Returning to Entourage from iApps

[JAbbott]

Hi:

Last March I moved from Entourage 2004 to the iApps. I am considering
moving back to Entourage (for several reasons--mostly notably the easy
ability to link and the Project Center) but I want to be sure I know
what's involved before I attempt the migration. I am running Entourage
04 (11.2.5), Mail 2.1, on a MBPro running 10.4.7.

I don't want to do a full import of all the messages in Mail.app, as I
already have all the emails before my March move still in Entourage (I
imported all my E'rage email messages into Mail.app). If I create a
smart folder in Mail.app that includes just the messages since I moved
to Mail.app, can that smart folder be easily imported to Entourage?
That would seem to me to be the easiest way to do this (although I
assume I would still have to refile messages in their correct
subfolders if I took this "smart folder" approach).

Does this sound like a reasonable approach? I know lots of people
migrate back and forth between the two apps without many issues, but my
move to Mail from E'rage had a couple of scary moments (like all my
emails being blank at first, which resolved itself after restarting
Mail.app) and I really don't want to have major bumps in the road this
time.

My other alternative is to not do an import at all: simply leave all
the March-September messages in Mail.app and just start fresh with
Entourage, and let Spotlight searching work if I have to find an old
email--but I sort of like having everything together and organized.

Any advice/suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

What sort of an account is it?

If it is IMAP or Exchange, then all the mail will still be on the server and
will be collected by Entourage when you connect to the account.

If the mail system is POP mail, then you have a bit of juggling round to do.

First, Mail can't export smart mail folders, so you have to move the mail
into a normal folder. This folder can then be dragged to the desktop to form
an 'MBOX' export. Unfortunately, Mail.App's MBOX format is not the same as
an industry standard MBOX file (which Entourage would have been able to read
without any problem!). Mail creates an MBOX *Folder*. Inside this folder is
another folder called "Messages" which will contain all the emails as .emlx
files. Again, this is a non-standard file type, although in this case the
file format is OK. Just rename all these emlx files to end in .eml and they
can be opened in Entourage (or dragged into a folder)

It's a bit convoluted, but you can blame apple for thinking outside of a
perfectly adequate box for this!

 

[JAbbott]

hi Barry:

Thank you for the reply. I have both an IMAP and POP account that I
use.

First, Mail can't export smart mail folders, so you have to move the mail
into a normal folder. This folder can then be dragged to the desktop to form
an 'MBOX' export. Unfortunately, Mail.App's MBOX format is not the same as
an industry standard MBOX file (which Entourage would have been able to read
without any problem!). Mail creates an MBOX *Folder*. Inside this folder is
another folder called "Messages" which will contain all the emails as .emlx
files. Again, this is a non-standard file type, although in this case the
file format is OK. Just rename all these emlx files to end in .eml and they
can be opened in Entourage (or dragged into a folder)

So it sounds like I should:
a) create a smart folder for the POP account emails but
b) move all those messages into a normal (non-smart) folder
c) drag the normal folder onto the Desktop
d) inside that MBOX Folder that should be created, do a global search
and replace to change the .emlx names to .eml
e) drag into a new folder inside Entourage, then, if desired, drag
messages into the correct subfolders

I think I can handle this. Thank you for the prompt and helpful
reply, Barry.

All best,
Jeff

 

[Michel Bintener]

hi Barry:

Thank you for the reply. I have both an IMAP and POP account that I
use.


So it sounds like I should:
a) create a smart folder for the POP account emails but
b) move all those messages into a normal (non-smart) folder
c) drag the normal folder onto the Desktop
d) inside that MBOX Folder that should be created, do a global search
and replace to change the .emlx names to .eml
e) drag into a new folder inside Entourage, then, if desired, drag
messages into the correct subfolders

I think I can handle this. Thank you for the prompt and helpful
reply, Barry.

All best,
Jeff

Hi Jeff,

alternatively, you can use the a program called "emlx to mbox converter",
which will do exactly what its title says. You can find it here:

<http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/unix_open_source/emlxtomboxconverter.
html>

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)

***Always reply to the newsgroup.***

 

[JAbbott]

So it sounds like I should:
I thought this would work: but since smart folders don't really move
messages (they're just a search result, with all the messages staying
in their original mailboxes)--I don't think it's possible to move or
copy messages out of smart folders into a normal folder. (I tried to do
a copy command, and it only worked with a few messages before
stopping.) So unfortunately, I've yet to figure out a way to capture
the messages since a specific date in a form where I can select them in
one operation and import them into Entourage.

I'm sure this is doable with an AppleScript, but I'm not technical. If
anyone else has an idea on how to make this work, or if I'm missing an
obvious solution, I appreciate any help.

thanks,
Jeff

 

[Michel Bintener]

I thought this would work: but since smart folders don't really move
messages (they're just a search result, with all the messages staying
in their original mailboxes)--I don't think it's possible to move or
copy messages out of smart folders into a normal folder. (I tried to do
a copy command, and it only worked with a few messages before
stopping.) So unfortunately, I've yet to figure out a way to capture
the messages since a specific date in a form where I can select them in
one operation and import them into Entourage.

I'm sure this is doable with an AppleScript, but I'm not technical. If
anyone else has an idea on how to make this work, or if I'm missing an
obvious solution, I appreciate any help.

thanks,
Jeff

It is possible to do that: select your smart folder, then click on one of
the messages it contains. Not hit Cmd+A, or go to Edit>Select All, and all
your messages will be selected. Drag them to a new folder you've just
created for the purpose of moving them to Entourage (if you want to keep the
messages in their original locations, you can hold down the Option key while
doing so; that will *copy* the messages instead of moving them, so you will
always have your original copies in Mail after you've deleted the temporary
folder once the transfer to Entourage is complete).

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)

***Always reply to the newsgroup.***

 

[JAbbott]

Michel Bintener wrote:
[re copying messages in smart folders]

It is possible to do that: select your smart folder, then click on one of
the messages it contains. Not hit Cmd+A, or go to Edit>Select All, and all
your messages will be selected. Drag them to a new folder you've just
created for the purpose of moving them to Entourage (if you want to keep the
messages in their original locations, you can hold down the Option key while
doing so; that will *copy* the messages instead of moving them, so you will
always have your original copies in Mail after you've deleted the temporary
folder once the transfer to Entourage is complete).

Thanks for the guidance, Michel. I did try this and it stalled--Mail
copies some of the messages and then gets to a "not responding" state
(requiring a force quit). I think the problem is too many
messages--it's trying to copy 5,000+. I think I'll simply either leave
these in Mail and rely on Spotlight to find old messages, or move the
relevant messages in smaller groups (by each subfolder, perhaps).

Many thanks,
Jeff

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I think I'll simply either leave
these in Mail and rely on Spotlight to find old messages, or move the
relevant messages in smaller groups (by each subfolder, perhaps).

Since March you want? Try a different smart folder for each month,
perhaps--March, April, May....

 

[JAbbott]

Since March you want? Try a different smart folder for each month,
perhaps--March, April, May....

Hi, Daiya, thanks for the suggestion. I did try that and Mail still
froze up when trying to copy the messages from the smart folder into
another folder. I think it's just too many messages for Mail to handle
on my machine.

I'm wondering if perhaps I should do a straight import of all the
messages from Mail into Entourage --forget about dates--and then run
the Delete Duplicate Messages script that is available. . .but I think
it'll be dealing with thousands upon thousands of messages. I'm
seriously thinking of just NOT doing an import at all. Just starting
fresh with Entourage and not worrying about getting the last six months
of email back into E'rage. (I kept thinking, though, that this would be
much easier than it has been.)

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[JAbbott]

Have you got an imap account? If so, copying the messages to the IMAP
account would make them available to entourage as well as mail.app

Hi Barry:

Thank you for the suggestion and yes, I do have an IMAP account. I'm
not sure how to copy messages to an IMAP account (other than forwarding
them to that account). But it's a few thousand messages--Mail.app just
doesn't seem to do well with any operation involving so many messages,
so I'm reluctant to try any more moving/copying.

Hopefully with Spotlight, it won't be such a hassle to an archive of
emails in two different programs. Annoying, yes, but the workarounds
seem to be too demanding, unless I want to do a straight import into
Entourage and then spend a few hours cleaning up dupes and such. Maybe
I'll try that when life slows down.

Best,
Jeff

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

Hi Barry:

Thank you for the suggestion and yes, I do have an IMAP account. I'm
not sure how to copy messages to an IMAP account (other than forwarding
them to that account). But it's a few thousand messages--Mail.app just
doesn't seem to do well with any operation involving so many messages,
so I'm reluctant to try any more moving/copying.

Hopefully with Spotlight, it won't be such a hassle to an archive of
emails in two different programs. Annoying, yes, but the workarounds
seem to be too demanding, unless I want to do a straight import into
Entourage and then spend a few hours cleaning up dupes and such. Maybe
I'll try that when life slows down.

Best,
Jeff

Moving them is easy - just drag them into an IMAP folder, and they will be
synced up to the server.

I con't help you with the mail.app problems though!

 

[JAbbott]

Moving them is easy - just drag them into an IMAP folder, and they will be
synced up to the server.

Barry:

Thanks I didn't know this. I may well give it a try.

Best,
Jeff