TB addressbook

[The Real Bev]

I haven't asked this for a while...

I have 1100 entries in my addressbook. I would like to be able to write
only the display names and email addresses to a text file which I could
then print multi-column on paper or read with a text editor when I don't
have Thunderbird or even my own computer available. I've tried
exporting as .csv or tab delimited and get only the column headers; I
can't figure out how to put the .ldif file into a LibreOffice
spreadsheet so I can delete the useless columns.

Is there any hope?

--
Cheers, Bev
It's 95% of the lawyers making the other 5% look bad.

[Wolf K.]

On 2016-12-13 00:30, The Real Bev wrote:
> I haven't asked this for a while...
>
> I have 1100 entries in my addressbook. I would like to be able to write
> only the display names and email addresses to a text file which I could
> then print multi-column on paper or read with a text editor when I don't
> have Thunderbird or even my own computer available. I've tried
> exporting as .csv or tab delimited and get only the column headers; I
> can't figure out how to put the .ldif file into a LibreOffice
> spreadsheet so I can delete the useless columns.
>
> Is there any hope?

I just tried doing this, from this moz news group. Didn't work, got
stuck in a loop.

Tried again from one of my email accounts. Opened correctly in Open
Office, so the problem may be Libre Office.

FWIW, I tried Libre Office. Buggy. The devs have to work with pre-Apache
code, which I think means it's still a work in progress.

HTH


--
Wolf K.
https://kirkwood40.blogspot.com
It's called "opinion" because it's not knowledge.

[David E. Ross]

On 12/12/2016 9:30 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
> I haven't asked this for a while...
>
> I have 1100 entries in my addressbook. I would like to be able to write
> only the display names and email addresses to a text file which I could
> then print multi-column on paper or read with a text editor when I don't
> have Thunderbird or even my own computer available. I've tried
> exporting as .csv or tab delimited and get only the column headers; I
> can't figure out how to put the .ldif file into a LibreOffice
> spreadsheet so I can delete the useless columns.
>
> Is there any hope?
>

Are you saying that the export only gives you the column headers? If
so, that indicates you tried to export ALL of your addressbooks with a
single Export task. That is bug #1182460. The work-around is to export
each addressbook separately.

This was supposed to be a late fix to Thunderbird 45, but I still see it
in 45.5.1. See <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182460>,
which claims it is fixed. It is NOT fixed.

--
David E. Ross

The Crimea is Putin's Sudetenland.
The Ukraine will be Putin's Czechoslovakia.
See <http://www.rossde.com/editorials/edtl_PutinUkraine.html>.

[The Real Bev]

On 12/13/2016 07:53 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
> On 12/12/2016 9:30 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
>> I haven't asked this for a while...
>>
>> I have 1100 entries in my addressbook. I would like to be able to write
>> only the display names and email addresses to a text file which I could
>> then print multi-column on paper or read with a text editor when I don't
>> have Thunderbird or even my own computer available. I've tried
>> exporting as .csv or tab delimited and get only the column headers; I
>> can't figure out how to put the .ldif file into a LibreOffice
>> spreadsheet so I can delete the useless columns.
>>
>> Is there any hope?
>
> Are you saying that the export only gives you the column headers? If
> so, that indicates you tried to export ALL of your addressbooks with a
> single Export task. That is bug #1182460. The work-around is to export
> each addressbook separately.

Duh :-( Considerable tweaking, but not finished yet. What I really
need to do is clean out the original TB addressbook before I start
editing the 'pretty' version. I'm rethinking the 'save all addresses
for people I wrote to' thing -- most of those are to complaint receivers
that I'll never complain to again.

> This was supposed to be a late fix to Thunderbird 45, but I still see it
> in 45.5.1. See <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182460>,
> which claims it is fixed. It is NOT fixed.


--

Cheers, Bev (Registered Linux User 85683)
Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really
embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen
an angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a
lot more careful about what they say if they had. -- Linus Torvalds

[Disaster Master]

On 12/13/2016 6:13 PM, The Real Bev <bashley...@gmail.com> wrote:

On 12/13/2016 07:53 AM, David E. Ross wrote:

Are you saying that the export only gives you the column headers?  If
so, that indicates you tried to export ALL of your addressbooks with a
single Export task.  That is bug #1182460.  The work-around is to export
each addressbook separately.

Duh :-(  Considerable tweaking, but not finished yet.  What I really 
need to do is clean out the original TB addressbook before I start 
editing the 'pretty' version.  I'm rethinking the 'save all addresses 
for people I wrote to' thing -- most of those are to complaint receivers 
that I'll never complain to again.

The 'save all addresses for people I send to' (aka the 'Collected Addresses' AB) is one of the first things I disable for new TB installs.

Managing ABs is one of the things I really love in TB - it is extremely easy to see if someone is already in an AB, as well as to modify an entry - ie, change the AB they are in, edit their details, or delete them.

This was supposed to be a late fix to Thunderbird 45, but I still see it
in 45.5.1.  See <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182460>,
which claims it is fixed.  It is NOT fixed.

Yes, it is. I just tested and confirmed (I'm still on 45.4 (portable) though, maybe it creeped back in in a later version - I'll install latest and reconfirm), it exported all 6 of my AB's perfectly. If it doesn't work for you, then there is something wrong - so, unless this crept back in between 45.4 and 45.5.1, maybe you have an Addon that is interfering, or something else is wonked in your profile.

Although it is very clunky - it should just come up with a prompt defaulted to export them all using the name of the AB, but it prompts you for each one with the name in the export dialog just blank, and no way to tell which AB it is currently saving. No go for me.

[Disaster Master]

On 12/14/2016 12:41 PM, Disaster Master <disasterl...@gmail.com> wrote:

Yes, it is. I just tested and confirmed (I'm still on 45.4 (portable) though, maybe it creeped back in in a later version - I'll install latest and reconfirm), it exported all 6 of my AB's perfectly. If it doesn't work for you, then there is something wrong - so, unless this crept back in between 45.4 and 45.5.1, maybe you have an Addon that is interfering, or something else is wonked in your profile.

Confirmed. I updated to 45.5.1, and all ABs exported correctly - but again, with the naming problem that makes its use very annoying and/or problematic at best.

[David E. Ross]

On 12/13/2016 7:53 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
> On 12/12/2016 9:30 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
>> I haven't asked this for a while...
>>
>> I have 1100 entries in my addressbook. I would like to be able to write
>> only the display names and email addresses to a text file which I could
>> then print multi-column on paper or read with a text editor when I don't
>> have Thunderbird or even my own computer available. I've tried
>> exporting as .csv or tab delimited and get only the column headers; I
>> can't figure out how to put the .ldif file into a LibreOffice
>> spreadsheet so I can delete the useless columns.
>>
>> Is there any hope?
>>
>
> Are you saying that the export only gives you the column headers? If
> so, that indicates you tried to export ALL of your addressbooks with a
> single Export task. That is bug #1182460. The work-around is to export
> each addressbook separately.
>
> This was supposed to be a late fix to Thunderbird 45, but I still see it
> in 45.5.1. See <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182460>,
> which claims it is fixed. It is NOT fixed.
>

Oops!! It is working in Thunderbird 45.5.1. If you try to export all
of your addressbooks, you get a separate file-navigation window for
each. That allows you to keep each addressbook separate from the others.

In my case, one of my addressbooks was empty. Thus, I got an empty
exported file.

[Ikke]

The Real Bev wrote:

> I haven't asked this for a while...
>
> I have 1100 entries in my addressbook. I would like to be able to write
> only the display names and email addresses to a text file which I could
> then print multi-column on paper or read with a text editor when I don't
> have Thunderbird or even my own computer available. I've tried
> exporting as .csv or tab delimited and get only the column headers; I
> can't figure out how to put the .ldif file into a LibreOffice
> spreadsheet so I can delete the useless columns.
>
> Is there any hope?
>

Just tried to export my addressbook into a csv file, works OK. What steps
did you do exactly to do the export?

Herman Viaene

[The Real Bev]

On 12/14/2016 03:08 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
> On 12/13/2016 7:53 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 12/12/2016 9:30 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
>>> I haven't asked this for a while...
>>>
>>> I have 1100 entries in my addressbook. I would like to be able to write
>>> only the display names and email addresses to a text file which I could
>>> then print multi-column on paper or read with a text editor when I don't
>>> have Thunderbird or even my own computer available. I've tried
>>> exporting as .csv or tab delimited and get only the column headers; I
>>> can't figure out how to put the .ldif file into a LibreOffice
>>> spreadsheet so I can delete the useless columns.
>>>
>>> Is there any hope?
>>
>> Are you saying that the export only gives you the column headers? If
>> so, that indicates you tried to export ALL of your addressbooks with a
>> single Export task. That is bug #1182460. The work-around is to export
>> each addressbook separately.
>>
>> This was supposed to be a late fix to Thunderbird 45, but I still see it
>> in 45.5.1. See <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182460>,
>> which claims it is fixed. It is NOT fixed.
>
> Oops!! It is working in Thunderbird 45.5.1. If you try to export all
> of your addressbooks, you get a separate file-navigation window for
> each. That allows you to keep each addressbook separate from the others.

I didn't know I had to choose. Once I did that it worked fine. I
deleted something like 400 addresses, which makes me feel good. Some
were people who had died, but most were total strangers I had emailed
for some long-forgotten reason. Mostly I had asked "Some asshole used
my email address to sign up with you, please delete this account
immediately".

> In my case, one of my addressbooks was empty. Thus, I got an empty
> exported file.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to print the FB addressbook in its
current form. I think mine would have been 250 pages. Stupid thing
won't even do it in multiple columns.

--
Cheers, Bev
"Tip: Place your houseplants in front of the television during
the next presidential debate and watch how leafy they get."
-- Scott Adams

[Keith Nuttle]

Assuming you are working from the Address Book.

Which version of Thunderbird are you using? It seems like I remember
that in some earlier version the only people exported were the people
you wanted to export. ie to get the whole address book you had to
highlight the whole book, In the address book; Edit, Select All.