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diff --git a/doc/kmail/importing.docbook b/doc/kmail/importing.docbook new file mode 100644 index 000000000..6cc909631 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/kmail/importing.docbook @@ -0,0 +1,270 @@ +<chapter id="importing"> + +<chapterinfo> +<authorgroup> +<author> +<firstname>Daniel</firstname> +<surname>Naber</surname> +<affiliation><address> +<email>[email protected]</email> +</address></affiliation> +</author> +<author> +<firstname>David</firstname> +<surname>Rugge</surname> +<affiliation><address> +<email>[email protected]</email> +</address></affiliation> +</author> +<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS --> +</authorgroup> +<date>2002-10-03</date> +<releaseinfo>1.5</releaseinfo> +</chapterinfo> + +<title>Using other Mailbox Files with &kmail;</title> + +<para>&kmail; offers an import tool for the messages and address books of some +other email clients. You can access it using <menuchoice><guimenu>Tools</guimenu> +<guimenuitem>Import...</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. Please make sure that you +compact your folders in the other email client, no matter if you are going to use +the import utility or if you are going to copy files manually. +You only need to read this chapter if this tool does not work for you.</para> + +<para>This section is for all of the users who need to move email messages +from their previous email client over to &kmail;. &kmail; can store its +messages using <quote>mbox</quote> or <quote>maildir</quote> formats, which +are the most widely-used mailbox formats on &UNIX; systems. Mbox mailboxes +store messages in one file, identifying where messages start and end with a +<literal>From</literal> line (do not mix this up with the +<literal>From:</literal> header that contains the message's sender); +Maildir uses one file per message. For many &UNIX; email clients, all you +must do is move your mailboxes to <filename +class="directory">~/Mail</filename> (or make <filename +class="symlink">Mail</filename> a symbolic link to the folder containing +your mailboxes), make sure they are writable by your user, and launch +&kmail;. The mailboxes should now show up correctly in &kmail;.</para> + +<para>Please have a look at the +<ulink url="http://kmail.kde.org/tools.html">Tools section of &kmail;'s +homepage</ulink> first, to see if there is a tool that imports your mailbox +and maybe even address book.</para> + +<warning><para>Do not use a second email client that accesses the files in +<filename class="directory">~/Mail</filename> while &kmail; is running or +you might lose messages. This section only explains how to import mailboxes +to &kmail; once; it is not useful to you if you're planning to use several +email clients for your mailboxes in the future.</para></warning> + +<variablelist> + +<varlistentry> +<term><application>Eudora Lite</application>/<application>Eudora +Pro</application></term> +<listitem> +<para><application>Eudora</application> uses the mbox format in its mail +files. To use them with &kmail;, make sure that your +<application>Eudora</application> mailboxes have been compacted, then copy the +<literal role="extension">.mbx</literal> files (&Windows; +<application>Eudora</application>) or <application>Eudora</application> mailbox +files (&Mac; <application>Eudora</application>) to your <filename +class="directory">~/Mail</filename> folder. You do not need to copy the +<filename>index</filename> files. Once you start &kmail;, the mailboxes should +appear in the Folders pane and the messages should be accessible in the Headers +pane.</para> +<para>If messages do not appear in the Headers pane, your mailbox files may +still contain &Windows; or &Mac; line-feed characters. Use your favorite +text editor, the <application>recode</application> command or a scripting +language to change the &Windows; or &Mac; line feeds to &UNIX; line +feeds.</para> +</listitem> +</varlistentry> + +<varlistentry> +<term><application>Mailsmith</application></term> +<listitem> +<para><application>Mailsmith</application> runs on &Mac; and uses its own database +format; however it is possible to export mail into mbox format using +<menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Export +Mail</guimenuitem></menuchoice> on a +selected mailbox or on selected messages. Once the messages have been exported, translate +the &Mac; line breaks to &UNIX; line breaks using your favorite editor, or using the following +command under &Linux;:</para> + +<para><userinput><command>cat</command> <option>mail-mac.txt</option> +| perl -e 'while (<STDIN>) { s/\r/\n/gi; print $_ ;}' > mail-unix.txt</userinput></para> + +<para>&kmail; will only recognize mboxes placed directly in the <filename class="directory">~/Mail/</filename> +folder. This means that a folder hierarchy cannot be preserved by simply moving files into the +<filename class="directory">~/Mail/</filename> folder, but will need to be reconstructed +within &kmail; manually.</para> + +</listitem> +</varlistentry> + +<varlistentry> +<term>MMDF</term> +<listitem> +<para>This format is close enough to the mailbox format that &kmail; should be +able to use these mailboxes if you just copy them to your +<filename class="directory">~/Mail</filename> folder; however, MMDF mailboxes +have not been tested with &kmail;, so your results may vary. If you can get +this format to work with &kmail;, please let us know so we can include more +specific directions in the next documentation release.</para> +</listitem> +</varlistentry> + +<varlistentry> +<term>MH mailboxes</term> +<listitem> +<para>MH mailboxes are directories containing files that correspond to each +message in that mailbox. A shell script to convert MH mailboxes to mbox +mailboxes, <command>mh2kmail</command>, is included at least in the source +releases of &kmail;, but maybe not in the packaged releases. Running this script +on a MH folder will convert it to an mbox file. We strongly suggest that you +back up your MH mail folders before you use this script.</para> +</listitem> +</varlistentry> + +<varlistentry> +<term>Forte <application>Agent</application></term> +<listitem> +<para>In <application>Agent</application>:</para> +<procedure> +<step> +<para>Select the messages to export</para> +</step> +<step> +<para>Select <menuchoice><guimenu>FILE</guimenu><guimenuitem>SAVE MESSAGES +AS</guimenuitem></menuchoice></para> +</step> +<step> +<para>Mark the <guilabel>UNIX FORMAT</guilabel> and <guilabel>SAVE +RAW</guilabel> boxes</para> +</step> +<step> +<para>Give File a <literal role="extension">.txt</literal> extension and +save.</para> +</step> +</procedure> + +<para>In &kde;:</para> + +<procedure> +<step> +<para>Move the previously-saved file to the correct <filename +class="directory">~/Mail</filename> folder</para> +</step> +<step> +<para>Rename file without <literal role="extension">.txt</literal> +extension</para> +</step> +</procedure> +<para>When you open &kmail; the new folder with appropriate messages will be +there.</para> +</listitem> +</varlistentry> + +<varlistentry> +<term>&Netscape; Mail</term> +<listitem> + +<para>If you are using &Netscape; 4.x, the mail files should be found +in <filename class="directory">~/nsmail</filename>; if you are using +&Netscape; 6.x, they're buried in a folder deep in the <filename +class="directory">~/.mozilla</filename> subfolder, something like: +<filename +class="directory">/home/user_name/.mozilla/user_name/2ts1ixha.slt/Mail/Mail/server_name</filename> +(the <filename class="directory">2ts1ixha.slt</filename> string will +probably vary, so check it on your own system.) The <filename +class="directory">[...]/Mail/Mail</filename> folder contains one +subfolder for each account from which you receive mail through +Netscape (⪚ <filename +class="directory">[...]/Mail/Mail/math.university.edu</filename>); +you will need to copy files from each of them if you want everything to +be accessible under &kmail;.</para> + +<para>If you have no subfolders, just copy all of the &Netscape; +files to <filename class="directory">~/Mail</filename>, make sure +that they are writable (only by your user, of course), and restart +&kmail;: all of the messages will now appear in &kmail; folders. +(Note that if you use a command like <command>cp +<parameter>*</parameter> <parameter>~/Mail</parameter></command>, you +should follow it with <command>rm <option>-f</option> +<parameter>~/Mail/*.msf</parameter></command>; every &Netscape; 6 +folder has a corresponding <filename>.msf</filename> file, and if you +do not get rid of them you will have a bunch of spurious empty +folders.)</para> + +<para>If you were using subfolders under &Netscape; (⪚ a main +folder called <replaceable>Work</replaceable> with subfolders called +<replaceable>Jim</replaceable> and <replaceable>Nancy</replaceable>), +there are additional steps required. First, create the main folder +(<replaceable>Work</replaceable>) in &kmail; and create a temporary +child folder under it (by right-clicking on the folder name and +selecting <guilabel>Create child folder</guilabel>); it does not +matter what you call this folder -- <replaceable>dummy</replaceable> +or the default <replaceable>unnamed</replaceable>, for example. Once +a child folder has been requested, &kmail; creates a hidden folder +in <filename class="directory">~/Mail</filename> called (in this +example) <filename class="directory">.Work.directory</filename>. You +can then copy your &Netscape; subfolder files +(<replaceable>Jim</replaceable> and <replaceable>Nancy</replaceable>) +into <filename class="directory">~/Mail/.Work.directory</filename>, +and restart &kmail;; the child folders will appear under the main +folder <replaceable>Work</replaceable>. Of course, this procedure may +be extended for sub-subfolders, to any depth. (You can remove the +temporary child folders afterwards, unless it amuses you to have a +<replaceable>Work</replaceable> subfolder called +<replaceable>dummy</replaceable>.)</para> + +</listitem> +</varlistentry> + +<varlistentry> +<term><application>Pegasus Mail</application></term> +<listitem> +<para><application>Pegasus</application> for win32 uses single files for Mail +folders similar to &kmail;. <application>Pegasus mail</application> folder files +have the extension <literal role="extension">.pmm</literal> but they are the same format as mbox except the messages +do not start with the <literal>From</literal> header, but with a control character. To work around +this, replace each instance of the control character with <literal>From +aaa@aaa Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 1997</literal>. This <literal>From</literal> +line should be the first line of every message, before the +<literal>Received:</literal> and other headers. Make sure to use a text editor +that lets you save the files in &UNIX; format or create new folders in +<application>Pegasus</application> that are in &UNIX; format and copy your messages +there.</para> +</listitem> +</varlistentry> + +<varlistentry> +<term>Maildir / Outlook Express / xfmail</term> +<listitem> +<para>Tools to convert these formats are available at the +<ulink url="http://kmail.kde.org/tools.html">Tools section of &kmail;'s +homepage</ulink>.</para> +</listitem> +</varlistentry> + +<varlistentry> +<term>Lotus <application>Notes</application>, BeOS Mail files, <application>cc: +Mail</application>, &etc;...</term> +<listitem> +<para>First you should have a look at <ulink +url="http://kmail.kde.org/tools.html">Tools section of &kmail;'s homepage</ulink> if +there are tools to convert your messages.</para> +<para>Mail programs not listed here or on the homepage probably do not work with &kmail; as they use +proprietary mail formats that &kmail; cannot understand. However, there is no +harm in trying! If the mailbox file looks similar to the mbox format, try +copying the mailbox file (remember, the index file is not needed) to your +<filename class="directory">~/Mail</filename> folder and see what happens if you start +&kmail;. If you get mailboxes from your favorite email client to work in &kmail;, +please tell us how you did it so that we can include directions in a future +revision of this documentation. </para> +</listitem> +</varlistentry> + +</variablelist> + +</chapter> |