import contacts from Outlook to Thunderbird

[VJ]

Hello,

I'm using thunderbird as my mailclient, but I use outlook to synchronize contacts/agenda/... with my mobile (can't sync with Sunbird yet). I'm now trying to get Thunderbird (v. 1.5) to import the contacts from Outlook (2003), but it doesn't work. I go to
Tools > Import > Address books > Outlook

If I then click next, it gives a box saying first 'Adresses successully imported from Outlook' and inside the box it says: 'No address books were found to import.'.

If I check, the addresses are not added.

I know I could go via a .csv file, but that would imply having to match the fields with their titles (they don't match, not even by a long shot).

Any thoughts?
(I'd like to be able to have an easy procedure I could easily run every once in a while)


Jörg

[Gurm]

Why on earth would you go from Outlook... to... THUNDERBIRD?

*vomit*

[VJ]

I prefer to use Thunderbird for mail stuff.
(just like I prefer Firefox over Internet Exploder for my web-browsing)

The only reason I have to use Outlook is for agenda and contacts synchronization with my mobile. If I could, I would synchronize with Thunderbird/Sunbird, but that is not an option at the moment.

But the result is: I have all my contacts in Outlook, and now I want them in Thunderbird.


Jörg

[GinoCyber]

Can't you export in ldif from outlook & then import the ldif into TB?

[Gurm]

No no I understand hating IE.

I even understand hating Outlook.

But whereas there are TWO perfectly good alternatives to IE, there simply is no alternative to Outlook right now. Thunderbird is a gigantic festering boil on the underside of Mozilla.

[VJ]

Outlook can only export to:
- .pst file
- csv files (dos/windows)
- tab seperated file (dos/windows)
- access
- excel

Thunderbird can import from
- Eudora
- Outlook
- Outlook Express
- text file (ldif, tab, csv, txt)

Importing directly from Outlook yields no result. How can I import my Outlook stuff in Outlook Express? (perhaps than I can import from Outlook Express to Thunderbird)

Gurm:
I understand you... But I only need a mail client. No need for the added agenda features; my agenda is not shared with others.


Jörg

[VJ]

Apparently, Thunderbird is limited in the amount of data it can handle in a CSV file. The email address were at the end, in columns that Thunderbird doesn't allow me to select.

So I did this:
export to a CSV-file
open in wordpad (notepad crashes) then replace all the ',' by ';'
open in excel, delete all the unnecessary columns
open in wordpad, replace all ';' by ','
import in thunderbird
select the appropriate columns (and match them)

Surely there must be a better way?


Jörg

[GNEP]

Why couldn't you open the word doc directly in Excel without doing the funky chicken in wordpad first?

[VJ]

Because Excel's delimiters are semicolumns. If I don't do the funky Byock, it imports them in one column.

Jörg

[GNEP]

You can use the import text wizard or whatever it's called to set whatever delimeters you like

[VJ]

You see, I knew that, but didn't find the wizard...

I found that Thunderbird only supports 35 fields for contacts, whereas the emailaddresses in Outlook are in fields much further than that (40 or so). So Thunderbird cannot access the emailaddresses, which is most likely why the direct import fails.


Jörg

[GNEP]

Ah fair enough. In excel, you might be prompted when opening the csv file from excel directly, otherwise you have to do Data --> Text to Columns and set the appropriate options. Easier than messing around with Byock

[VJ]

But the problem is: this still is cumbersome.
When importing the (modified) .csv file in Thunderbird, I still have to match the fields (they aren't matched automatically). I would have hoped it to be more straightforward.


Jörg

[GNEP]

Could you give them headers that Thunderbird will recognise while you're in excel? And then when happy that all the bits outside of excel are running to your satisfaction, write a little VBA to do the messy excel bits magically...

[Gurm]

I would LOVE to find a good mail client. Thunderbird, sadly, is not a good mail client. It's a shitty mail client. It's just "not Outlook".

Frankly, I don't use the time management stuff very much. I just use Outlook as a mail client, and it works just fine as one.