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Moving Windows Mail > Mac Mail

C

Chris204

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 9, 2008
111
0
How do I move my e-mail, settings, folders etc. from the Windows Mail application in Vista to Mac Mail? I've exported everything from Windows Mail and tried importing it to Mac Mail, but the only options I have are to import from Thunderbird, Eudora, Entourage and a few others. Windows Mail isn't listed.

I've heard Entourage can handle that, but has anyone had experience with doing this? Most of the searching I've done on this subject pertains to Outlook and Outlook Express.

Thanks
 
Not knowing anything about that particular app I can't give any explicit advice, but if you don't find anything else you might try downloading Thunderbird for Windows, then see if it can import mail from that app. If so, you can then re-import from it to Mail.app.

I've used this trick a couple of times with problematic older mail programs--so long as you can find something capable of importing the origin format that can in turn be imported by the target format, it'll work.
 
CLuv said:
Look into Little Machines. www.littlemachines.com

I used that program to move .pst files from Outlook 2007 to Mail 3.0 for both of my parents accounts and their contacts.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

I found that earlier. The site doesn't list Windows Mail specifically, so I sent them an e-mail inquiring.
 
ScoobyMcDoo said:
The very top line of the site reads:


"Transfer Windows Outlook mail & folders to your mac"

That's pretty specific...
Click to expand...

Windows Outlook mail and Windows Mail are two different programs. Windows Mail is what Vista comes with.
 
fandsw said:
You can go the Thunderbird approach:

Windows Mail -> Thunderbird PC -> Thunderbird Mac -> Mac Mail
Click to expand...

Looks like I got a bit of work ahead of me then. :)

I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.
 
I used entourage to transfer my messages. I simply saved all my messages on a thumb drive and opened them in entourage. It worked flawlessly. Then I imported the messages from Entourage using mail. I then had to sort all my messages back into folders which took some time, but it worked pretty good overall. I didn't try to import my address book or any settings.
 
Can you export your Windows Mail file to a .pst format? If so, Little Machines should do it. I'm sure Microsoft allows that, since they would want you to import Windows Mail to Outlook Mail if you buy Office.

Although it is Microsoft, so they've probably figured some way to cock it up.
 
CLuv said:
Can you export your Windows Mail file to a .pst format? If so, Little Machines should do it. I'm sure Microsoft allows that, since they would want you to import Windows Mail to Outlook Mail if you buy Office.

Although it is Microsoft, so they've probably figured some way to cock it up.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not. All mail is exported to a .eml format.
 
Did you figure out how to move Windows Mail to Mac Mail?

Dear Chris and others,

I am facing the same frustrating issue with moving my email from Windows Mail (the Vista mail program, which is different from Outlook and Outlook Express) to my new Mac/ Mac Mail.

I did a lot of internet research, but I have come up with very little guidance about how to make this transition.

Any hints and/or direction would be HUGELY appreciated!!

Thanks a lot!
Saskia
saskiatait@yahoo.com
 
How to import Windows Mail (Vista) to Thunderbird, next to Mail (Mac OS X)

Hello everybody,

I don't know if you find a solution from last post untill now.
If not, i hope you cand find this useful.
1. Copy entire Windows Mail folder into your Mas OS X. You can find it in your Windows machine under Users/[your username profile]/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows Mail
2. Install Thunderbird on your Mac.
3. Install this AddOn on Thunderbird : <<http://nic-nac-project.de/~kaosmos/ImportExportTools-2.1.0.1.xpi>>
4. Restart Thunderbird. Under Tools menu you can find Import/Export mbox/eml format. Select Import all eml files from a directory, then also from sottodirectories. Browse to location where you copied Windows Mail folder.
5. Import from Thunderbird into Mail.

Cheers!
Bye
 
Importing .contact files to Mac?

Thank you very much for the info on that Thunderbird plugin - I just imported all my .eml messages over to Thunderbird on my new 27" iMac :)

But now... how do I import the .contact (dot contact) files? (.contact is what Windows Vista uses as a native sort of address book)

Any insight into this would be much appreciated.
 
Free, easy move from Windows Live to Mac Mail

Hi there. I've just moved from PC to Mac and after contacting Apple, found that they couldn't tell me how to transfer all my email files from Windows Live. Software is available for this but it is quite expensive and once you've done the transfer, you no longer need that software you just paid for. I tried a few things myself and it worked so I just want to share in the hope it may help someone out.

Your inbox automatically transfers so there's no problem there. These are the steps I took for all the folders:

1) Make a new folder in Windows Live and call it "New". Put your any emails in your inbox in there for now.
2) On your Mac, make new folders/mailboxes and label as per your folders on your PC that you wish to transfer.
3) Choose the first folder you wish to transfer, "select all" and move to Inbox. Mark all as UNread.
4) "Get Mail" on your Mac and you will see those emails appear in your Inbox. Transfer them to the appropriate folder.
5) Transfer the mails in your PC Inbox back into their original folders.
6) Follow this for all folders you wish to move. All dates etc are kept intact.
7) Export your contacts to a CSV file and then email to yourself. Once in your Mac Inbox you can import into your address book which automatically puts them into your Mail contact list.

Very easy and free!:)
 
Huh? You do understand that Windows Live is an email provider. If your messages are available in Windows Live, then they do not have to be transferred from Windows to the Mac. You may simply establish an account in Mail. Your messages will then download from the server to Mail. OTOH, if you had received messages once on your Windows Live account to your Windows machine, then you may use Mail's built-in transfer function to bring them over. The take away message is that you do not need extra software. You also do not need to take the path all around Job's barn that you posted.
 
Hey Mister Me! Yes, that works well for the inbox but doesn't transfer all your additional folders over...ones that you have added yourself for storing certain emails. I think that's why the software is available and that's also why I had to transfer mine over as I did. Mail will only automatically import the inbox. If there's something you know that will import all the other folders it would be great to know...I still have to transfer another whole email account!
 
Mutiara said:
Hi there. I've just moved from PC to Mac and after contacting Apple, found that they couldn't tell me how to transfer all my email files from Windows Live. Software is available for this but it is quite expensive and once you've done the transfer, you no longer need that software you just paid for. I tried a few things myself and it worked so I just want to share in the hope it may help someone out.

Your inbox automatically transfers so there's no problem there. These are the steps I took for all the folders:

1) Make a new folder in Windows Live and call it "New". Put your any emails in your inbox in there for now.
2) On your Mac, make new folders/mailboxes and label as per your folders on your PC that you wish to transfer.
3) Choose the first folder you wish to transfer, "select all" and move to Inbox. Mark all as UNread.
4) "Get Mail" on your Mac and you will see those emails appear in your Inbox. Transfer them to the appropriate folder.
5) Transfer the mails in your PC Inbox back into their original folders.
6) Follow this for all folders you wish to move. All dates etc are kept intact.
7) Export your contacts to a CSV file and then email to yourself. Once in your Mac Inbox you can import into your address book which automatically puts them into your Mail contact list.

Very easy and free!:)
Click to expand...

I have tried what you suggested and I have not had any luck. I believe my new emails are coming to my in box from a yahoo mail account and all the emails that were on the yahoo server automatically went to my new Mac when I set it up. I have many emails sitting on my Windows computer which uses Live Mail but these emails are not on the yahoo server and I believe that is why I can not get them to go to the inbox on the Mac. I have done exactly what you suggested and when I ask the Mac to "get mail", nothing happens. Do you have any idea why it is not working Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
Import PST files with PSTBridge - Lion and SNL

I have had great results using PSTBridge running on Lion 10.7.3. I have imported over 20,000 Outlook messages to Apple Mail.app with it, using PST files created in Outlook between 2004 to 2011.

0 data loss, including 20 gb of various attachment file types.

http://bit.ly/pstbridge

I did give up on Apple's Mail.app however - I am now using Thunderbird with selected add-ins. Especially useful add-ins are duplicate eliminator and import / export tools.


On Lion mail.app, you are stuck with it. External add-ons did not work for me. However, it was super easy to customize my Thunderbird functionality. Just time-consuming to learn.

There is a little trick to getting OS X to Spotlight your TBird mail, but there are ways to fix it.

IMHO Apple Mail is disappointing for heavy duty mail management.
 
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