How to Import Thunderbird Mail to Mac Mail?

Anyone can undergo a changeover in the service when there is countless worries which may occur in the existing email client. If the user wishes to migrate his email service, then it may establish huge doubts and queries. As it is not just to migrate the service but the entire data has to be migrated without any failure. To preserve the data is the important requirement and main challenge for the user. Corruption may occur in the file system which needs to be resolved to manage and secure the data. If the user wish to import Thunderbird mail to Mac mail, there are few process which needs to be followed. This article describes the importance of email services and the solution to move data from one email client to another.

Thunderbird is an efficient and reliable email client which is free for Windows, Linux, Mac and other supported operating system. In the stored email data of Mozilla Thunderbird, data are saved in two formats, with .msf extension files and other is without extension files. The files will be such as inbox, inbox.msf, received items.msf, received items, etc. The files without extension are the main data of the Thunderbird and one with the header and the indexing of the files are in the MSF files. When the organization is in the state to migrate existing email client to another. e.g.,Thunderbird to other email clients. Or if Thunderbird is crashed or corrupted, there may occur failures which may impact the data while migration. As technology is developing day-by-day every organization tries to move to other services which provide better platform to work with. One such email client is Mac OS X mail developed by Apple Inc.

Reasons to Transfer / Migrate Email from Thunderbird to Mac Mail

Mac Mail also known as Apple Mail is a default email client which comes in every Mac OS. It is versatile with plenty of options and features which provokes the user to adopt this email client. Some of the key features are as follows,

• Allows to customize the mail toolbar function with least complexity
• Quick look helps to view the attached images in a full screen slide show
• Flag feature enables to mark important email for future reference
• Data detectors helps to recognize the email which can be configured
• Enable to subscribe RSS feeds which is notified in the mailbox
• Enabling parental control helps to restrict others to respond to the emails
• MobileMe account helps to synchronize emails and its settings

Some of the relevant scenarios from the users are posted below which will understand the need of switching from one email client to another:

“I have faced a major corruption in my emails. All my Thunderbird emails have been crashed due to some reason. Can anyone advised me in resolving so that I could access back my data?”

“I want to switch from Mac Thunderbird to Mac Mail. For that, I have compressed all the folders from Thunderbird later I have used import wizard of Mac OS X Mail. Unfortunately, I have caught up with all my mails missing. The folder which contained hundred of emails is now having few emails. But there is no error or warning alerts. How can I migrate my local folder? Please suggest and answer to my query.”

Manual Method to Import Thunderbird Mail to Mac Mail

Before importing emails from Thunderbird to Mac Mail, an add-on “ImportExportTools” must be downloaded and installed. This will enable to migrate the data without facing any difficulty.

• First, install the ImportExport extension on Thunderbird
• From Tools menu, go to ImportExportTools and then click Export folder

• Now, select the folder which is to be exported
• After that, give the destination location to export the files. You can export the folder to the desktop also
• After that, rename the exported file to .mbox extension
• Now, MAC will send a confirmation pop-up, click Yes to import Thunderbird mail into Mac mail

The below steps is to import the exported file to Mac Mail

• Open Apple Mail application to import the files
• Go to File menu and then click on Import Mailboxes
• Now, it will show a list of file formats, select Files in MBOX format
• By this, it will import all the exported emails to the correct folder at the extreme bottom of the left panel
• One can also move the folder according to its comfort

Disadvantages of Manual Approach

• Not feasible for all users due to its lengthy steps that makes it complex
• Data integrity is not assured as after data migration the files are available at different folders than the original folder
• The process takes more time to complete
• Users with low technical knowledge may find it difficult
• After migrating, sometimes the files are either corrupted or persist data loss

Conclusion

This article mainly describes the process to import Thunderbird mail to Mac mail. However, the advanced features of Mac Mail make the user to opt this email client. One can make use of manual approach to import email from Thunderbird to Mac Mail by following the above mentioned steps. However, there is not a guaranteed solution wherein the files will be concise and intact even after data migration. So this limitation can be sorted by using a professional tool.