Exporting address book

[Marty]

I'm trying to copy an address book from computer A (Win 7) to computer B
(Win 10).

When exporting, I have to select CSV or LDIF file type. Which should I use?

I tried it both ways. How can you verify that it worked? I opened the
CSV file in Notepad and all I saw was a paragraph with field names
strung together with no data about people. I was unable to the open the
LDIF.

Based on recent attempts with a CSV file, I'm expecting problems with
importing which I'll ask about in a separate thread.

[Mike Easter]

Marty wrote:
> I'm trying to copy an address book from computer A (Win 7) to computer B
> (Win 10).

Does that sentence mean that it is your intention to employ the use of
the addressbook in a Tb in the Win 10? Or something else?

If you are for Tb in the Win10, moving a profile is the strategy most
often employed rather than export-import.

> When exporting, I have to select CSV or LDIF file type. Which should I use?

The purpose of exporting an address book is one method of moving the
data across dissimilar applications. Only a few such as Tb use LDIF,
many can do .csv, so it is the 'least common denominator'.

> I tried it both ways. How can you verify that it worked? I opened the
> CSV file in Notepad and all I saw was a paragraph with field names
> strung together with no data about people. I was unable to the open the
> LDIF.

There are LDIF tools such as jXplorer.

> Based on recent attempts with a CSV file, I'm expecting problems with
> importing which I'll ask about in a separate thread.

In your question, you didn't specify your intentions for the
addressbook. That makes a difference in how you do it.

Here's an article about moving a profile
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer
Moving Thunderbird Data to a New Computer


--
Mike Easter

[David E. Ross]

If you have more than one address book and are trying to export all of
them in a single [Tools > Export] operation, it does not work. This is
a known bug that will be fixed, possibly in Thunderbird 47.0. In the
meantime, export your address books one at a time, each into separate
files.

See <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182460>.

--
David E. Ross

While many tributes to the late Supreme Court Associate Justice
Antonin Scalia now fill the news media, his legacy was not
necessarily positive. See my "What Price Order, Mr. Justice Scalia?"
at <http://www.rossde.com/editorials/edtl_scalia_wrong.html>.

[Chris Ilias]

On 2016-02-21 11:11 AM, Marty wrote:
> I'm trying to copy an address book from computer A (Win 7) to computer B
> (Win 10).
>
> When exporting, I have to select CSV or LDIF file type. Which should I use?

If you're moving from one installation of Thunderbird to another, just
copy the MAB file in your profile folder.

Your address books are contained in files with MAB extensions in your
profile folder. abook.mab is your personal address book. history.mab is
your collected address book.

To find your profile folder, go to Help-->Troubleshooting_Information,
click on [Show Folder], and close Thunderbird. That will open your
profile folder in Windows Explorer.

--
Chris Ilias <http://ilias.ca>
Mailing list/Newsgroup moderator

[WaltS48]

On 02/21/2016 11:57 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
> On 2/21/2016 8:11 AM, Marty wrote:
>> I'm trying to copy an address book from computer A (Win 7) to computer B
>> (Win 10).
>>
>> When exporting, I have to select CSV or LDIF file type. Which should I use?
>>
>> I tried it both ways. How can you verify that it worked? I opened the
>> CSV file in Notepad and all I saw was a paragraph with field names
>> strung together with no data about people. I was unable to the open the
>> LDIF.
>>
>> Based on recent attempts with a CSV file, I'm expecting problems with
>> importing which I'll ask about in a separate thread.
>>
>
> If you have more than one address book and are trying to export all of
> them in a single [Tools > Export] operation, it does not work. This is
> a known bug that will be fixed, possibly in Thunderbird 47.0. In the
> meantime, export your address books one at a time, each into separate
> files.
>
> See <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182460>.
>

I'm waiting for the update to 45.0b2 to test.

See <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182460#a19035178_254728>

If only fixed in 47, users would have to wait until 52 to see the fix.



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[Marty]

Perhaps I didn't make things clear enough. I want to use T-bird on my
new Win 10 machine with the same settings and address book that I use on
the Win 7 machine. Within the last month or so I asked a question here.
Following (in quotes) was my question and one of the replies.

"I will be buying a laptop shortly. My main computer is a desktop. Just
wondering how to get T-bird onto that laptop. I presume I'll start by
downloading the program. What about settings? Does Mozbackup come into
play here??

Yes, download and install the program. Don't run it, just install.
Then move the entire /users/yourname/appdata/thunderbird folder from
computer A to B
AppData is hidden, you'll have to 'show hidden files'.

Mozbackup could work, but I like just moving the folder."

Here's where things stand. I downloaded and installed T-bird on the new
machine and copied the appdata folder from the old to new machine.
During the initialization it appeared that T-bird looked at my ISP and
picked up server names or whatever. Between that and the appdata folder
(I have no idea of which accomplished what) T-bird is running great but
with only one name in the address book which presumably got there based
on a received mail and a reply.


I just assumed at that point that I needed to import the book. I
exported the book in a CSV file and now trying the import I am having
all sorts of problems.

As an aside, on the Win 10 machine, I am not seeing the list of
addressees (even though there is only one now) on the left side of the
message window like I see on the Win 7 machine.

Thanks to everyone for their patience with my lack of computer savvy.

It wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to do the book manually,
but I'd prefer import if easily doable.

[Marty]

Please ignore my comment above, "As an aside, on the Win 10 machine, I

am not seeing the list of
> addressees (even though there is only one now) on the left side of the
> message window like I see on the Win 7 machine."

Sometimes I don't think of doing things the easy way, like looking at
the View menu.
>
>
>
>
>
>

[Mike Easter]

Marty wrote:
> I downloaded and installed T-bird on the new machine and copied the
> appdata folder from the old to new machine. During the initialization it
> appeared that T-bird looked at my ISP and picked up server names or
> whatever. Between that and the appdata folder (I have no idea of which
> accomplished what) T-bird is running great but with only one name in the
> address book which presumably got there based on a received mail and a
> reply.

There are two addressbooks, personal (abook.mab) and collected
(history.mab). If you open the address book from Tb with Tools/
Addressbook, you can configure its layout to show you the books, View/
Layout/ Directory pane. Then you can select the personal (or the
Collected) and see if your addresses are already in there.

> I just assumed at that point that I needed to import the book. I
> exported the book in a CSV file and now trying the import I am having
> all sorts of problems.

You said Tb was running great, but does it seem to contain all of the
old data from the previous Tb? If everything in the profile was handled
correctly, you should have everything from both addressbooks.

> As an aside, on the Win 10 machine, I am not seeing the list of
> addressees (even though there is only one now) on the left side of the
> message window like I see on the Win 7 machine.

When you are in compose mode for writing an email, you can show the
contacts in the L pane with View/ Contacts sidebar (or F9 toggles). At
the top of those contacts you can choose to show the addresses from All
addressbooks or just Personal or Collected.


--
Mike Easter

[Mike Easter]

Mike Easter wrote:
> Then you can select the personal (or the Collected) and see if your
> addresses are already in there.

If you need to export/import addressbooks from Tb to Tb, the LDIF format
is best. Otherwise, when agents are different, it is almost always .csv.


--
Mike Easter

[David E. Ross]

On 2/21/2016 9:13 AM, WaltS48 wrote:
> On 02/21/2016 11:57 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 2/21/2016 8:11 AM, Marty wrote:
>>> I'm trying to copy an address book from computer A (Win 7) to computer B
>>> (Win 10).
>>>
>>> When exporting, I have to select CSV or LDIF file type. Which should I use?
>>>
>>> I tried it both ways. How can you verify that it worked? I opened the
>>> CSV file in Notepad and all I saw was a paragraph with field names
>>> strung together with no data about people. I was unable to the open the
>>> LDIF.
>>>
>>> Based on recent attempts with a CSV file, I'm expecting problems with
>>> importing which I'll ask about in a separate thread.
>>>
>>
>> If you have more than one address book and are trying to export all of
>> them in a single [Tools > Export] operation, it does not work. This is
>> a known bug that will be fixed, possibly in Thunderbird 47.0. In the
>> meantime, export your address books one at a time, each into separate
>> files.
>>
>> See <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182460>.
>>
>
>
> I'm waiting for the update to 45.0b2 to test.
>
> See <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182460#a19035178_254728>
>
> If only fixed in 47, users would have to wait until 52 to see the fix.

I got TBird 47.0 from the bug report, which has:
> Target Milestone: Thunderbird 47.0

[Marty]

I did indeed say that TB was running great; by that I meant that mail
was being received and sent with no apparent problems.

On the new machine, there is one entry in personal address book. There
are three books titled address book (with no preceding adjective). These
three and collected addresses are all empty.

On the old machine there are two entries in personal address book, plain
no-adjective address book has all my contacts and collected addresses is
empty.

On the new machine I see no hint of anything for a second e-mail address
I use and no hint of anything relating to newsgroups.
>
>

[Mike Easter]

Marty wrote:
> plain no-adjective address book has all my contacts

Maybe it didn't have a name which was recognized by Tb.

I would export that addressbook as an LDIF (with some kind of 'front'
name) and import it into the Win10 Tb.

--
Mike Easter

[Tanstaafl]

On 2/21/2016 5:28 PM, David E. Ross <nob...@nowhere.invalid> wrote:
> I got TBird 47.0 from the bug report, which has:
>> Target Milestone: Thunderbird 47.0

And the very last bug comment by R Kent says it is fixed in 45.

[geo]

--
Marty,

from what you say above, there is a possibility to restore your complete
address book addresses.

some conditions apply and if you can answer positively to some questions.

1- most important to restore, have you made backups on old machine?

2- how many address books show in you address book window for both
machines?

3- what are .mab files names and sizes you see in profile directory for both
machines?


--
peace out.

If Bill Gates got a dime for every time Windows crashes...
...oh, wait. He does. THAT explains it!
-+-
in a world with out fences, who needs gates.

CentOS GNU/Linux 6.7

tc,hago.

g
..

[Marty]

I did exactly that, naming it "My address book" and it worked perfectly
(apparently), as I appear to have a fully functioning book now.

Thanks so much to you and the other folks who chimed in.