Re: Exporting mails from kmail

--------- Original Message --------
From: For people using KDE on Linux with related
questions/problems
<kde-linuxkde.org>
To: For people using KDE on Linux with related
questions/problems
<kde-linuxkde.org>
Subject: Re: [kde-linux] Exporting mails from kmail
Date: 04/07/07 23:02

> On Thursday 05 July 2007 10:56 am, Peter Humphrey
wrote:
> &gt; Is there a way I can export all the several
thousand e-mails I have
in
> &gt; kmail in a format in which I can import them
into Thunderbird?
> Can Thunderbird not import them directly? KMail
normally stores folders
in=
> =20
> standard mbox or maildir format, so you should just be
able to point=20
> Thunderbird at wherever your mail is (~/Mail for me,
yours may be
somewhere=
> =20
> else). I have not actually used Thunderbird, so make no
guarantees.

Kmail stores its mail in ~/.kde/share/apps/kmail/mail. Don't
ask me why it's
hidden, nor why kmail silently overrides any attempt to put
it elsewhere,
but that's one reason why I want to change e-mail client.

When I start Thunderbird it offers to import mail, but only
of one type:
Communicator 4.0. I assume that will not do.


--
Rgds
Peter.

PS. Sorry about the quoting format - this is a nasty Web
mail system at my
ISP.


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On Wednesday 04 July 2007, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> Kmail stores its mail in ~/.kde/share/apps/kmail/mail.
Don't ask me why
> it's hidden, nor why kmail silently overrides any
attempt to put it
> elsewhere, but that's one reason why I want to change
e-mail client.

If that's the best reason you have for changing I suggest
you are 
on the wrong track.  Its not at all uncommon for kde
applications
to store stuff in the "hidden" subdirectory
structure.  
Thunderbird does not have half the features or functionality
of Kmail.

Hidden is not an apt description.  Its hidden only in the
sense
of keeping it out of your way.

> When I start Thunderbird it offers to import mail, but
only of one type:
> Communicator 4.0. I assume that will not do.

Kmail can import a gazillion different types of mail.  If
you are
going to a package that can only deal with one type, does
that
not tell you something?


-- 
_____________________________________
John Andersen
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On Thursday 05 July 2007 11:56:57 John Andersen wrote:
> On Wednesday 04 July 2007, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> > Kmail stores its mail in
~/.kde/share/apps/kmail/mail. Don't ask me why
> > it's hidden, nor why kmail silently overrides any
attempt to put it
> > elsewhere, but that's one reason why I want to
change e-mail client.
>
> If that's the best reason you have for changing I
suggest you are
> on the wrong track.  Its not at all uncommon for kde
applications
> to store stuff in the "hidden" subdirectory
structure.
> Thunderbird does not have half the features or
functionality of Kmail.
>
> Hidden is not an apt description.  Its hidden only in
the sense
> of keeping it out of your way.
>
> > When I start Thunderbird it offers to import mail,
but only of one type:
> > Communicator 4.0. I assume that will not do.
>
> Kmail can import a gazillion different types of mail. 
If you are
> going to a package that can only deal with one type,
does that
> not tell you something?

Besides, if you like to change the actual place mail is
stored, you could make 
~/.kde/share/apps/kmail/mail a symbolic link to that other
location. Or you 
could use the KMail config file as Jean-Philippe once
pointed out:

[QUOTE]
Can I configure the location of my mail folder?

  Exit KMail, make a backup of ~/.kde/share/config/kmailrc,
then open it with 
an editor and add e.g. folders=/home/username/.mail to the
“[General]” 
section. Then move all your existing folders (including the
hidden index 
files) to the new location. The next time you start KMail
will 
use /home/username/.mail instead of /home/username/Mail.
Note that KMail will 
lose its filters if you change the mail folder's location
but forget to move 
your existing folders.
[END QUOTE]

And yes - KMail is better than Thunderbird.

-- 
Blade hails you...

A girl in the rain swearing to her father's name
                                     --Nightwish

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On Thursday 05 July 2007, Boyan Tabakov wrote:

> [QUOTE]
> Can I configure the location of my mail folder?
>
>   Exit KMail, make a backup of
~/.kde/share/config/kmailrc, then open it
> with an editor and add e.g.
folders=/home/username/.mail to the “[General]”
> section. Then move all your existing folders (including
the hidden index
> files) to the new location. The next time you start
KMail will
> use /home/username/.mail instead of
/home/username/Mail. Note that KMail
> will lose its filters if you change the mail folder's
location but forget
> to move your existing folders.
> [END QUOTE]

There is a nice tool for manipulating KDE programs' config
files: kwriteconfig
The above change would be achieved like this

% kwriteconfig --file kmailrc --group General --key 
folders "/path/to/newmaildir"

Cheers,
Kevin

-- 
Kevin Krammer, KDE developer, xdg-utils developer
KDE user support, developer mentoring

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On Thursday 05 July 2007 12:17:23 Kevin Krammer wrote:
> On Thursday 05 July 2007, Boyan Tabakov wrote:
> > [QUOTE]
> > Can I configure the location of my mail folder?
> >
> >   Exit KMail, make a backup of
~/.kde/share/config/kmailrc, then open it
> > with an editor and add e.g.
folders=/home/username/.mail to the
> > “[General]” section. Then move all your
existing folders (including the
> > hidden index files) to the new location. The next
time you start KMail
> > will
> > use /home/username/.mail instead of
/home/username/Mail. Note that KMail
> > will lose its filters if you change the mail
folder's location but forget
> > to move your existing folders.
> > [END QUOTE]
>
> There is a nice tool for manipulating KDE programs'
config files:
> kwriteconfig The above change would be achieved like
this
>
> % kwriteconfig --file kmailrc --group General --key
> folders "/path/to/newmaildir"
>
> Cheers,
> Kevin

Thanks Kevin, that's good to know. It will come in handy for
some things that 
I have in mind

-- 
Blade hails you...

Deep dark is His Majesty's kingdom
A portent of tomorrow's world
There shall the liquid give Him power
The red-eyed unborn lord
                          --Nightwish

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On Thursday 05 July 2007 10:17, Kevin Krammer wrote:

> There is a nice tool for manipulating KDE programs'
config files:
> kwriteconfig The above change would be achieved like
this
>
> % kwriteconfig --file kmailrc --group General --key
> folders "/path/to/newmaildir"

I've decided to stick with kmail, but on a fresh
installation on another 
disk. Is this tool likely to help me with the rest of the
job of moving to 
a new setup? The program imported the mail files nicely, but
what about all 
the other things? Filters, expiry times, signatures,
identities and so on?

I tried copying the [Filter #n] sections from the old
kmailrc to the new 
one, but that had no effect so I restored the previous
kmailrc. I don't 
want to copy the whole file because kmail was not threading
properly and 
I'd rather start afresh - but what a lot of labour!

--
Rgds
Peter.
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On Saturday 07 July 2007, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Thursday 05 July 2007 10:17, Kevin Krammer wrote:
> > There is a nice tool for manipulating KDE
programs' config files:
> > kwriteconfig The above change would be achieved
like this
> >
> > % kwriteconfig --file kmailrc --group General
--key
> > folders "/path/to/newmaildir"
>
> I've decided to stick with kmail, but on a fresh
installation on another
> disk. Is this tool likely to help me with the rest of
the job of moving to
> a new setup? The program imported the mail files
nicely, but what about all
> the other things? Filters, expiry times, signatures,
identities and so on?

Hmm. The tool is mainly intended to manipulate a small
number of settings, if 
you need to "merge" a newly created config file
with lots of settings from an 
old one it is probably better to do it in a text editor.

I think filters, expiry times and signatures are part of the
KMail config, 
identities are part of a file called
"emailidentities" (also in the KDE 
config directory), contacts/addresses are usually 
in .kde/share/apps/kabc/std.vcf (default addressbook
resource)

There are a couple of threads on this mailing list about
backup of KMail 
related things and moving to a different user account or
different machine.

Basically my suggestion usually is to create an archive of
all the files, e.g. 
a tar archive, as it will create the files with proper user
and rights on 
extraction (plain copying can mess this up)

There is also an application for backup and restore of
"user state" data, 
called Kamion.
I am not sure if there are already binary packages for it,
I'll try to get 
some information about its current state.

> I tried copying the [Filter #n] sections from the old
kmailrc to the new
> one, but that had no effect so I restored the previous
kmailrc. I don't
> want to copy the whole file because kmail was not
threading properly and
> I'd rather start afresh - but what a lot of labour!

There is probably an additonal entry which holds the number
of filters and if 
it is not present KMail won't read the sections.
(speculation, but I've seen 
applications handling it this way)

Cheers,
Kevin
-- 
Kevin Krammer, KDE developer, xdg-utils developer
KDE user support, developer mentoring

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On Saturday 07 July 2007 12:06, Kevin Krammer wrote:

> There is also an application for backup and restore of
"user state" data,
> called Kamion.
> I am not sure if there are already binary packages for
it, I'll try to
> get some information about its current state.

I had a look via Google, but could only find articles in
languages I don't 
understand.

> There is probably an additonal entry which holds the
number of filters and
> if it is not present KMail won't read the sections.
(speculation, but I've
> seen applications handling it this way)

Good point, and one I should have thought of.

Thanks for you help, Kevin.

-- 
Rgds
Peter.
Linux Counter 5290, Aug 93
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On Sunday 08 July 2007, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Saturday 07 July 2007 12:06, Kevin Krammer wrote:
> > There is also an application for backup and
restore of "user state" data,
> > called Kamion.
> > I am not sure if there are already binary packages
for it, I'll try to
> > get some information about its current state.
>
> I had a look via Google, but could only find articles
in languages I don't
> understand.

I had a talk with the maintainer and so far it is a
KDE4-only program. 
However, he is considering creating a console tool that can
create the data 
archives on a KDE3 system and thus make them importable into
a clean KDE4 
install, since I thought this might become a common use case
for those who do 
switch early.

> Thanks for you help, Kevin.

You're welcome.

Cheers,
Kevin

-- 
Kevin Krammer, KDE developer, xdg-utils developer
KDE user support, developer mentoring

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On Sunday 08 July 2007 14:40:23 Kevin Krammer wrote:
> I had a talk with the maintainer and so far it is a
KDE4-only program.
> However, he is considering creating a console tool that
can create the data
> archives on a KDE3 system and thus make them importable
into a clean KDE4
> install, since I thought this might become a common use
case for those who
> do switch early.

hm, sounds great 
would it be possible for you to drop a short note on this
list when there is 
something useful available (google and kde techbase gave
some info on kamion, 
but mostly outdated or even broken links..)
thanks.

werner

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