How to Convert Thunderbird Mail to Outlook Express
Mozilla's Thunderbird email client is quite extensive and customizable. It is for this very reason that it may be a bit of overkill for the average user looking to just send and receive mail. If you've given Thunderbird a try and aren't satisfied, there's no need to fret and give up on email. Moving all those messages out of Thunderbird and into Outlook Express is a fairly straightforward process.
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Instructions
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1
Create a new folder on your desktop. Select "File" > "New Folder" from within Windows Explorer. Name the folder "Mail."
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2
Locate the Thunderbird Profile folder. This folder is typically located at "C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles." Inside this folder are two different file types--.mbox files and .msf files. The .mbox files may not have an extension. There is one for each folder in Thunderbird (Inbox, Sent, Work, Personal, etc.).
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3
Highlight each .mbox file. Control-select to select multiple files at once. Select "Edit" > "Copy." Open the "Mail" folder created in Step 1 and select "Edit" > "Paste."
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4
Download and install IMAPSize (see Resource below). This utility converts the Thunderbird .mbox files into a format readable by Outlook Express.
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5
Run IMAPSize. Select "Tools" > "mbox2eml." Select the .mbox files in the "Mail" folder. Save the converted eml files in the "Mail" folder and select "Convert." Convert each .mbox file to .eml. Exit IMAPSize.
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6
Open Outlook Express. Drag each .eml folder to the corresponding folder within Outlook Express (drag Inbox.eml to OE's Inbox). Outlook will process the files and import the messages.
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