Question

How do I import Squirrelmail messages into Outlook?

Asked by: Remy001

We've been given a bunch of files and folders that were copied directly off a Squirrelmail server.  We do not run Squirrelmail here and I have no desire to try and setup a new server just to manipulate these files.   They seem to be simple HTML webmail files that I can drag and drop into Firefox and view, however the person who's project this is wants them imported into Outlook.  

Any ideas how I can make this happen?   I'd like to retain the message subjects and mail headers if at all possible.    

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Asked On
2009-09-23 at 07:59:56ID24755158
Tags

Squirrelmail

,

Outlook

,

import messages

,

import email

Topics

Email Clients

,

Outlook Groupware Software

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
9

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Answers

 

by: DaveHowePosted on 2009-09-23 at 08:27:29ID: 25404284

squirrelmail is *not* a mail server, it is an imap client.

similarly, outlook is an imap client, but I suspect if you are copying flat files, you are in fact copying mbox files; outlook cannot open/import mbox files, but thunderbird can.

if outlook is connected to an imap server (of any sort) or exchange, you could open the mbox files in thunderbird, then drag-drop them into imap; you can then see them in outlook.

alternatively, given you just need imap, you could get something capable of reading mbox and offering imap (cygwin iirc comes with cyrus, so you could install that on windows) but personally I would just stick them in thunderbird and upload them from there to the imap server of your choice.

 

by: Remy001Posted on 2009-09-23 at 08:57:48ID: 25404689

OK, I tried to use Thunderbird and had no success opening any of the message files with it.  

Here is what I was given from the ISP that provided these files:
.sqmaildata folder - contains .abook, .pref and html files with no extension (the actual messages)
mail folder - contains folders .Drafts, .Sent, .Trash, new and a bunch of user@domain.com files

That's it.  As near as I can tell the "mail" folder seems to be where the directory structure for the mailbox is stored, as there are no messages just directories and 1KB files.  The .sqmaildata directory is where all the actual messages are stored, and I assume the .abook files are address book entries and the .pref files are some sort of pointer as they are all structured as user@domain.pref.

I don't seem to have an "mbox" of any type, and Thunderbird doesn't seem to recognize anything in the directories I do have.   What do I need to do to get an IMAP client to recognize the mailbox?

 

by: alvedenPosted on 2009-09-23 at 09:42:10ID: 25405160

Unfortunately, if you were given hard copy of the mails, it's not as straight forward. Firstly you have to determine what format the mail is store as.

Please note that squirrelmail is a front end web mail client to access email through browser, and using imap and smtp backend to access and send mail.

Most linux guys would not use  mbox as a mail store when using imap, so there is a high probability that you are dealing with MailDir format. You can differential this, if all the individual mail are store as individual files rather then one single file per mail client folder.

If it is mbox format, you can probably use the method described by DaveHowe. However if it is not, then it's going to be tough.

You have two options.
Options 1
1. Use qmail maildir2mbox, convert the maildir format to mbox format, in linux platform
2. Download http://www.broobles.com/imapsize/IMAPSize_036_Setup.exe, use the Tools, mbox2elm.
3. Convert and drag the converted content into Outlook Express.
4. Then use Outlook (2003/2007) and use the wizard to migrate from Outlook Express

Option 2
Ask your provider if they still have a copy of your mails or willing to remap back you mail files, have them enable imap access, so you can download them into outlook.

 

by: alvedenPosted on 2009-09-23 at 09:57:48ID: 25405332

Hmm then you are in a spot, that is the format after the mail have been downloaded from the mail store and store as a format within squirrel mail. It is sort like a web cache directory and preference setting for the squirrel mail front end.

It is not in any mail store format.

 

by: Remy001Posted on 2009-09-23 at 11:22:34ID: 25406224

Thanks for the responses guys. It appears the data I have is useless if I'm reading the above response correctly.   I am going to try and request either the maildir or mbox content from the original provider as that would seem to be the way to go here.  If I can get that, I will follow the instructions above.  I will leave the issue open until then in case I have further issues once the data arrives.  I appreciate both of your responses and will credit both if/when I get this successfully converted over.  In the meantime any other thoughts or ideas are welcome.

 

by: DaveHowePosted on 2009-09-23 at 12:39:20ID: 25407027

if the original provider still has the server live, just use imap to connect directly to it - you can do that using outlook, don't need any other program.

 

by: Remy001Posted on 2009-09-23 at 12:44:51ID: 25407083

Original account is no longer active, and possibly no longer hosted on the server.  This is old email data given to us as part of a legal case we're working, so we wouldn't have access to anything ourselves, it all has to be provided to us by the original host.   It's even more complicated by the fact that I'm not even sure I know what I'm asking for, given that I'm not a Unix/Linux admin and am unfamiliar with webmail administration.  

I appreciate the help, at the very least it gives me a better idea of what to ask them for.  

 

by: DaveHowePosted on 2009-09-23 at 12:50:08ID: 25407148

but that is odd - the messages should be in mail, in folders under user@domain

however, if the mail *is* in individual message files, try this.

rename one (any one) to end in .eml and double click it

it should open in outlook express; if it is the entire message (and not an edited representation) it should be readable in there.

if it is, you can get the messages into outlook express by just drag-drop, and import into outlook from there.

 

by: Remy001Posted on 2009-09-24 at 13:16:37ID: 25417405

FOLLOW-UP (In case someone else comes along with this same issue):

I have the original provider working on exporting the data in an mbox format if possible which will make import easier.  

In the meantime, I was able to drill down into the "mail" directory provided with each of the data sets we were given and find both the companyname@domain.com directory and the individual user@domain.com directories which yeilded up folders that appear to have been the folders in the webmail directory structure for each user.  These folders in turn contained files with filenames that were long strings of characters appended with the ISP domain name.  When I renamed each of these files individually with a .EML extension and dropped them into Outlook Express, the emails appeared in their original format.  I was then able to export those files to Outlook.  

The process is long, slow and painful, as each individual folder and file has to be renamed for the process to work.  This is why I'm trying to get the original provider to perhaps make the process easier by exporting an mbox file or using "qmail maildir2mbox" as suggested above to create data that is far easier to work with.

I greatly appreciate both alveden's and DaveHowe's help with this process, and both had advice that was used in coming to an eventual solution.  Thank you very much!  

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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