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Import E-mail Folders & Messages

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Hardware & Software October 2000 • Vol.6 Issue 10 Page(s) 61-62 in print issue	Add To My Personal Library
Import E-mail Folders & Messages You Can Easily Transfer Data From One E-mail Application To Another

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One of the main concerns when changing e-mail programs is what to do with old messages and address books. You can leave the messages where they are, but that means keeping two e-mail programs on your computer, in case you ever need to read an old message. If you have more than a few entries in your old address book, it could take hours to manually enter them into your new address book.

Fortunately, there's no need to go to all that trouble. Most e-mail programs provide you with the tools needed to import messages and address books, and in some cases, even configuration settings such as mail server names and account names.

Messenger 4.74. Netscape's e-mail client, Netscape Messenger, which comes with the Netscape Communicator suite of Web tools, can import mail and address books from QUALCOMM Eudora, Microsoft Outlook Express, and Microsoft Outlook 97/98. Messenger can also import text files, address books in LDIF (LDAP [Lightweight Directory Access Protocol] Data Interchange Format), and mail and address books from all previous versions of Messenger, including Netscape Mail.

To access Messenger's import utility, launch Messenger, then select the Import command from the File menu. The Import window will display all available supported import formats. Select the program you want to import your messages or address books from and then click the Next button.

For example, if you want to import mailboxes from Eudora, select Eudora from the Import list and click Next. The Eudora Import dialog box will display the path name to the directory that contains the mailboxes. If the path name is incorrect or the Import utility can't locate the correct directory, you can use the Browse button to locate the mailboxes.

Below the path name is a window listing your Eudora mailboxes. You can select all mailboxes or specific mailboxes. You may notice Eudora folder information is in the list, but you can't select the folders. If you choose a mailbox that resides within a folder, Messenger will replicate the folder structure. Place a check mark next to the mailboxes you want to import, enter a name for the destination folder in Messenger, and then click the Next button. Next, you will see your Eudora address books. To import an address book, place a check mark next to its name. Imported address books retain their individual names, and Messenger adds them to its existing address books. When you finish making your selections, click the Finish button to import the mailboxes and/or address books. ( NOTE: The process for importing mail and address books from Outlook and Outlook Express is similar, although Messenger doesn't presently support versions 5.0 and later.)

Messenger also supports comma or tab delimited text files as the source for an address book. If you can export your address books in either of these text formats, Messenger can import and recreate them.

Eudora 4.3.2. QUALCOMM's Eudora e-mail program can import messages and address books from Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express and Netscape's Messenger. Eudora can also import configuration settings.

To import information, launch Eudora and then select Import from the File menu. The Import window will list supported e-mail programs on your computer. Select a program and then select messages to import. (If you have multiple e-mail accounts, you can select only one account at a time.) Place a check mark next to the type of data, address book or mail, and then click OK to start the import process. Eudora will place e-mail messages and mailboxes in a folder named after the originating program. For example, if you import mail from Outlook Express, you will find the messages in the Outlook Express folder. If you import more than one account from the same program, each subsequent folder will have a number appended to it (Outlook Express 1, Outlook Express 2, etc.). Once you finish importing the folders, you can change their names.

Importing Messenger address books requires an additional step: saving the address book in LDIF format. Launch Messenger and then open the Address Book by selecting Address Book from the Communicator menu. From the Address Book window, select the File menu and click Export (earlier versions of Messenger may instead have a Save command). When the Export window opens, name the address book, set the Save As Type field to LDIF, and click Save. (Make sure you note where you save the file.) Launch Eudora and start the import process. In the Import settings window, click the Browse button, locate the Messenger address book you just saved, and then click Next to import it.

To import mail settings, open Eudora's Tools menu and select Personalities. Right-click in the Personalities window and choose New from the pop-up menu. In the New Account Wizard window, select Import settings from an existing e-mail account and then click the Next button. Eudora will display a list of supported e-mail programs on your computer. If you have multiple accounts within an e-mail program, select one, and click Next to start the import process. Click Finish to save the new account information. Repeat for any additional e-mail account settings you want to import.

Outlook Express 5. Outlook Express can import messages from Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Internet Mail, Microsoft Windows Messaging, Netscape Messenger, Netscape Mail, and QUALCOMM Eudora. (According to the Import list, Outlook Express supports Eudora only through version 3, but we had no problems importing messages from Eudora 4.3.2.) Outlook Express can import address books from Messenger, Eudora, and Microsoft Internet Mail, as well as LDIF and comma-separated text files.

To import messages, open the File menu, select Import, and then click Messages. Next, select an e-mail program and click the Next button. The path name to the directory containing the source mailboxes will display. If the path name is incorrect or the Import utility can't locate the correct directory, you can use the Browse button to locate it. Click the Next button for a list of mailboxes. You can import all mailboxes or select specific mailboxes. Click the Next button to start the import process. When the process is complete, click the Finish button.

To import address books, open the File menu, click Import, and select Other Address Book. Make a selection from the list of supported address book formats and click the Import button. If Outlook Express finds the address book, it will start the import process. If Outlook Express cannot locate the address book, it will ask you if you want to manually select the address book file. Click the Yes button, locate the address book file, and then click Open to continue. If an entry in the imported address book duplicates an entry in your Outlook Express address book, the program will ask you if you want to keep the existing entry or replace it with the imported entry.

To Import mail settings, open the File menu, click Import, and select Mail Account Settings. Outlook Express will search for installed e-mail programs on your computer. Select a program and click Next. If you have more than one e-mail account, you will need to select one at a time. Outlook Express will then ask you to confirm the settings it will be importing. If you want to make any changes, select the Change Settings option and then click Next. You will the have the opportunity to change mail account settings, including the account name, e-mail address, and mail servers. If the account information is correct, choose the Accept Settings option and click Next. To save the new settings, click the Finish button. Repeat the process to import additional account settings.

Outlook 2000. Outlook can import mail and address books from QUALCOMM Eudora, Netscape Messenger, Netscape Mail, Microsoft Internet Mail, and Microsoft Outlook Express.

To import messages and address books, go to the File menu and select the Import And Export command. In the Import And Export wizard dialog box, select Import Internet Mail And Addresses and click Next. Then, select an e-mail program and place a check mark next to the type of data you want to import, such as mail or address book, and click Next. Select an option for duplicate entries (Replace Duplicates With Items Imported, Allow Duplicates To Be Created, Do Not Import Duplicates) and then click the Finish button. If Outlook cannot locate the source mail directory, it will display the standard folder browser. Locate the mail folder and click OK to continue. A progress bar will track the import process. When complete, a status window will display the number of messages and addresses that the program successfully imported. Click the Save In Inbox button to save the imported data.

To import mail account settings, select Import And Export from the File menu. In the Import And Export dialog box, select Import Internet Mail Account Settings. The Internet Connection Wizard will search for installed/supported e-mail programs. Select a program from the list and click the Next button. If you have multiple accounts, you will need to select one and then confirm the settings. If they are correct, choose the Accept Settings option; otherwise, select the Change Settings option and make any desired changes. Once you verify the settings, click the Finish button to save the new settings. Repeat the process to import additional account settings.

by Tom Nelson and Mary O'Connor

Six Helpful Hints

Here are some more helpful tips for importing e-mail messages and files from one program to another.

1. Before setting up your new e-mail program, write down the settings from your present program. Even though many newer programs can import settings, some cannot; you will need this information to set up your new program and access your e-mail account(s).

2. Back up your e-mail. Even if you can import your present messages into your new program, an error during the import process could cause problems with your existing files.

3. If your new e-mail program can't import from the present one, look for a common format. For instance, Outlook Express can import many formats Outlook doesn't support. So you may want to import your files into Outlook Express and then into Outlook.

4. If you have problems importing address books, save the address book as either a text file (tab or comma delimited) or an LDIF (LDAP [Lightweight Directory Access Protocol] Data Interchange Format) file. Most e-mail programs support these formats.

5. If you have trouble importing messages from your old e-mail program, consider using its redirect command to resend the messages to you. Collect the messages in your new e-mail program.

6. If you can't import your messages, consider leaving your old e-mail program on your computer. In most cases, having more than one e-mail client installed is not a problem, and you'll have it handy if you need to retrieve an old message.

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