inside of them?
Is this normal?

The Microsoft User Data folder can contain multiple Identities from
different versions. The Identities folder is for Outlook Express.

The MUD folder in my Documents folder has these folders:

Outlook Express Temp--------> You can delete this
Entourage Script Menu Items
Script Menu Items --------> You can delete this
Saved Attachments
Entourage Sound Sets
Identities --------> You can delete this
Printing Forms
Entourage Temp
Office X Identities

If in doubt, rename your Microsoft User Data folder to Old Microsoft User
Data folder, and let Entourage recreate a new MUD folder. This way you'll
only have the folders you need. When you import you can point to the Office
X Identity folder for importing.

 

[hpoelzig]

OS X 10.4.11
Office X

Reading all the problems here about importing Entourage data from X to
2008 has me scared stiff to even open my box containing  the Home &
Student Edition of Office 2008.

The MUD folder in my Documents folder has these folders:

Outlook Express Temp
Entourage Script Menu Items
Script Menu Items
Saved Attachments
Entourage Sound Sets
Identities
Printing Forms
Entourage Temp
Office X Identities

The "Identities" folder and the "Office X Identities" folder look like
this:

Identities
  Main Identity
    Database
    Database Cache
    Mailing Lists
    Messages
    Preferences
    Rules
    Schedules
    Signatures
    Newsgroup Cache

Office X Identities
  Main Identity
    Database
    Database Cache
    Mailing Lists
    Rules
    Signatures
    Newsgroup Cache

What's the deal with the two "Main Identities" folders with the
duplicate folders inside of them?
Is this normal?

How much trouble would you predict I will have when I try to install
2008 and import Entourage X data?

I have been informed that the seventh bulleted item under Known Issues
in Office 2008 lists the following:

"Office Setup Assistant cannot import identities that were created in
Office 98, Office 2001, and Office v. X. To import these identities
after installation, open Entourage 2008, and then on the File menu,
click Import."

Sounds promising, however using the import command under File brings
the same result of an import of the miniscule empty cache and not the
database file in the same folder for me. Perhaps you will have better
luck. Let us know if you do.

This issue seems to be a bug which needs a solution that preserves all
of the information present in the database for v. X. Perhaps if one
had access to Entourage 2004, one could import v. X databases into
that and then from there into Entourage 2008, however, I don't know if
trial version that would have this functionality is available. Having
to purchase 2004 solely as a means to get 2008 working properly does
not seem particularly fair.

PHG