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| Newer page: | version 3 | Last edited on Sunday, November 28, 2004 12:59:39 am | by AristotlePagaltzis | |
| Older page: | version 2 | Last edited on Friday, June 7, 2002 1:07:13 am | by perry | Revert |
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-MS Outlook to Unix Mailbox Conversion mini HOWTO
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-
-
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-
-!!!MS Outlook to Unix Mailbox Conversion mini HOWTO
-
-!!Greg Lindahl, lindahl@pbm.comv1.2.2, 2002-01-03
-
-
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-''This !MiniHowto covers conversion of old email in Microsoft Outlook (not Outlook Express!) to typical Unix file formats.''
-----
-
-
-
-
-!!1. Introduction
-
-
-*1.1 Copyright
-
-*1.2 Disclaimer
-
-*1.3 News
-
-*1.4 Other ways of doing this
-
-
-
-
-
-!!2. Converting using Mozilla Mail
-
-
-
-
-!!3. Converting using IMAP
-
-
-*3.1 Preparation
-
-*3.2 Install an IMAP server (temporarily!) on your Linux box
-
-*3.3 Connect your Outlook client to the server
-
-*3.4 Copy over all your email
-
-*3.5 Deinstall IMAP from your Linux box
-
-----
-
-!!1. Introduction
-
-
-While several programs exist to convert some formats such as Microsoft
-Outlook Express to Unix formats, Outlook users have a bit more of a
-challenge. One way to convert uses Mozilla Mail under Windows; another
-involves a more complicated method. Both are explained in this
-miniHOWTO.
-
-
-
-
-
-The database format that Outlook uses for .PST files, called Jet, is
-documented at:
-
-
-
-http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/techart/olexcoutlk.htm
-
-
-
-!!1.1 Copyright
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Copyright (c) 2001-2002 by Greg Lindahl
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
-under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
-any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
-Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
-Texts. A copy of the license may be found at:
-
-
-
-http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-I request that corrections and/or comments be forwarded to the
-document maintainer. If you're considering making a derived work other
-than a translation, I request that you discuss your plans with
-the current maintainer.
-
-
-
-
-!!1.2 Disclaimer
-
-
-
-Use the information in this document at your own risk. I disavow any
-potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the
-concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely
-at your own risk.
-
-
-All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted
-otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as
-affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
-
-
-Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.
-
-
-You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before
-major installations, and backup your system at regular intervals.
-
-
-Do not place your cat in a running microwave oven.
-
-
-
-
-!!1.3 News
-
-
-
-1.01: Fixed minor typo in inetd/xinetd startup instructions.
-
-
-1.1: Added information about Kmailcvt, Mozilla, and how to get
-Outlook to talk to IMAP servers if it's in Exchange mode.
-
-
-1.2: Added details about using Mozilla to do this same task
-
-
-1.2.1: Fixed formatting typo.
-
-
-1.2.2: Relicensed under the GFDL, more minor typo fixes.
-
-
-
-
-!!1.4 Other ways of doing this
-
-
-
-A list of conversion utilities, many commercial, may be found at:
-
-
-
-http://www.emailman.com/conversion/index.html
-
-I've had a claim that the program Kmailcvt now converts Outlook
-mailboxes. However, I'm not 100% sure that this claim is true, since
-Kmailcvt definitely converts Outlook Express mailboxes, which are
-completely different from Outlook mailboxes. So, if you figure this
-out, please let me know.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!2. Converting using Mozilla Mail
-
-
-
-
-
-I've also heard that Mozilla Mail under Windows can convert Outlook
-mailboxes. I found the documentation on the Ximian Evolution
-website. I haven't tried this since I don't have a Windows machine
-anymore. But,
here's what they say to do:
-
-
-Run Mozilla Mail
-
-
-Go to "File > Import" and select that you wish to import
-mail from Outlook. When that's done, you're almost there.
-
-
-I believe that Mozilla stores all its mailboxes as Unix mbox format
-files, even under Windows. So, all you have to do is transfer those
-files to your Linux box. You can find them in:
-
-
-C:/windows/Application Data/Mozilla/Profiles/default/XXX/Mail/imported.mail/, where XXX will
-be some collection of digits. If there are multiple users on your
-Windows machine, "default" will instead be your username.
-
-
-As I mentioned earlier, I've never tried this method, so I don't know
-how well it works. In particular, the issues raised in section 3.4
-probably also apply to this method of conversion.
-
-
-By the way, the reason that Mozilla can only read Outlook mailboxes
-under Windows is because it calls a Microsoft DLL to do it.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!3. Converting using IMAP
-
-!!3.1 Preparation
-
-
-
-First, be sure you want to do things this way. In particular, section
-2 explains how to use Netscape Mail under Windows to do the
-coversion. That's easier than doing it this way.
-
-
-If you decide to do it this way, you need to make sure that your copy
-of Outlook can talk to IMAP servers. When I first wrote this HOWTO, I
-assumed that Outlook was Outlook was Outlook. Nope. If you are using
-Outlook in Corporate/Workgroups mode (which talks to Exchange) instead
-of Internet Mode (which talks to POP/IMAP servers), you'll have to
-change modes.
-
-
-To test to see if you're OK, look at the Outlook "Tools" menu, and see
-if there is an "Accounts" item. If there is, you're OK, and you can go
-on to section 3.2. If there isn't, go find your towel, and keep reading.
-
-
-Changing modes is not trivial, but a helpful reader (Matt Huyck)
-sent in the following instructions, which look dangerous, and
-which I have not tested:
-
-
-Select "Options..." from the "Tools" menu, and then go to the "Mail
-Services" tab in the resulting Options dialog box. At the bottom of
-that tab there is a button labeled "Reconfigure Mail Support..."
-Hold your breath and then click it. A new window comes up with
-"Outlook 2000 Startup" in the title bar and an "E-mail Service
-Options" heading. There are two relevant radio buttons: "Internet
-Only" and "Corporate or Workgroup". Change over to "Internet Only"
-and click "Next >". You are then prompted with a very long message
-box which you should read carefully because you're about to make a
-significant (but reversible) change to the Exchange client
-configuration. If you haven't passed out already, you can stop
-holding your breath now. Although it doesn't explicitly say so, you
-will want to be sure you have a copy of the Microsoft Office install
-CD before you click "Yes". Click "Yes" and let Outlook do its thing
-for a few seconds until it has quit completely. Open up Outlook
-again. This is where you may be prompted for the install CD. After
-the re-configuration is complete you're ready to proceed with step
-3.2 of the HOWTO.
-
-
-To get back to your original Outlook configuration, follow the same
-directions, but you'll obviously be clicking the *other* radio button.
-
-
-One other thing is different if you've been using Exchange. As you
-point out at the end of section 3.4, "the original 'From ' line" is not
-preserved. For Exchange users, however, the comment "Fortunately you
-don't actually need that information" doesn't quite apply. The
-"From" header that's missing is the only one that contains the
-identity of the sender in messages that were sent on an internal
-Exchange server, i.e. messages that didn't pass through an Internet
-gateway anywhere. I have preserved my "From" headers by saving
-copies of my mail folders as text files through the "Import and
-Export..." command from the "File" menu. I plan to hack out some
-twisted Perl/Grep code that will re-insert those "From" headers into
-my Linux mbox files. If I get that to work I'll let you know.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.2 Install an IMAP server (temporarily!) on your Linux box
-
-
-
-Installing things varies from Linux distribution to distribution, so I
-will use !RedHat 7.0 as an example. First you need to install the
-correct package, which generally is named "imap".
-
-
-cd /home/redhat-7.-cd/!RedHat/RPMS
-rpm -i imap*
-
-
-
-
-Actually, since I had a "workstation" install, I also had to install
-the xinetd package; rpm gave me an error which told me to do
-this. And, of course, it was on the second CD of !RedHat 7.. Debian
-users using "apt-get" don't have to worry about such issues.
-
-
-
-
-
-Next, we need to enable the imap server. This is usually controlled by
-a line in the file /etc/inetd.conf:
-
-
-#imap stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/imapd
-
-
-
-
-The above line is commented out; remove the leading # sign. On !RedHat
-7.0 systems and later with xinetd, instead edit /etc/xinetd.d/imap
-and change "disable=yes" to "disable=no".
-
-
-
-
-
-Then restart inetd or xinetd by doing:
-
-
-/etc/rc.d/init.d/inetd restart
-
-
-
-
-or
-
-
-/etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd restart
-
-
-
-
-If all else fails, reboot.
-
-
-
-
-
-You don't actually want to leave the IMAP server enabled for that
-long. This server runs as root and has had security bugs in the
-past. For this reason, you shouldn't leave it enabled unless you wish
-to use it permanently. We will disable this server in section 3.5.
-
-
-
-
-
-In order to connect Outlook to this IMAP server, you will need to know
-the name or IP address of the Linux box.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.3 Connect your Outlook client to the server
-
-
-
-In order to copy over all our email to the server, we need to tell
-your Outlook client about this new server. Select "Accounts..." from
-the "Tools" menu, and then "Add" a new account "Mail...". The
-important items are that the server uses IMAP to download email, that
-the incoming mail server is the name or IP address of your Linux box
-from section 3.2, and the username and password should be your username and
-password on the Linux box. (As usual, it's a bad idea to use the root
-account on Linux for this purpose.)
-
-
-
-
-
-Once you've hit "Finish", set this new account to be the default by
-highlighting it and clicking on "Set as Default". Outlook should
-connect to your IMAP server, and the name of your IMAP server should
-appear at the bottom of your folder list. Click on it; you should see
-an Inbox folder. (Note that if /var/mail/yourusername doesn't exist on
-your Linux box, you won't be able to drag-and-drop any messages into
-your INBOX... and the error message will be confusing. However, that's
-not what we're going to do.)
-
-
-
-
-!!3.4 Copy over all your email
-
-
-
-At this point you can drag and drop entire folders of email from
-Outlook onto the IMAP server name. This will copy the email, including
-all attachments, to the Linux box. Unfortunately it also immediately
-deletes it from Outlook. In order to copy items without deleting them,
-right-click on the folder name and select the "Copy" option. For the
-destination, pick your Linux server at the bottom of the list.
-
-
-
-
-
-However, life isn't quite that simple. Outlook supports folders
-containing folders which also contain messages. The Linux IMAP server
-does not support that; a folder is either a regular file containing
-messages, or a directory containing subdirectories and files. So if
-you have folders in Outlook with both messages and subfolders, you
-can't copy the entire tree over to the Linux IMAP server. Another
-incompatibility of the Linux IMAP server is that you have to tell it
-in advance if a new folder will contain subfolders or messages. You do
-this by appending a slash (/) to the folder name when you create
-it. This slash will disappear when the folder is created.
-
-
-
-
-
-So, in order to copy a tree of folders to the Linux IMAP server, first
-you need to create a replica of the structure of your existing folders
-on the Linux IMAP server. While you're doing this, note which of the
-existing folders contain both subfolders and messages. You will need
-to move these messages elsewhere. Once you have the overall tree
-created, then you can copy or move groups of folders to the Linux IMAP
-server.
-
-
-
-
-
-One final incompatibility to note is that the Linux IMAP server
-doesn't allow folders with slashes (/) in their name. You'll need to
-rename such folders before copying or moving them.
-
-
-
-
-
-On the Linux box, folders appear as files and directories in your home
-directory. The format of these files is the usual Unix mail format,
-which most Unix/Linux mail tools either use directly or can convert
-to/from. Files with attachments will have MIME attachments; there is
-also one extra message per folder which is a (useless) header.
-
-
-
-
-
-(One piece of data which doesn't get preserved is the original "From "
-line, which contains the envelope address of the email. Fortunately
-you don't actually need that information.)
-
-
-
-
-!!3.5 Deinstall IMAP from your Linux box
-
-
-
-Once you've transferred all of your email, you will want to deinstall
-the IMAP server from your Linux box, for the security reasons
-mentioned earlier. This involves the same 2 steps you took to install
-the server:
-
-
-# Remove the RPMs:
-
-
-rpm -e imap
-
-
-
-#
-
-# Remove the line in /etc/inetd.conf or /etc/xinetd.d/imap
-#
-
-# Restart inetd or xinetd, or reboot.
-#
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Voila! You have taken another step towards a Microsoft-free lifestyle
.
-
-
-
-----
+Describe [HowToOutlooktoUnixMailbox]
here.
