Windows Live Mail to Opera Mail - Converting files free

[chrisjoanne]

chrisjoanne last edited by

Hi

Inderstand this question would have been asked but I'm unable to find the answer. The only answer I can see are ones which point to paid services which I don't require.

I reset my friends laptop last year and found a free program which converts Windows Live Mail to Opera. The process was quick and easy and all his emails came through intact - aroun 40,000.

I've now decided to change email clients too and after 3 days of looking online I can't find the free program I used. I can't remember the name but believe I searched for ".eml to Mbox converter" - something like that.
Even looking on Youtube the guys on there state the programs are free but are actually affiliated links for paid software.

Can anyone link a free converter please. I see there are numerous paid for ones at around $30 or so but the program I did find worked perfectly so I know there are ones available (somewhere).

Thanks in advance
Chris

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by

I have an old How-to for this. This is what it says:

In Windows Live Mail, goto "Menu -> export email -> export email messages -> Microsoft Windows Live Mail.

Choose a folder to save to.

Either export all folders for all accounts or select "selected folders" and ctrl + left-click to select/deselect folders. For example, you might choose to just export "Inbox", "Sent" and "Trash" under one of the account folders.

Then, in the folder you chose to export to, there will be a folder for each account and in each account folder will be the folders you chose to export for that account. For example, you might have a you@hotmail.com folder with "Inbox" in it.

Each message folder will have a bunch of eml files in it that represent the messages for that folder. Before you can import these messages into Opera, you have to convert all the eml files in each folder to mbox files.

To do this, goto http://apveening.a61.nl/software/ and download the "EML to mbx" program. Unzip it. Then, copy both batchconvert.bat and eml2mbx.exe to each of the message folders. Then, double-click on batchconvert.bat in each. Then, all your messages will be converted to mbox files.

Then, in Opera, you just setup each POP account and import the messages into it.

Edit: I see the EML2MBX program the page refers http://apveening.a61.nl/software/eml2mbx.zip is a dead link. Maybe you can search for eml2mbx.zip to find it.

The program you're thinking of might be something more automatic though. I can think of http://www.aid4mail.com/ but not sure what the free trial allows you to do.

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by

I found the eml2mbx.zip file at http://priede.bf.lu.lv/ftp/pub/Internets/pasts/CutMbox/

I don't know anything about that site, but after downloading the zip file and looking at the contents, it looks like what I remember and looks legit.

[chrisjoanne]

chrisjoanne last edited by

Thanks for the above - I've spent another 2 hours looking for the program I used. Frustrating I didn't make a note of it.

[chrisjoanne]

chrisjoanne last edited by

I'm new to Opera but do like the lay out and feel of the email software. Without looking stupid, what other file format does Opera mail read. I think that's how I found the free software converter last time. I believe I didn't search for "EML to MBOX converter". I'm now sure I searched for another file format that Opera reads. Thanks

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by

what other file format does Opera mail read

It just supports mbox. Mbox files usually don't have a file extension. But, in Opera's case, it uses the mbs extension. So, maybe you searched for eml to mbs or something like that.

Another way to do things is to import into Thunderbird and then import from Thunderbird to Opera.

Also note that Opera Mail was discontinued years ago and therefore won't get any bug fixes and new features. Don't know if you knew that, so I figured I'd FYI you before you give Opera Mail a go. I switched from Opera Mail to Thunderbird a while ago FWIW.

[chrisjoanne]

chrisjoanne last edited by

Thanks for that - did not know it was discontinued. The about of stuff I've read about it I would have thought I'd fell upon someone else mentioning that

That does sound right about searching for EML to MBS. That certainly rings a bell with me - I'll look into that - Cheers

[chrisjoanne]

chrisjoanne last edited by

Appreciate your views on my problem....I've taken your advice and downloaded Thunderbird. Busy downloading messages. Thanks again for pointing me in this direction. Chris