Importing from Kmail to Mozilla
 

Well, for over a week now, Kmail has been not letting me send mail properly. And since I'm not using IE, Hotmail won't let me attach files.

I've tried configuring KMail to use Sendmail instead of SMTP. I've changed its security settings. I've tinkered with everything I know how to tinker with (which is relatively little), and I've spent seven or eight hours total (including from 5:30 to now, 7:24, this morning) trying to get it to work. No dice.

Taking my mail to work on a diskette and sending it from there is getting a little tired, and I've been looking for answers to the KMail problem for a while, including on this forum and many others. No working answers as of yet.

Mozilla WORKS. I'd love to switch to Mozilla and have done with it.

But.

1. There is no "export" on KMail.

2. There is no "import" on Mozilla that gives me any options other than "Communicator."

3. When I try to move my mail from KMail to Mozilla manually, the Mozilla mail seems to be in my /home/matt/.mozilla/bunchofbizarrecrap subdirectories; moving/pasting my Kmail to there just gives me a whack of crap folders that don't contain anything but subfolders with names like "curr".

KDE 3.1.4, KMail 1.5.4, SuSE 9.0, Mozilla 1.6.


Can somebody please help me? After a week and countless hours of frustration with KMail, I just want to switch my e-mail from KMail to Mozilla, for God's sake. It's text! How can this involve a sixteen-step process that requires a bigger brain trust than the Manhattan Project?

By the way: if anyone wants to see the Kmail thread, it's in the Software forum, header "kmail wont send," or just search for my name.

From the main Kmail window select Tools/Address Book.
A new window will appear with the title "Address Book Browser - KAddressBook"

From the Address Book Browser select File/Export

Now you simply need to choose the export format (CSV, LDIF, etc.)

I don't use Mozilla so I can't comment on what format it will recognize, but I do know that Thunderbird (a mozilla release) will import LDIF files so you might try that first.

You can export from Kmail to MOzilla but you must be using the "mbox" format in kmail before you can tranfer them to mozilla.
In Kmail, go to
Configure- Kmail and click on General.
You will see a box labeled "By default message folders on disk are xxx format."

Change it from maildir to mbox, click appy and go back to your inbox.

The next step helps since you already have an "inbox" in Mozilla. Make a new mail folder in kmail called kmail-import and move all of the mail you want to move to that folder.

Now, last part is to close kmail and go into your /home/yourname/mail folder and find the mbox file you just made (kmail-import) copy it and paste it it your /home/yourname/.mozilla/default/xxxxx/Mail/correctserver folder. The next time you start mozilla mail you will see your new folder and will be able to access those messages.

OK. New guy here just so you will know.

I tried this and it seems Kmail is not making the 'switch' to mbox. I put the kmail-import directory in the correct folder and it is there but it doesn't contain anything. Kmail shows just under 1000 messages. Is there something I have to do to get Kmail to make this switch? I closed it and then reopened. No change there.

I tried to copy one of the folders inside the Kmail-import directory, cur which was full of stuff, and then I see the list of files but it seems it can't read them. It is a bunch of numbers and letters for the names.

I think I did it right, I just think something is not right in Kmail. I also noticed that Mozilla mail has what looks like a file instead of a directory. Is it Mozilla that needs changing?

Any advice?? I'm confused here.

Thanks

:scratch: :scratch: :confused: :confused:

:D :D

When you did the steps below, did it show mbox format?
When you open kmail does it show that it is still in mbox format?
It should be a file that you moved and NOT a folder. MBOX mail is in a single text file and not a directory with individual messages. Look for a single file named whatever you named the mail folder in kmail ie.. "kmail-import".

If you are seeing the folder name in Mozilla and it has no mail in it then you moved the wrong file (probably a folder instead).

OH, the file not the folder. I'll be back in a bit, after I get through beating my head.

Thanks. I'll let you know if it works.

I love this Mozilla mail so far.

:D :D :D :D

Hi dalek,

Thanks for your kind reply to my post.

I succeeded in transferring mail from Kmail to Mozilla thenks to Frank_Drebin's information.

After changing the folder's format to mbox in Kmail, create as many NEW folders as you need, as high as possible in the folder hierarchy, using names that you will recognize easily. Then copy the files from the old folders to the new ones. Copying folders just doesn't work (or maybe I did something wrong).

Finally, close Kmail, go to Kmail's folder and look for files named like the directories you just created. Copy those files into the .mozilla directory as indicated by Frank_Drebin, open Mozilla and the magic should work (I might have forgotten something since I did this tricky thing one or two weeks ago and didn't think of taking notes...).

I wish you success.

Eh, I gave up. I can just open Kmail if I need them. Glad you had better luck though. :scratch:

Later

:D :D :D

Sorry that I couldn't help...

By the way, when I wrote "Then copy the files from the old folders to the new ones.", I meant messages, not "files", as you have to do this under Kmail.

I had to mess around a little too before finding the right files and where to move them.

I hope you will find the way too (just rest your thoughts and try again later).

I probably did something wrong, no big deal though. I may have to switch anyway. No expire function for old e-mails. Kmail had that, Mozilla don't.

Thanks anyway. Glad that link helped.

Later

:D :D :D

I can't find the setting in kmail which changes the mail to "mbox" format. I am using: KMail 1.7.1,
KDE 3.3.0,
Thunderbird v0.8

Go to configure then click Misc. It is about the third from the bottom. If they didn't move it. I have a pretty close version so it should be there.

Hope that helps.

:D :D :D :D :D

Thanks for the help. I have now managed to transfer all my mail successfully. V. Grateful.