Entourage 2008 Fails to Import Entourage X Data

[ioff13]

After newly installing Entourage 2008, I have attempted several times now to import information from an earlier version, namely Entourage X. I used Entourage's Import command to do this and can see the old identity listed in the import window. Still, even after the program reports a successful import, none of the data has transferred over to Entourage 2008. I have even reinstalled the application, but import still does not work. Any thoughts?

 

[Diane Ross]

After newly installing Entourage 2008, I have attempted several times now to
import information from an earlier version, namely Entourage X. I used
Entourage's Import command to do this and can see the old identity listed in
the import window. Still, even after the program reports a successful import,
none of the data has transferred over to Entourage 2008. I have even
reinstalled the application, but import still does not work. Any thoughts?

Several other Entourage X users have reported the same thing.

There are options used by PC users bringing their data over into Entourage,
like IMAP accounts and online calendar options.
Check out the options on the "Convert Mail from Windows to Mac" Page:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/cross_platform/win_mac.html>

Probably, the easiest and least time consuming way:

Manually move over your data.

Contacts:

Option 1) Export your contacts as tab delimited files. File --> Export
Options 2) If you have your contacts in Apple's Address Book then you can
sync those to Entourage 2008.

Mail:

From Entourage X, drag your folders to the desktop. This will create an MBOX
file. You will have to do this manually for the subfolders too.

or

Easy way: Use this script: Export folders (this gets subfolders too). The
script will fail on a folder with corruption

<http://scriptbuilders.net/files/exportfolders1.1.html>

Note: All folders will get dumped into one folder on your desktop. You will
need specific names for subfolders so you will know where they go when you
drag them back into the folder window.

This page will help with creating MBOX files.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/archive.html>

In Entourage 2008 you can select under File --> Import as a text file, then
select MBOX.

Rules, Signatures and Accounts:

You can try dragging over your Rules and Signature files from your Identity
folder, but you will have to open each rule and Mailing List Manager rule
and reset the destination folder. Making the change from Entourage X to
Entourage 2008 is a big step. You might want to create your rules from
scratch. There is no way to export your account info. I suggest taking
screenshots of your accounts. Screenshots of your Rules would help if moving
the file over does not work.

 

[Elena]

I have similar problem so i´m reading this with big interest. but what about the calender?

 

[Diane Ross]

I have similar problem so i´m reading this with big interest. but what about
the calender?

Entourage X does not have an export for calendar. You can try Paul
Berkowitz's Export Import scripts or use one of these options.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/cross_platform/win_mac.html#transfer_contacts
_cal>

 

[TJC]

loff13 is talking about importing the data file from Entourage X into Entourage 2008 which are both on his Mac computer. I bought a new Mac a couple of days ago and I had backed up my data on an external hard drive. After installing Entourage 2008 on my new machine I tried to import the data using the import feature. It says the the import finished but no data was transferred. I copied the Main Identity folder from X into 2008 but that did not work. The data base is not compatible. I tried a few other things but they did not work either. Exporting contacts will only export the Address Book but not your e-mail files. At this point, I am not sure the best way to proceed. I will try other options and see what happens. I can't believe MS did not try to do this first before putting this out.

 

[ncrane]

Please pardon my inexperience as I am new to using MS products on a regular basis. I have installed MS Office 2008 on a number of machines in my office, and using the information in this thread transferred all the necessary files from Entourage X to Entourage 2008. (Thank you Diane.)

I was successful for the most part, however, one of the computers is missing some important eMail files. Thankfully, MOST of the eMails copied just fine, I pretty much need to restore just one folder of eMails. I have a backup of the Entourage X identity for this user and was hoping I could restore the missing eMails from this backup identity. Is there any possible way to do this??

 

[Diane Ross]

Please pardon my inexperience as I am new to using MS products on a regular
basis. I have installed MS Office 2008 on a number of machines in my office,
and using the information in this thread transferred all the necessary files
from Entourage X to Entourage 2008. (Thank you Diane.)

You are welcome!

I was successful for the most part, however, one of the computers is missing
some important eMail files. Thankfully, MOST of the eMails copied just fine, I
pretty much need to restore just one folder of eMails. I have a backup of the
Entourage X identity for this user and was hoping I could restore the missing
eMails from this backup identity. Is there any possible way to do this??

Can you select this folder in Entourage X and drag it to the desktop as an
MBOX file? Check the number of messages prior and compare to the ones in the
MBOX file. You will have to drag the MBOX file into Entourage to see the
number of messages.

If the MBOX is failing, then drag messages individually to the desktop. I
would create a folder to keep them all in one place.

There is a limit (199) on dragging files to the desktop. I would drag in
small batches to see if it's a corrupt message(s) that is causing the
problem. Once you delete the bad message(s), the MBOX method should work
too.

 

[ncrane]

Thank you for your prompt response Diane. Unfortunately, I was unaware of this problem until after all the .mboxes were deleted. All I am left with at this point is the MS User Data folder containing the identity. For a limited time I will be able to load this identity into another, seperate machine that has not been upgraded yet... I guess what I'm asking is, are the emails lost forever?

 

[Diane Ross]

Thank you for your prompt response Diane. Unfortunately, I was unaware of this
problem until after all the .mboxes were deleted. All I am left with at this
point is the MS User Data folder containing the identity. For a limited time I
will be able to load this identity into another, seperate machine that has not
been upgraded yet... I guess what I'm asking is, are the emails lost forever?

Yes! Always keep backups around until you are satisfied with your update.
This includes all applications.

 

[switchedonsystems]

Hi,

I am experiencing a similar problem. We upgraded to 2008 to overcome
the 4GB database file size limit, which brought Office X to halt. So,
I am unable to export the emails into mbox format to reimport them,
and the import function in 2008 is not picking the content of the old
database up either. Anyone an idea how to overcome this.

Thanks a lot,
Roland

 

[Diane Ross]

I am experiencing a similar problem. We upgraded to 2008 to overcome
the 4GB database file size limit, which brought Office X to halt. So,
I am unable to export the emails into mbox format to reimport them,
and the import function in 2008 is not picking the content of the old
database up either. Anyone an idea how to overcome this.

Can you open Entourage X? When you say you are unable to export, exactly
what do you mean?

Are the Entourage X files on the same volume as Entourage 2008?

Exactly what do you mean by brought to a halt?

 

[switchedonsystems]

Can you open Entourage X? When you say you are unable to export, exactly
what do you mean?

Are the Entourage X files on the same volume as Entourage 2008?

Exactly what do you mean by brought to a halt?

When you open Entourage X, it comes up with a message that the mailbox
exceeds the maximum size limit and starts the DB Tool. When you run
either the standard or the advanced repair, it seems to do nothing,
but looking into the identity folder of Entourage X it creates a
repair db file, till that reaches 4GB itself, and than nothing else
happens. The DB repair tool just stays open, you can't move it or
interact with it.

If you try to import the identity into Entourage 2008, it does not
produce any errors at all, just says import was successful, but does
actually not import anything at all.

Roland

 

[Diane Ross]

When you open Entourage X, it comes up with a message that the mailbox
exceeds the maximum size limit and starts the DB Tool. When you run
either the standard or the advanced repair, it seems to do nothing,
but looking into the identity folder of Entourage X it creates a
repair db file, till that reaches 4GB itself, and than nothing else
happens. The DB repair tool just stays open, you can't move it or
interact with it.

Did you get the warning that you had reached your limit? What version of
Office X? If you had not updated you would not get the warning.

Any possibility of a previous backup that you could use before the size
exceeded the limit.

FWIW, you can open the database file. You could also try deleting some of
the data and save to see if that would work to reduce the size so you can
rebuild. I know of no one that has done this though. See "Not for the faint

If you try to import the identity into Entourage 2008, it does not
produce any errors at all, just says import was successful, but does
actually not import anything at all.

Reaching at straws here.....Try downloading the Office 2004 Test Drive. See
if it will import your data. Be sure you completely delete it after using.
Once you get your data into 2004, Entourage 2008 should be able to import
it.

 

[switchedonsystems]

Did you get the warning that you had reached your limit? What version of
Office X? If you had not updated you would not get the warning.

The version was the latest update available for Office X.

Any possibility of a previous backup that you could use before the size
exceeded the limit.

I am afraid not.

FWIW, you can open the database file. You could also try deleting some of
the data and save to see if that would work to reduce the size so you can
rebuild. I know of no one that has done this though. See "Not for the faint
of heart...." <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/corrupt.html>




Reaching at straws here.....Try downloading the Office 2004 Test Drive. See
if it will import your data. Be sure you completely delete it after using.
Once you get your data into 2004, Entourage 2008 should be able to import
it.

Well, the sort of reason to buy 2008 was to be able to recover from
this mess :-( But I try the 2004 Test Drive download and if that not
works, I guess I will need to try the suggestions in this article.

Thanks a lot for you help.

Roland

 

[jjvos]

This is a real pain. I am experiencing the same problem!

 

[Diane Ross]

This is a real pain. I am experiencing the same problem!

How to manually move your data:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/install/manual_install.html>

 

[mojo]

Diane, I appreciate your help, thank you. But really, shouldn't Microsoft be coming out with an update to fix this? What kind of company creates new software that isn't compatible with ITS OWN OLDER VERSION?! It seems a bit ridiculous that we have to resort to hacks and manual fixes to get the software to work.

Any word on Microsoft fixing this in an upcoming update?

 

[Diane Ross]

Diane, I appreciate your help, thank you. But really, shouldn't Microsoft be
coming out with an update to fix this? What kind of company creates new
software that isn't compatible with ITS OWN OLDER VERSION?! It seems a bit
ridiculous that we have to resort to hacks and manual fixes to get the
software to work.

I don't pretend to understand MSFT's way of thinking. I just do my best to
work with what we have. The best way to express your feelings is to send any
feedback to Microsoft .

When working in Office, you can use the ³Send Feedback² option under the
Help menu in all of the Office applications.

Any word on Microsoft fixing this in an upcoming update?

As with most software developers they tend to be pretty closed lip about
announcing dates. I hear about it the same time as everyone else.

 

[Simon Cox]

I am having this issue as well. I have installed Office 2008 on my Mac and it updated everything from Entourage 2008 for my account OK. But on my girlfriends account it does not import anything. I have tried step one in the manually move data over page that Diane kindly linked to but that did not work. I cannot do steps 2 onward as I no longer have Office X on this Mac - it got deleted (as recommended) when I installed Office 2008. I can't reload it as we are having our own home office redecorated and everything non vital (at the time) was moved into storage for a month. When she wakes tomorrow and finds she cannot get to her emails from lat week she is going to go ballistic.

Any other ways of doing this without reinstalling Office X?

 

[Simon Cox]

I have just discovered Office X in the Trash! Short term problem solved!! Hurrah!