Migrating from Mailsmith 2.2 to Eudora

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Peta

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Nov 3, 2009, 7:06:59 AM11/3/09
to Mailsmith Talk
Good morning,

I have been looking for information on how to migrate from Mailsmith
2.2 back to Eudora, with no success.
Could you point me in the right direction? Are there any utilities I
might use to convert the mbox format to readable Eudora mailboxes
(showing the correct status for sent/received messages), after
exporting my mailboxes from Mailsmith?

TIA,

P.B.

Steve Kalkwarf

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Nov 3, 2009, 8:31:25 AM11/3/09
to mailsmi...@googlegroups.com

Fortunately, the files Mailsmith exports are mbox files, and Eudora's
native storage format is mbox.

It's been about 10 years since I've used Eudora, but I think you can
just drop the exported files into the Eudora Mail hierarchy, and
they'll be read and used when Eudora launches.

Status is another animal. I would expect that dates would be
preserved, but both Eudora and Mailsmith store their read/replied/
forwarded flags external to the message data, and I know of no
automated way to migrate that state.

Mailsmith is scriptable, so you can easily access those flags, but I
can't remember if Eudora will let you set them.

Steve

Peta

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Nov 3, 2009, 9:10:39 AM11/3/09
to Mailsmith Talk
Thank you Steve. I have some 100,000 messages stored in nearly 200
mailboxes, and I was hoping there was a way to preserve the status
when migrating back from Mailsmith. I can't remember exactly which,
because it was a few years ago, but I remember using a utility to
convert my old (Eudora) messages to Mailsmith while preserving status
information. Do you (or someone else) happen to know what that might
be?

Many thanks again.

P.B.

On 3 Nov, 14:31, Steve Kalkwarf <kalkw...@barebones.com> wrote:
...

Peta

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Nov 3, 2009, 9:12:25 AM11/3/09
to Mailsmith Talk
Forgot -

On 3 Nov, 14:31, Steve Kalkwarf <kalkw...@barebones.com> wrote:
....
>
> Mailsmith is scriptable, so you can easily access those flags,


You might be overestimating me, as I don't know a thing about
scripts :)

Again, where could I look for help?

Many thanks,

P.B.

Peta

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Nov 3, 2009, 10:13:48 AM11/3/09
to Mailsmith Talk
Further to my previous messages -

On 3 Nov, 14:31, Steve Kalkwarf <kalkw...@barebones.com> wrote:
...
>
> Fortunately, the files Mailsmith exports are mbox files, and Eudora's  
> native storage format is mbox.


It looks like Eudora thinks differently. I have tried exporting a
single mailbox via the "Export Mail..." command in Mailsmith, and then
moved the .mbox file into Eudora's own Mail Folder. Sadly, when I try
to access the file, Eudora complains that this is "not a properly
formatted mailbox".

I suspect this is a question for some Eudora expert. So I mention it
here just in case someone has the answer, and also of course for
others in my situation.

P.B.

Jason Davies

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Nov 3, 2009, 1:02:15 PM11/3/09
to mailsmi...@googlegroups.com

On 3 Nov 2009, at 14:10, Peta wrote:

> Thank you Steve. I have some 100,000 messages stored in nearly 200
> mailboxes, and I was hoping there was a way to preserve the status
> when migrating back from Mailsmith. I can't remember exactly which,
> because it was a few years ago, but I remember using a utility to
> convert my old (Eudora) messages to Mailsmith while preserving status
> information. Do you (or someone else) happen to know what that might
> be?


that would be the Applescript importer that they provided...

Peta

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Nov 3, 2009, 4:00:56 PM11/3/09
to Mailsmith Talk
On 3 Nov, 19:02, Jason Davies <ophioc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> that would be the Applescript importer that they provided...

"They".... referring to whom in particular?
If you could help me locate such a script, that would be great.

Many thanks in advance.

P.B.

Jason Davies

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Nov 3, 2009, 5:37:55 PM11/3/09
to mailsmi...@googlegroups.com

On 3 Nov 2009, at 21:00, Peta wrote:

>
> "They".... referring to whom in particular?
> If you could help me locate such a script, that would be great.

Bare Bones. Certainly there was a time when MS used scripts to import
stuff but that's going back a long time now...try googling around.

If you don't know Applescript, I wouldn't recommend you start with
this project. Whatever Mailsmith exports is going to be robust mbox
format. If Eudora can't handle that, frankly that would be enough for
me to distrust it. You could try going via Mail and re-exporting and
see if Eudora does it (I didn't even realise Eudora was still
shipping, I thought it had been folded into Thunderbird)..

You have a tough choice here. Either learn enough Applescript to do it
or use a different emailer. I suspect most people here aren't in a
position to help because they're not going to download Eudora to spend
some hours saving you the trouble. They're a generous bunch but
they're not THAT generous!

Steve Kalkwarf

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Nov 3, 2009, 5:51:08 PM11/3/09
to mailsmi...@googlegroups.com
On Nov 3, 2009, at 5:37 PM, Jason Davies wrote:

> If you don't know Applescript, I wouldn't recommend you start with
> this project. Whatever Mailsmith exports is going to be robust mbox
> format. If Eudora can't handle that, frankly that would be enough for
> me to distrust it.

It's far enough in the past that I might be making this up, but I
think Eudora used CR as the linebreak character, and I know Mailsmith
writes out LF.

My (last) suggestion would be:
open the sample mbox in TextWrangler/BBEdit;
change the linebreaks to "Classic Mac (CR)" using the menu at the
bottom of the window;
save;
try to access the mail in Eudora.

Good luck.

Steve

Peta

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Nov 4, 2009, 3:41:18 AM11/4/09
to Mailsmith Talk
Thank you Steve. Sadly, this didn't work. Of course I understand it's
not your job to solve Eudora's problems.

Jason - it's really good that you like Mailsmith so much. Evidently
you don't know a thing about Eudora, and it'd be wise of you not to
comment on what you don't know.

Migrating from Eudora to Mailsmith 1.5, a couple of years ago, was a
cinch. Admittedly, I used a utility (which then existed, to reapply
the correct status to my messages), but the whole operation took no
longer than an hour, and I had roughly the same number of messages as
these days.

Now, migrating back to Eudora is taking days. I started using Eudora
the day before yesterday, and found I had to manually rebuild all my
settings, because there's no (easy) way to extract anything from
Mailsmith's database. Accounts (personalities), signatures,
stationery, address book - I am re-typing or copying and pasting
everything back into Eudora, which is not funny, believe me.

In spite of all this, Eudora is already showing me how much faster
"she" can check mail and run searches for me. And I know I'll soon
make up for the time I am spending rebuilding my email environment,
thanks to Eudora's better way of dealing with my requirements.

I really wish I didn't listen to those who, a few years ago, insisted
that Eudora was dead and it was high time to move on to some "better"
email program. Like you, they evidently didn't know a thing about
Eudora.

P.B.

Charlie Garrison

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Nov 4, 2009, 8:48:09 AM11/4/09
to mailsmi...@googlegroups.com
Good morning,

On 4/11/09 at 12:41 AM -0800, Peta <websu...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Now, migrating back to Eudora is taking days. I started using Eudora
>the day before yesterday, and found I had to manually rebuild all my
>settings, because there's no (easy) way to extract anything from
>Mailsmith's database. Accounts (personalities), signatures,
>stationery, address book - I am re-typing or copying and pasting
>everything back into Eudora, which is not funny, believe me.

You should ask on the Eudora mailing list. All the info you want
can easily be extracted from Mailsmith using AppleScript.
Getting that data into Eudora is best handled by those "who know
a thing about Eudora". (I know a thing or two about Eudora, but
your attitude doesn't engender much desire for me to take my
time to help.)

Just as Eudora didn't offer any way to move all my data to
Mailsmith years ago, I wouldn't expect Mailsmith to have an
export to Eudora feature. (It does offer an export to mbox,
which has worked for me with Eudora and every other mailer I've
used to read those files. Maybe you've got a buggy Eudora.)

The best place to ask about getting data & settings into Eudora
would be the Eudora mailing list.

You could also use your data archives (you did archive your
Eudora mail store & settings, correct) to restore your previous
Eudora setup. That would save you from having to re-enter all
your settings; you would simply need to update them with any new addresses.


Charlie

--
Ꮚ Charlie Garrison ♊ <garr...@zeta.org.au>
〠 PO Box 141, Windsor, NSW 2756, Australia

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Peta

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Nov 4, 2009, 8:55:49 AM11/4/09
to Mailsmith Talk
On Nov 4, 2:48 pm, Charlie Garrison <garri...@zeta.org.au> wrote:
> Getting that data into Eudora is best handled by those "who know
> a thing about Eudora". (I know a thing or two about Eudora, but
> your attitude doesn't engender much desire for me to take my
> time to help.)
>

Boy, talk about attitude! I'm happy to do without your help, thank
you :-)

P.B.

Charlie Garrison

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Nov 4, 2009, 9:33:10 AM11/4/09
to mailsmi...@googlegroups.com
Good morning,

On 4/11/09 at 5:55 AM -0800, Peta <websu...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Boy, talk about attitude! I'm happy to do without your help, thank
>you :-)

Of course, you get what you give.

I've given heaps of help to others on this list; a little
courtesy without ranting goes a long way.

Comments like this:

>In spite of all this, Eudora is already showing me how much faster
>"she" can check mail and run searches for me. And I know I'll soon
>make up for the time I am spending rebuilding my email environment,
>thanks to Eudora's better way of dealing with my requirements.

really tend to turn people away. Do you want help, or do you
want to complain?

And comments like this:

>Like you, they evidently didn't know a thing about Eudora.

sound like an outright insult. (Yes, I know that wasn't directed
at me, but I still caught the attitude.)

Anyway, enough from me, I can hear the trolls rampaging, and
there is no more food here.

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