How do I export Lotus Notes mail to something OS X will read?

this is quite interesting.  i do not have an account setup for her in association with her database (at least I think I don't)  

so how od i enable imap?

On the server? Go to the server console, and type Load imap

From that moment on, you can connect to the IMAP server from your mail client (assuming it knows how to IMAP). Set up the connection, using IP-address 127.0.0.1 and all the default ports.

PS Ditch Notes?? What a shame! You're almost a pro Admin and now you bail out??

how do I login to that database - it doesn't seem connected to a user account

Is this link any good:
http://www.ipi.org/help/help8_admin.nsf/f4b82fbb75e942a6852566ac0037f284/baaac8083c1b8e26852572fa004e4d43?OpenDocument

??

I don't think you are understanding me.  The database that I have imported is not attached to any user account.  how do I attach it to an account so when I login it will send it over imap?

Aaaaah, right! Off course, that's what I was... ;-))

Open the Admin client, open the server, click People&Groups, then click People. Now find your user in this list, I suppose only Admin is there. Select it and click Edit Person. On the Basics tab, at the right, you see Mail server and Mail file, make sure they contain the server and the path to the mail database (like mail\momsmail or mail\momsmail.nsf). A little lower at the left, you can enter the Internet password. I think the default is the same password you used when setting up the server, but you might change it when you don't get in.

I keep getting an authentication failure.  Do I use the username in the basics tab when logging in via imap?

The short or the complete username, so either bbunny or Bugs Bunny/ACME should do.

Via the Admin client, you can open the log if you want to have a look at earlier errors. It contains all messages shown on the server console screen.

So my computer crashed at one point and now whever I try to open notes or the admin panel it tells me that there is some error opening up the tab and it gives me a link to IBM help.  There is nothing specific it offers.  I have tried reinstalling the software.  I have also tried uninstalling and then reinstalling the software.  Any ideas?

Whoah, that's a different ballgame. AFAIK, Macs don't crash. By the way, the server starts properly?

Without clues, I'd say: remove cache.NDK in the Notes data directory. You may need to remove other files, for they as well may have been damaged.

Alright so I installed everything on another computer and got it up to speed with the full admin thing and everything.  I am still, however, having trouble with logging in via imap.  Thunderbird (my mail client) is still telling me that there is an authentication failure.  Please help.

Strange... I enables IMAP on a test server, installed Thunderbird, told it to use IMAP, my short name and my password, and I got the full Inbox over... Can you start SMTP as well, via the Load SMTP command? You might prolly test your internet account when you start the HTTP task, Load HTTP, and then you do something like this in a browser:
      http://127.0.0.1/mail/momsmail.nsf?OpenDatabase&login
or something similar (correct the IP-address and the name of your database). A login box should be displayed. Test if you can log in. If you don't succeed, modify your admin password, and shutdown and restart the server.

I got to the HTTP site and the password is not working.  How do I reset the admin password?

In the Admin client, connect to the server, then go to People & Groups, open the Person document for the Admin, the password can be modified using a button.

Are we talking about the internet password here?  Also, could it be that I still have to have full admin access to open the database?

it seems that we are making some progress.
i can login on the web however i get some error (but I can login)
on thunderbird it now takes 15 minutes and then will return a login failed screen

You should have adapted the ACL of the database, didn't I touch this before?? The ACL is the Access Control List, you should give -Default- at least Editor rights. Using the Admin client: connect to the server, go to the Files tab, select the mail database, click right, click Access Control/Manage..., in the dialog box that opens up select -Default- and at the top-right set Access to Editor, or Manager. Then retry to open the database.

Here is the deal - her mailbox size is like 18gig.  Thunderbird has pulled 84 messages from it.  then domino server crashed.  What now?

18 GIG??? My goodness, that *IS* a lot! But you're making progress, which is good news.

Options, but it gets a bit technical here, and the assistance I supply is way more than I've ever done...

It could be many things. You might need to compact the database, or apply a newer mail template. Try first to make a copy of the database on the same system, not a system copy, but ask the Notes client to copy the database (File/Application/New copy). Then modify the Person document to see that new copy as your mail database. Then use IMAP again.

Trivial suggestion: clean up the database first, and throw away old appointments etc..

how do I disable consistenc checks - they keep interupting e

You don't.

Maybe the database got corrupt. Make the copy, as I suggested above, and work from the copy.

I am working from the copy now.

Strange, once again... So the messages you see on the console all refer to the copy?

In your Admin client, if you go to the Files tab, what does it say on the line with the copy? Especially the File Format column?

You can try to Fixup the database. Right-click the database, click Fixup... and select the options that you think are necessary.

PS You're not really in the Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-04:00) time zone, are you??

I will get back to you shortly on this.  I am in that timezone however it is -5 not -4.  As of now the database loads up perfectly in HTTP with all the folders and emails.  IMAP is still having trouble.  i will get back to you on that stuff.

Sorry I have not gotten back to you for a while.  I was away for some time and then there were some family issues i had to deal with.  I performed the repair and it completed within a few seconds with no errors reported. Now i have\ing trouble getting the imap account to authenticate.  I have typed in the exact password that i have set in the internet password field under the user I am using.

After changing a password, you may have to restart one or more Domino tasks (HTTP, IMAP), they most likely maintain a user/password cache.

Finally i was able to make some headway.  The mail program seemed to start downloading messages and then I got this
Picture-2.png

I suppose you retried to download; it could have been just a network problem. On the other hand, the IMAP task may have uttered some error messages into the log.nsf database, and on the console. Are there any?

weird stuff - the server crashed while imap was connected to it.  is there any way to see the log or is it cleared when it crashes?

Crashes are usually logged in a separate directory, something like C:\Program Files\lotus\notes\data\IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT. Usually, the info there won't help the relative amateur a lot. I'd probably know where to look, but that's all. Anyway, te solution to the problem won't be in that log, only the reason why it crashed.

The usual panacea to this problem is to reinstall the Domino server, or to repair it (depending on the release) because very often some dll is not correctly installed. There may be lots of other reasons, for which there are fixes available (or not).

Is it a heavily used server?? Which Domino server release do you have?

This is in no way a high usage server.  Again, i just set this up to get my mother's emails off of her office mail database.  Unfoutnatley I cannot find that file you are mentioning.  

here is something that was going on while the client was attempting to download the mail
screen.bmp

Hm... Apparently there are encrypted documents in the mail database. Since you no longer have the id-file that is required to decrypt the mails, you're in trouble. I have to read up on this, I don't have a direct reply...

PS Next time, don't upload BMP files, but use GIF or JPEG (as they are much smaller)

understood.  again, i can access the database via http and directly on the domino server admin client

Ok... So if IMAP fails we have to look for a different method.

You could try to set up POP, 90% of the story is identical. Hopefully, the result is better...

with imap I was able to get some messages off before crashing the first time.  if this happens with pop doesn't that mean that the messages are permanently on my computer and not the server?

Hm, possibly... If you have a backup-copy of the database, you could always go back to that backup. Hope it's not needed :-S

Maybe you can find some ideas here:
http://tech.niques.info/projects/lotus-notes-email-export/