Moving mail between KMail, Mozilla, and Evolution

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

For those of you moving mail around between KMail, Mozilla, or Evolution or from 
one system to another, I found this very informative post in the Xandros forums.
-- Mike808/

http://xrl.us/jm7 (Link to forums.xandros.com)

Or, for those who like to type:

http://forums.xandros.com/viewtopic.php?t=1551&sid=647f2f13fd2740520788e7d3e540f946


Reviewing Old Mail - HOWTO (KMail, Mozilla, Evolution and Outlook Express)

I began this safari of how to review old saved mail when I decided the things I
didn't like about KMail and Mozilla required looking for something different.
So, I installed Evolution. Then I realized this reviewing of old mail was a big
issue, and I didn't know how to do it in Evolution. I asked the question in "Off
Topic" and got a response for KMail (Thanks Ipbbear!), but none for Evolution.
The blocks all started to fall in place when I got a response from Mark Gordon
of Ximian, which was surprising in itself. (I perceived these "firewalls" around
the castles of "FreeSofwareDom" to be impenetrable unless you were on the team
etc. - maybe I was wrong!)

Now I know how to review saved mail for all of them - KMail, Mozilla, Evolution,
and Outlook Express. If I'm the only one who didn't know this, then I'm sorry I
wasted the space, but - then shame on you for not answering my question!

The nice thing about what I found is that links can be used with all except
Outlook Express. Maybe they also can be with OE, but since I don't know (or
maybe it's "remember") how do do Windows links, I didn't pursue it. It may be
that links are the only thing that will ever be used (I think it's all I'll ever
use), but I will include the file copying method also.

Rev. 1, 2-17-03: Not Necessarily true! See, for example, Mozilla File
Manipulation for revision.

KMail is probably the easiest:
1) Using Links: The subject is covered in the KMail FAQ's #6.26, and is as follows:

Simply create a symlink in your ~/Mail directory using ln -s
/somewhere/Mail/mymailboxfile ~/Mail/remote. When you start KMail you will see a
new folder with the name remote that contains the mails in your remote folder.
If you want to add a whole remote mail directory use ln -s /somewhere/Mail
~/Mail/.remotedir.directory. For that case you also need to create a new empty
folder named remotedir with KMail. The folder remotedir will then contain all
remote mailbox folders as subfolders. Simply create a symlink in your ~/Mail
directory using ln -s /somewhere/Mail/mymailboxfile ~/Mail/remote. When you
start KMail you will see a new folder with the name remote that contains the
mails in your remote folder. If you want to add a whole remote mail directory
use ln -s /somewhere/Mail ~/Mail/.remotedir.directory. For that case you also
need to create a new empty folder named remotedir with KMail. The folder
remotedir will then contain all remote mailbox folders as subfolders

2) File Manipulation: As pointed out by ipbbear in "Off Topic -> File backups in
general", with KMail closed, rename or move the /home/username/Mail directory to
a temporary file of your choice. Then copy the mail directory with files you
wish to review to /home/username/Mail. Reopen KMail, and the old mail should be
there to review.

Mozilla Mail:
The Mozilla mail files are in the hidden directory ~./mozilla/default/{a
number}.slt/Mail/userFolder. In each folder, whether Local Folders or a
userFolder, there are 2 files for each of the mail box types that exist, for
example, Inbox or Sent. One file has no extension, the other an .msf extension.
Only the non-extension file is manipulated, the .msf file can be ignored. The
following steps assume you have previously saved one of these non-extension
files at a remote location.

1) Links: In Mozilla, click on the userFolder in which you want the new
mailFolders to exist. Create a new mailFolder or folders for the mail you want
to review (OldInbox, OldSent, OldDrafts, etc.) using "File -> New -> Folder". Be
sure you see your userFolder listed under "Create as a subfolder of:" Enter the
name of your mailFolder. Click OK, and you will see your new folder. Open the
X-File Manager and find your new file. Delete the (empty) one with no extension.
Click on the userFolder of the file. Now open a Console using "Tools -> Open
Console Window". You will see that it is located at the correct directory.*
Create the link to your saved mail. It will look something like this (assuming
your file is on a zip drive):
"ln -s /var/autofs/zip.1/zip.1/MailFiles/Mozilla/savedmail OldBox".
(Note there is a space before "OldBox".) Verify the link by entering ls -l.
Close the Console. Now return to Mozilla Mail. Your saved mail should now be
available in your new "OldBox". I found it was not necessary to close and
relaunch Mozilla Mail. To delete this mail, delete the link using X-File
Manager. Then, in Mozilla, copy any e-mail into it. You can then delete the
folder. NOTE: You may not be able to save mail containing links.

2) File Manipulation: Follow the steps for "Links" above down through the *.
Enter mc (Midnight Commander). Route to your saved file in one panel, and the
userFolder in the other. Clicking File -> Copy, copy the saved file to the file
you've created, making certain you enter the correct name after the Target File
folder. Return to Mozlla Mail, and you should find your saved mail in place.

Note that I recommend Midnight Commander for 2 reasons. I do not see any way in
File Manager to copy a file to a different file name as you can with "mc" (so I
had to change the name of the source file), and I had some mixed success with
the File Manager. That means after copying, the mailbox wouldn't open.

Rev. 1, 2-17-03: To Review an Entire Folder: To review an entire folder, in
Mozilla create a new phoney account, filling in the blanks with anything, except
the server name will have to look like it's real, like "my.files.net" for
example. I suggest you make the Account Name the same to prevent confusion.
There will now be a folder by that name under "Mail". At the OldMail (backup)
location, select all files in the folder to be viewed and copy them to the new
folder you just created. You should new be able to review the old mail.

When you are ready to delete the old mail account, click on the account and then
select "View settings for this account". Click "Remove Account", then "OK". This
does not delete the directory, however. Go to the X-File Manager and delete the
directory. If you do not delete the directory and create a new account of the
same name, it will create a new directory named my.files-1.net.

Evolution:
The following information is based on a response I received from Mark Gordon of
Ximian in answer to my question of how to access old mail that was saved remotely.

The Evolution files are in the directory ~/evolution/local. Each mailbox has its
own folder, and there are up to six files in each one. The ONLY one you have to
be concerned with is mbox, and there is an mbox file in every mailbox folder.
The following steps assume you have previously saved this file for each of the
folders you wish to preserve at a remote location.

1) Links: In Evolution, click on "File -> New -> Folder". Enter the name of the
folder you are creating for your old mail. Be sure "Folder type" is "Mail".
Click on the container folder for the mailboxes (e.g. "Local Folders" or etc.).
Click OK. There should be a new entry for this new folder. Open an X-File
Manager, delete the mbox file, and click on the new folder where you will view
the saved mail.* Open a Console by clicking "Tools -> Open Console Window". You
will see that it is at the correct directory. Create the link to your saved
mail. It will look something like this (assuming your file is on a zip drive):
"ln -s /var/autofs/zip.1/zip.1/MailFiles/Evolution/mbox mbox".
(Note there is a space between the two words "mbox".) Verify the link by
entering ls -l. Close the Console. Now return to Evolution. Your saved mail
should now be available in your new "OldBox". I found it was not necessary to
close and relaunch Evolution.

2) File Manipulation: Follow the steps for "Links" above down through the *.
Using the X-File Manager, copy the applicable saved "mbox" file to the new mail
folder you have created. Return to Evolution. You should now be able to review
your old mail. (For Evolution, this might actually be the easiest method!)

Outlook Express (OE):
The mail files for Outlook Express have the extension .dbx. They are contained
in the directory
c:\windows\Application Data\Identities\{a long number}\Microsoft\Outlook Express.
The following steps assume you have previously saved these files you wished to
preserve at a remote location before deleting mail from OE.

1) Links: No instructions for linking.

2) File Manipulation: (With Outlook Express closed.) Copy present, active, mail
(all .dbx files) to a safe (temporary) place. Copy the .dbx files from the
stored area to the OE directory noted above. Launch Outlook Express. Review old
mail. Close Outlook Express. Delete the old mail from the OE directory. Copy the
recent (active) mail from the temporary directory back to the OE directory.
Launch Outlook Express.

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It may be that there are glitches in the above. If so bring them to my attention.
Lauren

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http://www.valuenet.net



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