Moving Outlook Accounts on XP to Thunderbird/Kmail/etc on Ubuntu

Moving Outlook Accounts on XP to Thunderbird/Kmail/etc on Ubuntu

Use this for a perfect account-migration from XP to Ubuntu. You might be required to re-enter a users mail password for most programs, otherwise, all their messages/accounts/mailbox settings will be migrated.

1. Install Thunderbird on XP

2. Use the ThunderBird to import the Outlook profiles.
Thunderbird and most open-source mail applications use or recognise a standard arrangement of folder/files, importing to Thunderbird sets this up for you.

3. Copy all the files in %AppData%\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\
Where %AppData% can be found by typing %AppData% into the windows command-line. Usually AppData can be found in the desired users "Documents and Settings" folder, then "Application Data" or "Roaming" folders. xxxxxxxxx is a string of random characters.

4. Paste these files into a removable drive, or somewhere you can find when you reboot into *buntu. Additionally, if you can find this folder in *buntu, then you don't need to copy it, just open it in *buntu.

5. Install Thunderbird in *buntu if not already installed.

6. Find the ~/.thunderbird/xxxxxxxx.default/ folder.
Where ~ is your own home folder, most file-managers such as Dolphin or Nautilus have dedicated home buttons. You might need to find the setting to show hidden files, as .thunderbird is hidden. You may also type it into the navigation bar. xxxxxxxxx is again, random characters.

7. Copy the folder, and paste it in the same folder, name the new folder xxxxxxxx.default.bk
This is just a backup folder, in case anything goes horribly wrong, just delete xxxxxxx.default and then remove the ".bk" from the folder you just made if things don't work.

8. Find the previous files you copied/located. Copy everything from the original xxxxxxx.default folder into the new xxxxxxx.default folder, if asked, overwrite everything.

9. Open Thunderbird, it should now have all your messages and account settings! You might be asked for your mail password when you first open Thunderbird.

10. If you prefer other programs, open the program you prefer to use, and find the import features to import your account settings (very much like we imported the outlook account into thunderbird); importing to Kmail is under the "Import Messages" option.


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