Topic: Exporting Outlook Messages to IMAP Server

[Brenno]

Hello all,

I realize this might be somewhat more of an Outlook issue than an SME issue, but I'm really hoping that other users in the forum have encountered this issue and discovered a workaround!

I'm setting up a new SME server at work to replace the old one.  We used to use POP to get mail, but the new server is going to be setup for IMAP.  I have all the contribs and whatnot I need, and now I just need to move the existing email from people's Outlook/OExpress folders onto the IMAP server so they can access everything (also via webmail.)

Problem is, Outlook is giving me extreme grief in moving/copying messages from the local folders to the IMAP folders.  I can't copy nor move without getting an error in Outlook after each message copied/moved.  The funny thing is, the message, 90% of the time, is actually copied despite the error message.  It's just ridiculously tedious moving 1500 messages one at a time because the error prompt halts the process after each message (I've been selecting anywhere from 5 to 500 messages to move/copy at a time with the same result.)

Anyone know if this is an SME issue (concurrent connections?) or an Outlook/OExpress issue?  I've hunted the forums and the MSKB looking for help, but I've found nothing.

Much appreciated for your help!

[matsk]

Maybee this can help you a bit..

http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-mini/Outlook-to-Unix-Mailbox.html#ss3.1


/Mats

[Brenno]

Actually, matsk, I had read that exact article while I was hunting for clues and tips!  Where I get caught is section 3.4: Copy over all your email.

When I do this in OE, sometimes I can move messages, but most of the time, OE tells me "the server refused to accept it."

I've been careful to closely mirror the folder tree between the client and the server, accounting, where necessary, for IMAP's nested folders shortcomings.

I still have no luck and this issue is driving me absolutely insane.  I still haven't determined if it's an OE setting or an SME setting that's causing this, and I unfortunately don't have the luxury of installing NS on any of these machines since they're too limited in drive space to install it (part of the reason I'm going to IMAP in the first place!)

Help?

[Brenno]

In the hopes that more info might trigger some help, I'm adding some symptoms here for reference.

1.  I can move or copy the first message.  When I go to move the second message, I get the error from OExpress that says "Your message could not be uploaded to the IMAP server.  The server refused to accept it."

2.  The details of the error message from OExpress are
Internal error [2004-08-14 16:51:06]
Configuration:
  Account: IMAP server
  Server: 193.1.1.200
  User name: brent
  Protocol: IMAP
  Port: 143
  Secure(SSL): 0
  Code: 800cccd2

3.  After creating a new folder on the IMAP server, I can move two messages fine, then get the error on the third attempt, and every other subsequent attempt.

4.  I can't find any pertinent errors within the SME logs for this, either.

I'm really, really hoping somebody can help me out here. I've got 18 machines to move over, with email counts ranging from 200 to 2,500 per machine!

[matsk]

Can this be of any help ?

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ol2mbox/

This project provides libraries and applications for the conversion of Outlook and Outlook Express data files to Linux MBOX format. The flagship of this project is LibPST which converts Outlook files.

I know that you need to get to MailDir not MBOX but I know that Qmail has a MailDir to MBOX converter script so maybee there is a script that does it the other way round like this http://batleth.sapienti-sat.org/projects/mb2md/?

/Mats

[Brenno]

matsk,

I was really trying to avoid using third party software, but inevitably, I had to.  This is the solution I ended up using.  I'm posting it here in case anybody else needs tips when they're trying to solve the same problems I had, even if this isn't the smartest way to go about it!

1. Use OExpress to connect to the IMAP server and create mail directories to mirror the local folders.

2. Close OExpress, and install Eudora.

3. Setup Eudora to connect to the same mailbox on the IMAP server.

4. Import all of the OExpress messages into Eudora and have them converted to Eudora's format.

5. Transfer the messages into their corresponding folders on the IMAP server.

6.  Close Eudora, restart OExpress.  Ensure all transferred messages are there.

7.  Remove all the messages from OExpress' local folders and set the IMAP server to be the default.

8.  Uninstall Eudora and begin using OExpress normally.

This worked quite well, despite being time consuming.  The only catch was that 95% of the messages transferred to the IMAP server via Eudora are now viewed as HTML source instead of their standard way in OExpress.  But, when you log into the IMAP server again with Eudora, the same messages are displayed correctly.  Therefore, I can only conclude that this is a OExpress-specific issue, and a real minor issue, AFAIC.

I stuck with OExpress as the default client simply because everyone has their own address book and filter rules already set up in OExpress, plus I found it slightly easier to use than Eudora.

Maybe with any luck, this might help somebody.  The biggest lesson learned here was to go IMAP right from the start; it's far easier than reconfiguring all of your clients after 15 months of email accumulation!!