Export data from Outlook 2003 to Thunderbird?

[katz]

Working on an old clunky XP system and cannot get any of the data to transfer over from Outlook 2003 to Thunderbird...

T-bird will not accept the pst file, and I've tried several pst convertors that are supposed to work, but they haven't.

There is an import feature in the T-bird file menu, but when I run it, it simply sits there forever, not frozen, but not completing the task either.

I'm specifically trying to move the folder tree with all of his emails contained in about a hundred custom folders.


Anyone have any ideas on this?

 

[Pacific Blue IT]

Install a trial of 2007 or 10 office import pst and then try with tbird

 

[FremontPC]

What version of T-bird are you using? One user complained about this with version 31, they tried version 24 and it worked.

How's the HDD doing on that old beast?

 

[katz]

Install a trial of 2007 or 10 office import pst and then try with tbird

I saw that suggestion in a search; Do you have a link for an outlook 2007 download? I can't seem to find a good link anywhere...

What version of T-bird are you using? One user complained about this with version 31, they tried version 24 and it worked.

How's the HDD doing on that old beast?

T-bird 38. HDD tested fine back in March when I had it in the shop. It's living on borrowed time, to be sure.

 

[FremontPC]

Perhaps have a look at Emailchemy. Reads Outlook and writes Tbird.

http://www.weirdkid.com/products/emailchemy/

 

[katz]

Perhaps have a look at Emailchemy. Reads Outlook and writes Tbird.

http://www.weirdkid.com/products/emailchemy/

This looks promising;

However, I converted the pst file, but Emailchemy uses this convoluted "imap server" process to get the file over into T-bird. I follow the instructions to a "T", and T-bird cannot locate the server. No help on Emailchemy website. This is turning out to be one of those chase my tail jobs where I'm not making a dime on this.

 

[Markverhyden]

How big is the PST? If the HD is flaky I'd bet the PST is damaged. Is the HD still bootable? You could run scanpst. Here is a link to some other repair tools.
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-reliable-outlook-pst-file-repair-tools/
I seem to remember hearing that many have had good luck with the Stellar Phoenix tool but it's not cheap. Also you can grab a trial of Office 2010 from Technet.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-office-professional-plus-2013

 

[fencepost]

Do you have an in-house mail server? If so, set up an account on it, add it to Outlook as an IMAP server, drag, drop, reverse into Thunderbird.

If not, you can likely set one up very quickly - if you're all Windows, I believe Mercury (http://www.pmail.com/index.htm) runs on Windows servers though I haven't used it myself.

Also, how much data is involved? If it's just one PST then it's under 2GB on 2003, otherwise it could be more. You might be able to do IMAP from that Outlook to an outlook.com account then sync it back that way.

 

[katz]

Thanks Mark, but I finally got this sorted in the meantime. I was making it a bit harder than need be.

In the end, all that was needed to do was to import the pst file into Outlook Express, then import the pst from O.E. to T-Bird. Since this is an old clunker this is just a quick temporary fix until we move them to a new pc.

At present I only have a handful of XP systems that I service, and I am pushing those clients as well. A couple are used in Auto repair shops and the state (Penna) requires the use of their old XP dinosaurs to work with the Emissions testing system. So, we can't upgrade those until the state decides to move to newer systems.

Hopefully this info. will be of help to other techs that may run into this situation.

As always, I appreciate all of the suggestions.

And, I should have trial versions of all those Outlook versions on hand anyway...

 

[Markverhyden]

Great to hear you go it worked out.

 

[Pacific Blue IT]

Glad you sorted it, was going to up a trial version for you. They are easy to get, just grab Office key of next laptop that you repair that has Office 10 or seven pre-installed and use it to download the installer and keep the installer on hand - actually ignore that, I think MS has changed the process to having to sign in with an account, maybe I should up the installer for you.

 

[katz]

Glad you sorted it, was going to up a trial version for you. They are easy to get, just grab Office key of next laptop that you repair that has Office 10 or seven pre-installed and use it to download the installer and keep the installer on hand - actually ignore that, I think MS has changed the process to having to sign in with an account, maybe I should up the installer for you.

Thanks for that - I'm sure I, and others could make use of it. However, as I understand it, either O.E. or WLM will do the import properly and from there one could get the data transferred over to T-Bird/other email client.

Also, this is good info. -

"Outlook Express will NOT work with Windows 8, Windows 7 nor Windows Vista. Outlook Express has been replaced with Windows Live Mail - which does work with Windows 8, 7 and Vista."