cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

chandu
Rising Star
Posts: 671
Thanks: 19
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎30-12-2010

Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

I have just brought a new Win7 machine and migrated to Firefox and Thunderbird.  On my previous machine (Win XP) I had used Firefox and OE.  Now I want to import my address book from OE to Thunderbird.  Has anyone done this?  If so, please give me step-by-step procedure to achieve this. This will save me an oweful lot of time. Cheesy  Thank you.
16 REPLIES 16
wacky17
Grafter
Posts: 134
Registered: ‎25-06-2008

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

chandu
Rising Star
Posts: 671
Thanks: 19
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎30-12-2010

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

Hi Wacky17,
Thank for your help.  I looked at both the sites you suggested.
I should have ensued that both OE and Thunder bird are on different machines and I do not have any network connectiion between them. (i.e. OE is on old machine and Thunderbird is on new machine).  The sites you suggested assume that both are on the same machines.
Thank you for your help.  Can any one else suggest any possible solutions apart from the laborious manual method of keying-in the whole address book?
Kiss
penfold
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 2,280
Thanks: 25
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

Couldnt remember how to export OEs address book, but this site should explain most of it....  http://www.steve.maurer.net/tutorials/email_tutorials/export_addressbook.htm
To import into thunderbird, open the address book, select tools, and then import and follow the instructions.
Its a but more complicated for e-mails etc, but its only the address book you want....
chandu
Rising Star
Posts: 671
Thanks: 19
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎30-12-2010

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

HI Penfold,
I have looked at the site you suggested.  That is fine and the addressbook has been saved on USB flash drive.  But when I go to the thunderbird import, it can't find the usb drive.  So, it assumes that I already have the OE installed on the new machine, which I do not have.  I am stuck at this point.  Unless some tells me how I can get the OE installed on Win7.
Thunderbird help ia not much of help.

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

Did you export the address book as a WAB file or CSV? I don't think Thunderbird can import stand-alone WAB files. Instead one has to export the address book (from OE) as a CSV (comma separated values) file, move the file to the new computer and import into Thunderbird as an address book (not mail). Select Text file as the import file type.
Be selective with the fields you export and import (eg stick to name and primary email address).
Some hints here.
David
hadden
Grafter
Posts: 486
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎27-07-2007

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

Why not install Thunderbird on the old machine.  During the install it should automatically find and import your Outlook Express settings (including existing mail and addressbook) into the Thunderbird profile files.
Then you can copy that Thunderbird profile with your email and settings over to the new machine to be used by Thunderbird there.
chandu
Rising Star
Posts: 671
Thanks: 19
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎30-12-2010

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

Thanks Spraxyt.  I will give it a go in next few days. ehow.com might be the answer.
Will let you know how I get on.
JohnJ, you mentioned ""Then you can copy that Thunderbird profile with your email and settings over to the new machine to be used by Thunderbird there.""  Please tell me how does one do this - remember I do not belong to anarak brigade.  I will appreciate your help and preferably step-by-step procedure.  Thanks.
hadden
Grafter
Posts: 486
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎27-07-2007

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

There are good clear (non jargon) instructions about this here. If you follow the steps and click on the links within the steps to show more detail, I'm sure you'll manage fine.
As an aside, this shows you how easy it is to backup your email and settings when using Thunderbird, as everything is stored in the profile folder.
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

Quote from: chandu
... the addressbook has been saved on USB flash drive.  But when I go to the thunderbird import, it can't find the usb drive.  So, it assumes that I already have the OE installed on the new machine.....
Thunderbird help ia not much of help.

Are you sure Thunderbird is a good choice for your email program?  It is giving you a lot of difficulty trying to do what should be easy.  However, one thing you could do is to Import your old Address Book into  Contacts.  Open up the Contacts folder and the option to Import is along the top menu of options.  Once you have done that, use Thunderbird to import from Contacts.  If Thunderbird cannot manage that then I would find some other email program! 
Simon_M
Grafter
Posts: 685
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

Quote from: JohnJ
As an aside, this shows you how easy it is to backup your email and settings when using Thunderbird, as everything is stored in the profile folder.

Very true & one of the main reasons I moved to Thunderbird years ago, when backing up OE was almost impossible. I gather that the later versions of OE did improve in this respect, although I know nothing about the current offerings.
I use POP3 rather than IMAP (for reasons that are off topic for this thread) & I find it very useful that I can move from one PC to another with a simple folder copy.
Simon_M
Grafter
Posts: 685
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

To import addresses from a CSV file into Thunderbird 3:
Tools | Import | Select Address Books, then click Next | Select Text File | In the 'Browse for File' window that appears, change the 'Files of type' dropdown box (bottom of window) to Comma Separated, then browse to your exported file.
You will be asked to match the fields in the exported file to the appropriate fields in Thunderbird's address book.
chandu
Rising Star
Posts: 671
Thanks: 19
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎30-12-2010

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

Hi Simon,
Thank you very much; I followed the instruction and it is all sorted now.
Also many thanks to all of you who tried to help me. 
Yes, ReedRichards, if MS make it awkward to use OE on Win7, then it is worth it to switch to Thunderbird as Email Client.  Unless, of course one of you guys know how to extract the OE from the Win 7, then  please do tell me and I will be happy to switch back to OE.
Thanks guys.
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

Outlook Express really isn't a very good email program.  It stores its mailboxes as files and these sometimes get corrupted and you loose all the emails contained in the file.  Microsoft's current alternative is Windows Live Mail.  This was okay, but I haven't seen the latest 2011 version which seems to be attracting criticism.  Last year I spent a good few hours trying to get emails out of Thunderbird and into another format whilst preserving the established mailbox structure.  I failed because Thunderbird really doesn't make this easy, so that's not my favourite email program.   
chandu
Rising Star
Posts: 671
Thanks: 19
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎30-12-2010

Re: Thunderbird Addressbook import from MS's OE

Hi ReedRichards,
Thanks for yooour comments on OE.  I have had a look at Win7's Live mail.  Not very keen ,I am afraid.  I have used Thunderbird for the first time, so I have to wait and see how I get with it,  I'm used to using OE and I understand that OE is hidden somewhere within Win7.  But I do not know the way to pull it out to use it.
Keep you posted on how I get on.  Smiley