Why do mail programs make moving to a new installation so difficult?!
My wife is using Thunderbird on a new[ish] xubuntu 14.04 system. She has now got it fairly well configured and working the way she wants so the next step is to move her old 'local' E-Mail across. No way is this remotely easy, I can sort of see how it might be done but there are so many gotchas that I fear it's going to be a mess. Why can't modern E-Mail program simply use mbox (or maildir, I'm not too fussed) as they were designed rather than having to add all sorts of specially named directories and indexes? In mutt it would be trivial! -- Chris Green
On 22/06/14 13:39, Chris Green wrote:
My wife is using Thunderbird on a new[ish] xubuntu 14.04 system. She has now got it fairly well configured and working the way she wants so the next step is to move her old 'local' E-Mail across.
No way is this remotely easy, I can sort of see how it might be done but there are so many gotchas that I fear it's going to be a mess.
Why can't modern E-Mail program simply use mbox (or maildir, I'm not too fussed) as they were designed rather than having to add all sorts of specially named directories and indexes?
Do you have//ImportExportTools 2.8.0.4 installed as an addon for Thunderbird? Nev
On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 01:54:59PM +0100, nev young wrote:
On 22/06/14 13:39, Chris Green wrote:
My wife is using Thunderbird on a new[ish] xubuntu 14.04 system. She has now got it fairly well configured and working the way she wants so the next step is to move her old 'local' E-Mail across.
No way is this remotely easy, I can sort of see how it might be done but there are so many gotchas that I fear it's going to be a mess.
Why can't modern E-Mail program simply use mbox (or maildir, I'm not too fussed) as they were designed rather than having to add all sorts of specially named directories and indexes?
Do you have ImportExportTools 2.8.0.4 installed as an addon for Thunderbird?
Not yet but I've read about it, I don't think it really does what we want because it will rename the 'imported' local directory as 'local<something>' apparently, that's just what we don't want. We want to integrate the imported stuff into the existing local directory (mostly as new sub-directories). -- Chris Green
On Sun, 22 Jun 2014, Chris Green wrote:
On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 01:54:59PM +0100, nev young wrote:
On 22/06/14 13:39, Chris Green wrote:
My wife is using Thunderbird on a new[ish] xubuntu 14.04 system. She has now got it fairly well configured and working the way she wants so the next step is to move her old 'local' E-Mail across.
No way is this remotely easy, I can sort of see how it might be done but there are so many gotchas that I fear it's going to be a mess.
Why can't modern E-Mail program simply use mbox (or maildir, I'm not too fussed) as they were designed rather than having to add all sorts of specially named directories and indexes?
Do you have ImportExportTools 2.8.0.4 installed as an addon for Thunderbird?
Not yet but I've read about it, I don't think it really does what we want because it will rename the 'imported' local directory as 'local<something>' apparently, that's just what we don't want. We want to integrate the imported stuff into the existing local directory (mostly as new sub-directories).
-- Chris Green
"Why can't modern E-Mail program simply use mbox (or maildir," But is that what you want? Back in 2002/3 I used to use Outlook and it messed up my emails. That put me off using an email client. I don't know what folk do with Linux and 6 month release cycles - it seems hardly worth setting up an email client. I found T'bird too slow for imap and used a Text client (Alpine, Mutt also) set up to read the server directly i.e. not storing headers in an mbox or maildir. I presume folk then copy across their mbox/maildir but there is still the risk of a large mbox 'crashing'. Each release I just install Alpine and copy over the .pinerc, .addressbook file and all ready to go. I save important emails to txt files, and have a filter to delete mail over 18 months. That works well for me. use Mutt and you could set up something a bit more sophisticated. An option you may not have considered is MH format (Emacs MH, Sylpheed and Claws), emails being saved as separate files in a directory. I found Sylpheed and Claws very fast and Sylpheed seemed a little 'more polished' than Claws. Sylpheed is quicker a sit reads mail in a different way - the apps look similar but 'under the bonnet' quite different. #james
On 22/06/14 17:18, Chris Green wrote:
On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 01:54:59PM +0100, nev young wrote:
On 22/06/14 13:39, Chris Green wrote:
My wife is using Thunderbird on a new[ish] xubuntu 14.04 system. She has now got it fairly well configured and working the way she wants so the next step is to move her old 'local' E-Mail across.
No way is this remotely easy, I can sort of see how it might be done but there are so many gotchas that I fear it's going to be a mess.
Why can't modern E-Mail program simply use mbox (or maildir, I'm not too fussed) as they were designed rather than having to add all sorts of specially named directories and indexes?
Do you have ImportExportTools 2.8.0.4 installed as an addon for Thunderbird?
Not yet but I've read about it, I don't think it really does what we want because it will rename the 'imported' local directory as 'local<something>' apparently, that's just what we don't want. We want to integrate the imported stuff into the existing local directory (mostly as new sub-directories).
Once the old stuff is imported into local<something>, simply create the new subdirectories you want, then drag and drop the emails from imported<something> into the relevant subdirectory. You could use the Edit/Find/Search Messages to help select groups of emails and then there's a button at the bottom of the results window that allows you to move or refile the messages somewhere else. Alternatively, you can use the quick filter to (er) quickly and simply filter messages, which again, you can drag and drop to the relevant subdirectory. I believe you can also set up rules to move things for you, but I don't know how. Have you tried Thunderbird's import feature? If that doesn't work, ISTR that you can just drag a mbox file from a file explorer into a pre-created folder in thunderbird and it will import all the files for you. Re "Why can't modern E-Mail program simply use mbox (or maildir, I'm not too fussed) as they were designed rather than having to add all sorts of specially named directories and indexes?" Well my thunderbird works via imap supplied by dovecot, and does work off a mbox format files. It doesn't "have" to add all sorts of special directories and indexes, but it does because some people want things like fast searching and offline access. Some of these things can be disabled - e.g. Account Settings/Synchronisation & Storage/Keep messages for this account on this computer (unticked). HTH Steve
On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 11:14:17PM +0100, steve-ALUG@hst.me.uk wrote:
Not yet but I've read about it, I don't think it really does what we want because it will rename the 'imported' local directory as 'local<something>' apparently, that's just what we don't want. We want to integrate the imported stuff into the existing local directory (mostly as new sub-directories).
Once the old stuff is imported into local<something>, simply create the new subdirectories you want, then drag and drop the emails from imported<something> into the relevant subdirectory.
Yes, I think that's probably going to be the best way of doing it. I'll see how we get on when I actually try it!
Re "Why can't modern E-Mail program simply use mbox (or maildir, I'm not too fussed) as they were designed rather than having to add all sorts of specially named directories and indexes?"
Well my thunderbird works via imap supplied by dovecot, and does
IMAP is a whole different ball-game though. We use Thunderbird with IMAP as well as with local folders. (When I say 'we' I only mean I support my wife's use, I use mutt)
work off a mbox format files. It doesn't "have" to add all sorts of special directories and indexes, but it does because some people want things like fast searching and offline access. Some of these
Mutt manages fast searching without any clever indexes, it's hardly rocket science to search through a load of text files quickly without having to add all sorts of extraneous junk. ... and why does Thunderbird have to give folders silly names with a suffix (internally) surely it can tell what's a folder and what isn't without doing this sort of thing. -- Chris Green
participants (4)
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Chris Green -
James Freer -
nev young -
steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk