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Thunderbird Import fails with "No applicaton or file to import data from was found" without ever asking for the location of a file to import.

  • 5 replies
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  • Last reply by sfhowes

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Using TB 52.5.0, I click on Tools > Import, then select Mail and click on Next. I immediately get the error:

"No application or file to import data from was found"

But I was never asked to supply the location of a file to import. This seems like a massive bug. What am I missing?

Using TB 52.5.0, I click on Tools > Import, then select Mail and click on Next. I immediately get the error: "No application or file to import data from was found" But I was never asked to supply the location of a file to import. This seems like a massive bug. What am I missing?

All Replies (5)

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What are you trying to import?

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About a 100 MBOX files.

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That's a confusing KB article. It instructs the reader to "find their old profile" by using Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Show Folder. Well, there is no Show Folder anywhere in the trouble shooting information. There's a Profile Directory field and an Open Directory button. Clicking that gives a non-trivial view of the file system holding TB "stuff." Following the rest of the instructions is very confusing.

When I click on Tools > ImportExportTools > Import Mbox File and then choose "Import directly one or more mbox files" and click Ok, I'm then able to navigate to the location where I have some .mbox files I want imported. When I select one of the .mbox files and then click Open, the dialog box disappears, there is no error message or warning and nothing appears to happen. Nothing is imported.

And, contrary to the instructions for "finding my profile," the ImportExportTools import function appears to attempt to import into the currently selected inbox (from the TB navigation pane) and not from some file I identified by following the "finding my profile" instructions. I'm not sure what the point of those instructions is.

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The kb article is a general explanation for importing mbox files, which are usually found in a profile folder. But the source can be any compliant mbox file located anywhere.

It's best to import to Local Folders, with or without ImportExportTools, and even then you may find nothing happens if your mbox is not a compatible format, e.g. exported from Apple mail. Another way is to simply copy the mbox file into the Local Folders directory of the profile folder, .../Mail/Local Folders. When you start TB, it will recognize the mbox as a subfolder of Local Folders, the one that is visible in the Folder Pane in TB.