Migrating from Evolution to Thunderbird

Question

I would really like to switch over to Thunderbird from Evolution. I have had a look around and haven't found a good up to date how to for migrating. I have quite a lot of emails and filters and would like to make the transition as painless as possible.

thanks for any help.

Solution 1

Ubuntu <= 11.04

This is a perfect how to, very easy ... you can follow, it has

• Migrate local mail from Evolution
• Migrate Calendar
• Migrating Task
• Migrate address book

how-to-migrate-from-evolution-to-thunderbird-in-ubuntu

--------------------------- UPDATED --------------------------------------------------

Ubuntu >= 11.10

EVOLUTION

Exporting calendar data

To export a complete calendar, right-click on the calendar in the list of calendars and click Save as. Available formats are iCalendar format (ICS, recommended), comma separated values (CSV), and RDF format.

If you want to export only one appointment, right-click on the appointment and click Save as iCalendar....

THUNDERBIRD

extension

Lightning 1.0b7 by Mozilla

or you can install this package from Ubuntu repository:

sudo apt-get install xul-ext-lightning version the same (1.0~b7)

Manage your daily schedule directly within Thunderbird. Allows managing calendars locally or subscribing to network calendars. Lightning 1.0b7 supports Thunderbird 7.

• Install this extension.
• Open thunderbird.
• Events and task
• import and select the calendar saved before...

EVOLUTION

exporting contacts data

Contacts files are stored in a database, but can be saved as a vCard file. To export a complete address book, click File ▸ Save Address Book As vCard. If you want to export only one contact, click File ▸ Save as vCard or right-click on the contact and click Save as vCard.

THUNDERBIRD

extension

contact data (vCard or .vcf)

Some address book programs use a vCard format, which cannot be imported directly by Thunderbird. You can import both vCard and vcf using the third-party Thunderbird extension MoreFunctionsForAddressBook.

• Install this extension.
• Open thunderbird.
• Address Book -> tools -> MoreFunctionsForAddressBook -> action for contatcs -> import vcard/vcf

EVOLUTION

Exporting mail data

To save an email to a file in mbox format, select an email and click File ▸ Save as mbox... or right-click on the message and click Save as mbox....

The same steps apply to save a complete mail folder, but you have to mark all messages in it first.

You can select all messages in a folder by clicking Edit ▸ Select All or pressing Ctrl+A.

THUNDERBIRD

extension

ImportExportTools

Adds some tools to import and export folders and messages

mail data .mbox

• Install this extension.
• Open thunderbird.
• tools -> ImportExportTools -> import file mbox -> import directly one or more files .mbox

EVOLUTION

exporting tasks

in Evolution, click on the Task tab. Right click on the Personal (or whatever name you give to your task list) and select Save to disk. Navigate to the location and save the task list in .ics format.

THUNDERBIRD

Importing Task

• Events and task -> import.

P.D : All these are tested by my and work 100%

Solution 2

Try this website for instructions: http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/switching-thunderbird?s=migrating+from+evolution+to+thunderbird&as=s

I quote from that document regarding mail:

1. Open Nautilus.

2. Open ~/.local/share/evolution/mail/local which is where Evolution store your mails.

3. Copy all the file without extension (such as Inbox, Outbox,..) into the emplacement used by Thunderbird to store its mail (something like ~/.thunderbird/uk41lql0.default/Mail/Local Folders, where you need to adapt uk41lql0.default to your own installation).

4. Launch Thunderbird to check that all your mail have been correctly imported.

There are also intructions there for migrating contacts (address books). I didn't use Evolution's calendar, or Lightning, and don't know how to migrate it.

Solution 3

For another take on the process(es), take a look at Moving on to Thunderbird. This was a switch from Evolution to Thunderbird under Ubuntu 10.04, done fairly recently (January, 2010). Note that only the message folders and address book needed to be transferred (i.e. calendar, task, etc. were not in use). Using Version 10.10 rather than 10.04 shouldn't be any different. See the above-noted blog post and a number of the subsequent ones for the whole story...

Comments

[Allan]

I see it was written in 2008 is it still relevant? has anything changed since then?

[klox]

is not relevant is usefull in any version of thunderbird and evolution, i test some of this tips and plug-ins and worked very well

[Allan]

Hi Hector I have eventually managed and will be moving over to IMAP as soon as possible as it was a lot of work. I think it would be great if there was a Thunderbird plugin to import from an evolution backup as presumably all the data is there and it would make the process slightly less painful.

[panmari]

Already in the headline it says, it's for Ubuntu Intrepid. That's fairly outdated for my terms. Nonetheless I tried it and it didn't work.

[brobrobrobrobro]

Wow @hhlp I'll have to try this when I get home. What addon allows importing mboxes?

[klox]

@zpletan sorry i miss that extension see my update...

[Mahmudin Ashar]

yes, this is right answer