Thunderbird is a lean and mean e-mail client, which is why it is so popular. But sometimes, for some reason or the other, people have to switch to Microsoft Outlook Express or Outlook 2003. However, Thunderbird saves its mails in the MBOX format, which is incompatible with other e-mail clients. Unfortunately, Thunderbird does not have any option to 'export' its mails to another e-mail client.
The first thing you need to do is download the mentioned plug-in for Thunderbird to your desktop. Now launch Thunderbird, click on Tools and select Add-ons.
Locate the .XPI file you had downloaded before. Select it and click Open.
Click Install Now and the plug-in will get installed. You will now be asked to restart Thunderbird for the plug-in to take effect. Restart Thunderbird.
Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.
Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.
Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.
Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.
Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.
Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.
Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.
Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.
Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.
Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.
Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.
Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.
Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.
Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.
Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.
You will now be able to see your mail in Outlook Express. Repeat the procedure for other local folders such as Inbox, Sent items, Drafts, etc.
Now to get this same mail to Outlook 2003, launch Outlook 2003, click File > Import and Export > Import from another program or file, select Outlook Express 4.x, 5.x, 6.x and click Finish. Now you will be able to see that all your mails are available in your Outlook 2003 as well. It is as simple as that!
But since it is an open source software, there is a large community of people who develop plug-ins to do various things in it. Someone must have thought about the e-mail migration issue and therefore developed a plug-in known as ImportExportTools (MboxImport enhanced), which can be downloaded from http://www.nic-nac-project.de/~kaosmos/mboximport-en.html. We'll show you today how you can use it to make your Thunderbird mails accessible in Outlook Express or Outlook 2003.
The first thing you need to do is download the mentioned plug-in for Thunderbird to your desktop. Now launch Thunderbird, click on Tools and select Add-ons.
Locate the .XPI file you had downloaded before. Select it and click Open.
Click Install Now and the plug-in will get installed. You will now be asked to restart Thunderbird for the plug-in to take effect. Restart Thunderbird.
Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.
Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.
Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.
Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.
Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.
Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.
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Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.
Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.
Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.
Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.
Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.
Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.
Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.
Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.
Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.
You will now be able to see your mail in Outlook Express. Repeat the procedure for other local folders such as Inbox, Sent items, Drafts, etc.
Now to get this same mail to Outlook 2003, launch Outlook 2003, click File > Import and Export > Import from another program or file, select Outlook Express 4.x, 5.x, 6.x and click Finish. Now you will be able to see that all your mails are available in your Outlook 2003 as well. It is as simple as that!
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