288158 - Importing email, e-adrs and etc. to Thunderbird could and should be much easier.

Status: RESOLVED EXPIRED

(Thunderbird :: Migration, defect)

Description

[Joe Hutchinson]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20041001 Firefox/0.10.1
Build Identifier: Thunderbird version 1.0 (20041206)

Thunderbird version 1.0 (20041206), Win98se, 384mb RAM, multiple drives and
partitions.

I'm an old hack at PC's (1987 DOS user, thank Isis today!) and I've the same
difficulty as Redda (http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=242408) but
more involved. In general I've been happy with both FireFox 1.0 and ThunderBird
1.0.... BUT: Very few times have I had a more difficult "import" implimentation
for email messages and email contacts. After the most recent 5 hour session of
import attempts, I currently have 4 "sent" folders, 2 "draft", 4 "trash", 2
"junk" (none of which are deletable from within the program I might add), and 19
"Outlook Express" import folders (with 100's of sub folders)... ad nausium that
needs to be sorted. All because I have backed up my email account files (both
Tbird and OE6) on another drive and reinstalled Windows 98se. 

My server tower has multiple hard drives (some removable) and some with extra
partitions.  Tbird could not find ANY of my address books (either OE or TB)
because they are on backed up drives.  It doesn't auto search for native TB
address books or mail files beyond C: in the current install of windows and
gives no options to manually search other locations in any drive if the files
aren't in the CORRECT install location in Windows. Strangely I can do the mail
search if the files are OE "dbx" files. (I even manually found the 1997 Eudora
folders I hadn't tried to import in years but the folders came up empty.) 

I finally got my e-adrs by activating Outlook Express (which I'd tried to avoid
because I'd hoped TB was superior), importing the old files to it and then
letting TB "auto-import" from there. This "option" is easier than your FAQ
"manual" method BTW.

SO Tunderboid an' Furfox developers, here's how to make a wholealota
ex-competitor friends and avoid this considerable annoyance to the customer in
future versions:

1. Allow WIDE search and import capibilities for all types of (former)
email/browser clients, esp. your own!!!
2. Allow the possibility of searching ALL DRIVES and folders by extension.
Example: If all instances of "xxxx.DBX" and "xxxx.WAB" could be found then all
would be jake in minutes. HUZZAH!!
3. Allow the search results to include date the file was last modified so the
most recent backup would be devined or a prefered file used.
4. Allow a "find duplicate messages and folders" search option for imported
messages. Allow all move, del, cut and paste options for the result. 
5. Allow deletion of critical empty folders IF a duplicate named folder exists
in the same account.
6. There is no email folder "export" option to ease migration. (I did note the
e-adrs do have this option.)

Thank you for looking into this. -JoPower

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Tools\Import\Address Books
2. Select email client (note Tbird isn't listed... glaring error)
3. Search is VERY narrow and misses ANY location beyond Windows usual storage
location. NO manual search allowed.
4. Same pretty much for both email and e-adr files, except for Outlook Express
where it's somewhat better. (Allows manual search for emails, but e-adrs aren't
imported if found outside Windows.)
5. When files/folders manually installed, redundancies not fully correctable
within program and folders sometimes not manually deleteable outside program. 
Actual Results:  

No files/addresses imported. Search for email is somewhat better for Outlook
Express "DBX" files BUT has no clue as to native Tbird files. When files are
manually moved, full editting not enabled to remove redundancies.

Expected Results:  
My suggestions for a proper solution all around:

1. Allow the same WIDE search capibilities for all types of (former)
email/browser clients, esp. your own!!!

2. Allow the possibility of searching ALL DRIVES and folders by extension.
Example: If all instances of "xxxx.DBX" and "xxxx.WAB" could be found then we'd
be jake in minutes. HUZZAH!!

3. Allow the search results to include date the file was last modified so the
most recent backup would be devined or a prefered file retreived.

4. Allow a "find duplicate messages and folders" search option for imported
messages. Allow all move, del, cut and paste options for the result. 

5. Allow deletion of critical empty folders IF a duplicate named folder exists
in the same account.

6. There is no email folder "export" option to ease migration. (I did note the
e-adrs do have this option.)

This is not a crash situation but it is a major annoyance and barrier to the
implimentation of Thunderbird by new and established customers.

Comment 1

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 2

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.