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Thread: Converting from Outlook Express to Linux mbox

  1. #1
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    HOWTO: Converting from Outlook Express saved mails to Linux mbox

    Now this is a real pain in the a$$, was at least.. I didn't find any place that told it clearly, so just put together what worked for me.. OE and MS Outlook store their mailboxes as .dbx files, one file for each mail folder(eg.:Inbox.dbx,Sent.dbx,etc.). Generally the path for those files on the Windows box is C:/Documents and Settings/uid/Local Settings/Application Data/Identities/{1C46C658-5362-5463-8708-F215FD67238}/Microsoft/Outlook Express
    where uid is your windows logon user id, and, the numbers are changed

    On Linux you need to have KMail installed with a plugin called KMail CVT which lets you import OE mailboxes and convert them to the standard linux mbox files. Both can be got from the repositories by doing the following:

    $ sudo apt-get install kmail
    $ sudo apt-get install kmailcvt
    You now need to import the necessary files:
    Open KMail
    File>Import Messages
    This opens a dialog box which asks you to choose the program from which you want to import the mail
    Click on the dropdown menu and choose "Import Outlook Express Emails"
    Click "Next" and then choose the files
    (You may have transferred the dbx to some place on your linux partition or else hopefully you'd have the drive containing it mounted so you can access it, in my case I just have my NTFS/Windows partitions mounted, which the latest Ubuntu does automatically.. Anyways you'd have to do one or the other) If it is mounted it could be at /media/hda6 which is to just give an example of how mine is. Also as an example the folder in Windows where the files generally are is: C:/Documents and Settings/uid/Local Settings/Application Data/Identities/{1C46C658-5362-5463-8708-F215FD67238}/Microsoft/Outlook Express

    Once you've chosen the folder, KMail downloads the mailbox and organises the folder structure as
    Local Folder > OE Import > "foldername"(say Inbox)

    Now all you do is go to each folder. Select all the mails in it by <Ctrl+A> and then click on File>Save as
    This opens a box to choose where to save the file, choose the path and the filename. You can name the file anything(say example.mbox), unlike what I earlier assumed that you'd have to name it *.mbox, you can leave it without any extension.

    Anyways you're done. If you want to use KMail as your mail client that is. I dont like it much, I prefer Opera Mail cos it has everything you want and not much more and the important functions have easy shortcuts. So, like me, if you use another mail client, you have one step more.

    Open any program you want: Evolution or Opera Mail or Thunderbird or anything else that you use. Choose to import files of "generic mbox type" and choose the file you saved earlier(in our case example.mbox). You're good to go.

    Let me know if I made any mistake cos I'm only a newbie anyways. Just trying to give back a lill. Hope it works n helps someone out there trying to make the transition from Windows to Linux/Ubuntu
    Last edited by airjunman; July 8th, 2006 at 12:03 AM. Reason: small clarifications

  2. #2
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    Re: HOWTO: Converting from Outlook Express saved mails to Linux mbox

    Noone interested?

  3. #3
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    Re: Converting from Outlook Express to Linux mbox

    very nice howto

    Grtz PingunZ

  4. #4
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    Re: Converting from Outlook Express to Linux mbox

    Thanks PingunZ ... Whats ur email client of choice in Linux though... I have a feeling Opera may be slowing my system down...

  5. #5
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    Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

    Re: Converting from Outlook Express to Linux mbox

    Sorry, I used Thunderbird installed on Windows to import my OE data then copied the files over to my Linux Thunderbird.

  6. #6
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    Re: Converting from Outlook Express to Linux mbox

    Anything that works rite

  7. #7
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    Re: Converting from Outlook Express to Linux mbox to Thunderbird

    I had a customer's OE data and she is converting to Ubuntu, imagine a 70+ year old converting!
    Anyway, I had a hell of a time finding a way to convert.
    This was a sweet method, couldn't have done it w/o you.
    The only 'challenge' I had was finding the kmail program, it didn't install to the applications folder so I had to go to the filesystem/usr/bin and d-click on kmail. Not a big deal.
    I went from oe to kmail to thunderbird with this method.
    Sincerely,
    Dave

  8. #8
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    Re: Converting from Outlook Express to Linux mbox

    Glad to be of help .. The forums in general do a great job of helping out.. cheers!

  9. #9
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    Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron

    Re: Converting from Outlook Express to Linux mbox

    Great post! Finally found what I've been looking for for some time now.

    1 addition: if you tend to import into Evolution, you'll have to choose the destination email folder (say "tree-level"). That means you'll have to prepare the tree manually BEFORE importing as it cannot be done while you're running the import wizzard.

    One trick is in correctly naming the folders when you export them, e.g. 1-B-c-mailfoldername would mean "third level under second level under first level" under Inbox, a folder named "mailfoldername". This is pretty time-consuming if you have a lot of subfolder though it helps you structure your mailbox.

    For the Gnome-adepts: I ran Kmail under Gnome without any probs.

    Besides this, it works like a charm.

    Roelski
    Last edited by Roelski; April 5th, 2007 at 09:11 AM. Reason: added gnome-comment + levelling
    "Ubuntu - One Cup A Day Keeps The Doctor Away !"

  10. #10
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    Re: Converting from Outlook Express to Linux mbox

    Thanks, just what the Dr ordered. Recovered all of mother in laws 'Important Stuff' with this.

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