Free Software: Migrating Your Mail to Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a great (and free!) e-mail program that offers you much better security than programs like Microsoft Outlook. Because Thunderbird doesn't allow scripts to run automatically, attachments with worms or viruses can't run in Thunderbird. Using Thunderbird can help stop worms and viruses from attacking your computer and spreading on the Internet.

You can use Thunderbird's Import Wizard to migrate your mail from Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla, Netscape, or Eudora. Otherwise, you can use a manual procedure to migrate your mail. Thunderbird uses a standard mail format that's used by many other mail clients, so migrating mail either manually or with the Import Wizard is not complicated.

Migrating from Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla, or Netscape using the wizard

After you download and install Thunderbird, and start it in Windows for the first time, the Import Wizard appears, requesting that you choose the e-mail program that you want to import your settings, address book, and mail folders from: Outlook Express, Outlook, Netscape 6 or 7, or Mozilla 1.x. Choose your former e-mail program, or choose Don't Import Anything.

If you want to import your e-mail anytime after you first start your program, choose Tools --> Import to bring up the Import Wizard.

If you're importing from Netscape 6 or Mozilla 1.x, importing when you first install the program is a good idea, because if you don't you'll need to do it manually. (This is not a problem with Outlook Express or Outlook. They can be imported at any time.)

If you get the message "Unable to import mailboxes, can't create proxy object for destination mailboxes," open the e-mail program that you're trying to import mail from and rename your folders so that they don't contain any special characters, such as !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, and ( ). Then try importing again.

Migrating from Eudora or Netscape Communicator using the wizard

Choose Tools --> Import to open the Import Wizard; click the application that you want to import mail from and click OK.

Migrating from other e-mail programs

Thunderbird reads files in standard Unix mailbox format (.mbx). To migrate your mail from other e-mail programs, follow these steps:

1. Export your mail, in your original e-mail program, into .mbx format.

2. Quit your old e-mail program and change the name of the file by deleting its extension. For example, change myMail.mbx to myMail. Delete the period, too, and any special characters in its name, if it has any, such as !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, and ( ).

3. Close Thunderbird if it is running.

4. Locate Thunderbird's Profile directory on the Desktop or in the Finder (Mac). See Table 1 for the most likely locations of the profile folder.

If your operating system is Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you need to enable Windows Explorer to see both hidden and system files in order to see the Documents and Settings folder.

5. Move the file in step 3 to the /Mail/Local Folders subdirectory of Thunderbird's Profile directory.

Now when you start Thunderbird, you can access your imported files.

Table 1: Location of Thunderbird Profile Directories

Operating system	Log In	Location
Windows 95	No	C:\Windows\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Windows 95	Yes	C:\Windows\Profiles\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default
Windows 98	No	C:\Windows\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Windows 98	Yes	C:\Windows\Profiles\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default
Windows ME	No	C:\Windows\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Windows ME	Yes	C:\Windows\Profiles\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default
Windows 2000	—	C:\Documents and Settings\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Windows XP	—	C:\Documents and Settings\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Windows NT	—	C:\WINNT\Profiles\ [Log-in Name] \Application Data\Mozilla\Thunderbird\Profiles\ [random string] .default\
Mac OS X	—	~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/ [random string] .default/
Linux	—	~/.thunderbird/ [random string] .default/

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