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migrate windows live mail to thunderbird

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  • Last reply by andynic

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I am running Windows 10 and am using Windows Live Mail. I have installed Thunderbird. How can I migrate my existing mail (including folders) from Windows Live Mail to Thunderbird. Thanks for your help. Andynic

I am running Windows 10 and am using Windows Live Mail. I have installed Thunderbird. How can I migrate my existing mail (including folders) from Windows Live Mail to Thunderbird. Thanks for your help. Andynic

Chosen solution

andynic said

I see the Senior Web PC Help at Home client in a few days.

Good luck  !

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Hello Andynic,

Would you please take a look at this article :

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switching-thunderbird

Does that help  ?

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Thanks for the reply, but it doen't help. It's aimed at Mac mail apps and the "see also" link provides no further info; also the links in that See Also page don't work.

 I'm trying to migrate from Windows 10 Live Mail to Thunderbird and there are many mail folders in the Windows 10 LM.  Windows 10 LM provides two export formats: Windows Live Mail (I assume for backup purposes or migrating to another computer) and Microsoft Exchange. 

Can either of those formats be imported into Thunderbird? If so, will user-made folders also be imported?

Thanks for your help. Andynic

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The first section of the support article cited above gives explicit instructions for transferring mail and contacts from WLM to TB:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switching-thunderbird#w_switching-from-windows-mail-or-windows-live-mail-to-thunderbird

Export your WLM mail to eml files and import them to TB with ImportExportTools. The procedure is essentially the same whether TB is on Windows, OS X or Linux.

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When I go there it is about Apple Mail.

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Table of Contents

   Switching from Apple Mail to Thunderbird
       Importing Apple Mail messages
       Importing the OS X address book
   Switching from Web-based Email Applications to Thunderbird
   See Also

Switching from Apple Mail to Thunderbird

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Is that because I'm viewing it on a Macbook rather than from a Windows Machine (I have to travel to a client for a Windows machine -- I'm a volunteer for Senior Web PC Help at Home in The Netherlands)
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Is that because I'm viewing it on a Macbook rather than a Windows machine (I am a volunteer for Senior Web PC Help at Home in the Netherlands and have to travel to the client for a Windows machine).

Which format should I export to "MIcrosoft Exhcange" or "Windows Live Mail"), the two options that the WLM gives for export format.

Thanks for your help.

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Yes, that page detects your OS and delivers (what it thinks is) the relevant guide. If you click on Editing Tools on the left (see picture) you can select the guide for any OS.

Export to WLM (eml files); Exchange would be for import to something like Outlook.

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Thank you very much for the last few replies. I will let you know what happens. I see the Senior Web PC Help at Home client in a few days. Hoping I can mark this solved thereafter!

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Chosen Solution

andynic said

I see the Senior Web PC Help at Home client in a few days.

Good luck  !

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Thanks, that worked. One glitch: In the version of WLM I was working with, there's a section in the left pane under all the standard mailboxes called, in Dutch, "Opslag Mapjes" = "Storage Folders". These are folders made by the user. These do not get imported into Thunderbird. Everything in the standard mailboxes including sub-folders made there get imported. The user made duplicate folders under the inbox in WLM and dragged and dropped the emails from the folders she had made in "Opslag Mapjes". Via the IMAP config. they got made automatically on the webmail server and in turn showed up in Thunderbird. A bit cumbersome, but it worked. Thanks for your help Andynic