How to import mail & folder structures from eM Client...

A Former User

Hi,

I migrated from Thunderbird to em Client... TBird was having issues that I just could not resolve. Have tired em Client for awhile now, and while I can use it... I really do not like it. So now I want to try Opera mail. However, I can find no way to import mail & folder structure settings from em Client. I've THOUSANDS of emails & such, all highly organized. I cannot make any email client move without being able to migrate. Be nice to be able to import current email accout/settings too. Any hope?

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer

Just in case you didn't know, Opera Mail was discontinued years ago. It's a buggy, unfinished conversion of the Opera 12 browser suite to only show the mail part.

With that said, if you still want to try it out (many still use it), what OS are you on, will you be using POP or IMAP to connect to the account and are all messages still left on the server?

I'm checking out eM Client right now to see what format it uses.

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer

Ok, eM Client uses SQLite databases (dat files in this case) for storage of everything (including messages). I think you'd need a custom program that loads the database dat files, analyzes them and then converts them to mbox files (what Opera supports). So, you're probably out-of-luck on that.

However, you can select multiple messages in a list in eM Client, right-click the selectioin and choose "save as". That will allow you to save the selected messages as .eml files. Also, in "Menu -> File > export", you can choose to export whole folders of messages at once. Each message will be stored as an .eml file.

(Only do the following if you're using POP. If you're using IMAP, you just set up the IMAP account in Opera and you're done).

So, what you do is export all your folders to "C:\Users\yourusername\mymessages" using "File -> Export", which will give you folders of .eml files in it. Then, you have to convert those .eml files to mbox files.

What you're going to do is download eml2mbx from http://luethje.eu/prog/index.htm. See http://luethje.eu/prog/eml2m_en.htm for directions. You're then going to extract eml2m065 to a folder. Then, you're going to select all files in it, cut and paste them into "C:\Users\yourusername\mymessages\you@example.com" where you see all the exported folders. Then, you're going to hit the windows key on the keyboard and the r key at the same time to launch the run dialog. Type cmd and press enter to launch a command prompt.

In the command prompt, type this command:

cd "C:\Users\yourusername\mymessages\you@example.com"

(where "yourusername" is your user name for Windows)

That will put in you in the correct folder. you can type dir and press enter to check that you see eml2mbx.exe etc.

Then, you're going to type a command and press enter.

eml2mbx "Inbox\*.eml" converted /p /a

That will create an Inbox.mbx file in a folder named "converted" in the you@example.com directory. The mbx file will contain all the messages in the Inbox.

You then repeat for other folders you exported (change "Inbox" to "Name of folder").

When you're all done, the "converted" folder will have an mbx file for each folder.

Now, in Opera Mail, choose to create a new POP account with the correct settings and let it download any messages on the server. Right-click in the new mail panel and choose "New Label". Right-click on "New Label" in the Labels access point and goto "properties". Rename the label to "FromServer". Then, on the "options" tab, check "hide these messages from other views" and close out of the dialog. Then, you're going to select all messages in "All Messages/Unread" and drag them to "FromServer" (just for now).

Now, what you need to do is go to "Menu -> Settings -> import and export -> import mail -> import generic mbox -> add mbox". You're going to do this multiple times, one for each mbx file in the "converted folder. Once you pick the mbx file to import, you need to set "import into" to the existing POP account you already created. In the case of Sent.mbx, you're also going to set Sent.mbx in the "move to sent" drop-down.

However, you need to import the mbx files in a certain order. You need to import all folders you created manually in em Client. For example, any folder that's not special. So, not Inbox, not Sent, not Trash etc., but "Save" or "Family" for example.

After folder "name" is imported, create a label in Opera named "name" and set it to "hide these messages from other views". Then, select all the messages shown in "All Messages/Recieved" (or the "Inbox" view under the you@exmaple.com pop access point) and drag them to the "Name" label. Repeat for all your custom folders.

Then, you can import the sent.mbx with "move to sent" set.

Then, you can import your Trash.mbox file. Then, select all the messages shown in "All Messages/Received" or "Inbox" and click the trash button to move them to trash.

Then, you can import your spam.mbx file if you want. You'd import it, select all those messages and mark them as spam. But, before you do, right-cick on "All Messages/Spam and goto "properties". There, you'll want to turn off the internal filter, and also uncheck "learn from labeled messages" on the "options" tab. You can turn those back on later if you want once you learn about how they work.

You won't be able to import Drafts and drafts. But, you can import them as sent messages if you want.

Now, you should have all your messages imported instead of Inbox.mbx. Now you can just import Inbox.mbx and not drag its messages to a label or anything.

Now, you're almost done. Look in the "FromServer" label and then look in all your other labels and "Inbox". If you see any messages that are duplicates, delete the copies in "Inbox" and your other labels and keep the ones in "FromServer". Then, select all messages in "FromServer", right-click the selection, goto "delete" and choose "remove from view" to get them out of the FromServer label. Then, you can right-click and delete the FromServer label. Then, in "All Messages/Unread", you can mark them as read if you want and then drag any you want into any of the labels you want.

Then, you should be good to go. If you have other accounts, repeat all the steps for those other accounts where you create the other POP account and then import into it instead. You can name your labels "you@example.com-Name" for exmaple if you want to differentiate them from labels with the same "Name" from a different account. You can also make use of "Right-click in mail panel -> show messages from -> certain account" to only show messages from a certain account in "All Messages/Received" etc.

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer

Now, eM Client can export contacts as .vcf files. You'll have to find a converter that converts them directory to Opera's adr format so that you can use "Menu -> settings -> import and export -> import Opera contacts" with it. Or, you'll have to find a vcf to csv converter to convert the contracts to a csv file. Then, you'd use this converter to convert the csv file to Opera's adr format.

A Former User

Wow. Did not anticipate that much of a fiasco. Plus you say Opera is buggy... do not need/want/desire buggy. LOL.

Here's the deal, I LOVED Thunderbird, but it started losing emails when I renamed folders and/or moved emails around. I just couldn't deal with that, so started looking for a replacement. eM Client seemed to be the only real alternative for what I was looking for. But I've found that eM has it's own issues... losing folder focus when creating folders, cannot right-click multiple folders at once to move in one shot, slow to open up folders that have a lot of subfolders/content, other 'issues' too.

All emails are stored with the program, not with the specific email account... I always d/l to the email client, can view on/offline that way. Is there an email client you would suggest? I had used TBird for YEARS, just wished they'd support it better, fix the issues... I'd pay quite a bit for an email program that worked the way I wanted/needed.

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer @Guest

@gda63378 said in How to import mail & folder structures from eM Client...:

Plus you say Opera is buggy... do not need/want/desire buggy. LOL.

Just to be clear though, the standalone version of Opera Mail is buggy, but the version of Opera Mail that's in Opera 12 is not. You can use Opera 12 for just email if you want. And, if you do, and you want, you can goto advanced -> Programs in preferences and add/set http and https to "open in default application" so that links in emails open in your default browser.

Opera 12 has been discontinued too though and you the importing from eM Client is the same as mentioned above.

@gda63378 said in How to import mail & folder structures from eM Client...:

Is there an email client you would suggest?

I use Thunderbird now and like it. But, you might like Sylpheed or Claws Mail.

A Former User

burnout426,

I thank you for your time & suggestions. I tried both Claws & Sylpheed... but could find no way to import folder structures for either. Claws seems to have a lot of add-ons, but nothing for importing emails while also retaining folder structures. I liked the look of Sylpheed, but again... no way to import what I need. I have THOUSANDS of folders... all organized the way I need. I could 'manually' create the folders, then import the emails, but that would take weeks, if not months. I simply don't have that kind of free time.

Looks like I'm stuck with eM Client until some outfit finally produces an email program/client that can properly import folder structures. I cannot be the only person with this issue... difficult to believe this hasn't been addressed by the vast majority of email clients already. This should be something STANDARD with all email client providers. My brain is numb trying to figure all this out.

zalex108

zalex108

I remember using Opera Mail to "move a Pop3 HotMail folders and Msgs to an IMAP GMail Account ".

Depending on your eMail data, you may try to, create a GMail account, add it to the eM Client and try to move the folders.

Make some folders and drafts to test it.
Also try the other way to recover them to your current eMail account.

--

For suggestions:

Opera Mail is my current eMail Client and I didn't found problems, really.

Despite that, I've been trying MailSpring a bit and liked, so give it a try.

"You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the power that created you". · Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

A Former User @zalex108

@zalex108
I have 2 gmail and 3 my-own-domain email accounts. I leave nothing on the servers, I d/l everything to eM... previously to TBird. I've no idea how creating another another gmail account will assist me in migrating all my current eM folders/emails to another email client. Maybe I'm just too old, too dense. I'll look at MailSpring, but unless they've something to import from eM, then I'm in the same boat.

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer

I don't know if Em Client supports it, but in most clients that support both IMAP and POP, you can create both an IMAP account and a POP account for the same email account. Then, you can drag messages/folders from the POP account to the IMAP account to upload them to get everything back on the server. Then, you can setup an account in another mail client and automatically get your messages. However, if you're using POP and always remove everything from the server, you'll have to upload all your messages together into the Inbox and then fetch them with POP in the new email client. That of course won't retain folders as POP only fetches from Inbox. It can work for POP to IMAP though.

IMAP can still be fine to use in your case if the client supports a way to remove the messages from the server while keeping them in the client.

A Former User @burnout426

@burnout426

I cannot afford to lose either emails OR the folder structures. I don't know exactly how many folders I have, but it's thousands. These are customer correspondences, I retain for reference and often need to research past messages for various reasons. I can't just have everything in one place, I'd never find it.

Again, appreciate your time in corresponding, but I just don't think that will work. I'd have to upload probably 20,000 (maybe more emails), then re-download into new client and then re-create the 1000's of folders to put the emails in. Not many people have that kind of time... I know I certainly do not.