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Problem Migrating from Outlook on Win7 to Thunderbird on Win 10

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by Matt

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To prepare the transition, I used the Import Wizard On the win7 machine. I was able to import all my PST files [4 files, 2 less then 1GB, 1 about 6GB and one about 11GB] to a fresh TB install. when coping the TB profile to the new win10 machine into a new TB install, all the folders with Hebrew names were empty. [They were looking fine in Win 7 TB after import.]

So I tried another approach: I copied the PST files to the new win10 machine and opened them inside a new install of Outlook - they look OK in outlook on win 10. But then, when importing the PST files using the import wizard on the Win 10 machine, TB crashes in the middle of importing.

All above is just a summary I tried it a couple of times with slight different ways looking at other people posts. I have spent hours on this and I am Very close to despair (going back to outlook???). I will be thankful for any help. Mati

To prepare the transition, I used the Import Wizard On the win7 machine. I was able to import all my PST files [4 files, 2 less then 1GB, 1 about 6GB and one about 11GB] to a fresh TB install. when coping the TB profile to the new win10 machine into a new TB install, all the folders with Hebrew names were empty. [They were looking fine in Win 7 TB after import.] So I tried another approach: I copied the PST files to the new win10 machine and opened them inside a new install of Outlook - they look OK in outlook on win 10. But then, when importing the PST files using the import wizard on the Win 10 machine, TB crashes in the middle of importing. All above is just a summary I tried it a couple of times with slight different ways looking at other people posts. I have spent hours on this and I am Very close to despair (going back to outlook???). I will be thankful for any help. Mati

All Replies (6)

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Did you select 'Import Everything' in the import wizard?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1254731#answer-1209558

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sfhowes, Import Everything is not working and will not find anything to import. So I imported only mail in both of the options I mentioned before. Thanks, Mati

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It's odd that the Hebrew-named folders appeared fine in TB/W7 but not on the W10 computer. I can imagine the Outlook import process fails in some cases, but you found that the Hebrew-named folders copied from TB on W7 were empty in TB on W10. Did that change if the folder was renamed without Hebrew characters?

Maybe the MailStore method mentioned in my first reply would be the fastest and most effective way.

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I would like to summarize for those with similar issues. Specially for those using Hebrew named folders.

Following sfhowes suggestions I tried to migrate from outlook on win7 to TB on win10 using "MailStore home" Mailstore home is free - that's good. it has an option to import from outlook or to import directly a pst file. On win 10 it wouldn't work using nither options, it couldn't find my outlook for importing. It also exited with an error trying to import pst files. I didn't dig into this (no time...) On win 7 I was able to import the PST files directly (it supports max of 3 pst files) then I copied the imported archive (mailstore style) to win10 machine and opened the Mailstore app on the win 10 machine. Looking at the created folders and mails it looks fine (including Hebrew named folders) then using mailstore I exported all archive to Thunderbird. Opening TB after the process looks promising. I can see all imported data including all the Hebrew named folders. So far sfhowes solution is working.

Now comes a new issue (the killer one) inside TB. I tied to reorder all my folders imported from different places. this by moving, renaming and deleting tons of mails in many folders. After partial work I see that some of the Hebrew named folders are empty. Closing TB and reopening made those folders disappear completely. [although a simple move of Hebrew named folder sims to work]

This was too much. I decided to dump TB and go back to outlook. And this after giving TB a truly fair try. I spent hours on hours on this migration.

My conclusion is: Don't use Thunderbird if you have Hebrew named folders. Mati

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Just a small summary in Hebrew for those searching in Hebrew. ממליץ לא להשתמש בטנדרברד אם אתם משתמשים בתקיות עם שם בעברית. ההסבר מופיע באנגלית בפוסט למעלה.

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What are the crash Id's https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/mozilla-crash-reporter-tb#w_viewing-crash-reports

One of the issues with crashes, is most poeple do not provide an email or a short summary of whatthey were doing when a crash occurs so sometime we have developers that have no idea where to start to replicate the issue. As BiDirectional text has always been a bit of an issue with Thunderbird (it needs an add-on) I am guessing it has something to do with code pages. But would like to be more sure.