Outlook Express Import folder, moving accounts out of unified Local Folders, and message archiving
A while ago I gave up using an old XP PC and Outlook Express, and moved over to a new one and Thunderbird, but never had the time to get TBird organised properly: now I do and starting to think about it.
Email was imported into Thunderbird from OE and, ever since, an extensive set of my own storage/filing folders and subfolders that were in OE (where I moved/redistributed Sent and Received messages) have been sitting within a folder called "Outlook Express Import", which itself sits inside Local Folders -- it's where the import process put them.
Also in Local Folders is a unified Inbox etc for the multiple accounts existing at the time of the changeover/import. All mail on these pre-existing accounts currently comes into and goes out from the unified folders. Several older addresses from a previous ISP are still in use to an extent, in addition to ones with the current ISP, and all were/are POP3. The unified Inbox etc for multiple accounts was fine as I was used to it in OE, and in many ways prefer it.
Quite recently a couple of new/additional email accounts were created for the first time since the changeover, and Thunderbird put these outside Local Folders, each with their own Inbox, Sent and so forth. It's given me the chance to see how I get along with separate Inboxes: not sure yet, but meanwhile a couple of questions.
(1) If I DID decide on separate Inboxes for the older ex-OE accounts, rather than unified, how do I achieve this? Maybe I used the wrong search terms, but so far haven't found how to move them outside of Local Folders and the unified setup, which Thunderbird organised while importing.
In the wizard would I set up another (duplicate) account in each case as if it was a new one, but call it something slightly different and enter the relevant details, so that TBird then created it outside of Local Folders? Then delete the older entries once these were created? Seems a longwinded method, and also not sure if TBird would allow it if it detected details were identical to an existing account? Is there a better way I haven't found?
(2) The "Outlook Express Import" folder seemed rather superfluous once the importing deed was done -- an extra level in the folder structure that wasn't really necessary.
What I'd like to do with all the many folders inside it is move/drag them up one level, so they're directly in Local Folders rather than nested within the extra OE Import folder. Then delete the Import folder once it's emptied.
Before doing this I wanted to check the OE Import folder didn't have any special or unusual status within Thunderbird, bearing in mind they're older messages that (a) didn't originate in TBird and (b) used to be in a different format in OE. I wondered if the fact that TBird created it there in the first place, and put all my storage folders inside it, was particularly important or significant now (post-import) for some reason, maybe in the way it handles the older messages stored inside, how it's able to find them or something like that?
Bottom line concern: will anything adversely affect the stored messages if these folders are dragged to another location? I'd hate to forego ready access, be unable to read anything, move them around, search/find, print etc.
I wouldn't want to risk losing any of it obviously, but one particular chunk of folders/messages is very important as it relates to a business and MUST be retained and safely stored for several years (all the Thunderbird mail is backed up), but there's a lot of it in a whole series of many storage folders + sub-folders + sub-sub-folders and so on, per subject, person or whatever. Too many and too much to easily check it was all still usable, beyond picking on and testing some random messages in a few folders here and there.
So before charging ahead with moving/dragging them to a new location in Local Folders, it would be good to be reassured there are no adverse consequences -- or indeed any consequences :))
(3) Only checking something briefly with this one. I'm not sure archiving messages is something I really need Thunderbird to do, given I already move most messages out of Inbox and Sent to the filing/storage folders. If I don't want Thunderbird automatically archiving messages, would I only need to untick the checkbox for "Keep message archives in..." in the Copies & Folders section for each account? It would then leave me to continue dealing with everything manually without TBird deciding at some point it would move a chunk of messages somewhere else, yes?
Thank you so much.
Chosen solution
1. Right click local folders and select settings. In the account manager windows that opens server server setting for the account you want to change. Click the advanced button. update the use global inbox option.
Note here that no mail moves, so if you change back to using the global inbox you have to move the mail first, otherwise it is not visible.
2.No issues there, but you might want to prevent your anti virus scanning the profile folder while your making major moves, just in case it locks things up with it's scans.
3. You got it. But archiving is a manual process anyway. You have to press A to archive anything. The good part is it will retain your folder structure if you have set it up to do so. So you get years top levels and your existing structure below. Handy in maintaining smaller folders.
Having said that I have years worth of mail n my inbox and folder in the gigabytes with 20,000 plus messages.
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Chosen Solution
1. Right click local folders and select settings. In the account manager windows that opens server server setting for the account you want to change. Click the advanced button. update the use global inbox option.
Note here that no mail moves, so if you change back to using the global inbox you have to move the mail first, otherwise it is not visible.
2.No issues there, but you might want to prevent your anti virus scanning the profile folder while your making major moves, just in case it locks things up with it's scans.
3. You got it. But archiving is a manual process anyway. You have to press A to archive anything. The good part is it will retain your folder structure if you have set it up to do so. So you get years top levels and your existing structure below. Handy in maintaining smaller folders.
Having said that I have years worth of mail n my inbox and folder in the gigabytes with 20,000 plus messages.
On #2 and #3: great, and thanks Matt. Very glad of the useful tip about the AV too, and archiving.
I have getting on for 20 years' worth of email, and shudder to think how many messages that represents: SERIOUSLY needs weeding and an overhaul!
On #1: sorry to be dense but struggling with this one.
Say we have an account called Email 1 currently using the unified/global boxes. The other two already "outside" with their own sets of folders are called POP 2 and 3.
If I open Server Settings for Email 1, then Advanced, there are two radio buttons. -- Inbox for this server's account -- Inbox for different account
The second is currently selected, with Local Folders selected in the dropdown, and the dropdown offers only two other possibilities: the accounts for POP 2 and 3.
So is it the first button I need to select instead ("Inbox for this server's account") for Email 1 to become another "outsider"?
The dialog box only mentions the Inbox, but I assume Email 1 would also gain its own Sent + Deleted folders?
Then: "Note here that no mail moves, so if you change back to using the global inbox you have to move the mail first, otherwise it is not visible."
So sorry, really not sure if I've understood this correctly, but giving it a whirl...
Does "No mail moves" mean all mail existing up to now and currently in the Local Folders/global inbox would STAY where it is, and only mail downloaded and sent FROM NOW ON would go into its own separate Inbox/Sent folders?
But if wanted to revert back to the global inbox for the account, all the individual messages from now till then would need moving to where the existing older messages are now (and would still be) in Local Folders/global boxes, before I changed that account's Server Settings option back again to using the global boxes?
Yes? No? Something else? Feel free to put me straight if I've got the wrong end of the stick.
When you say the mail wouldn't be visible otherwise: if I did make a slip (don't intend to but stuff happens) these messages wouldn't be LOST as such, but I wouldn't be able to see them. Is that it?
There is something else only just remembered, and apologies if it's not good form to tack it on here.
These separate sets of folders for accounts outside Local Folders. In the Folder Pane is there a way of sorting them into alphabetical (or any other) order? Best of all would be any order of my choosing.
It only applies to two accounts at the moment unless I opt to change others from global, but one's called Yahoo and the other BT, and at present they appear in creation order, with Yahoo at the top and BT beneath. Yahoo is one I'd always choose to tuck right away at the bottom of everything else, not because it's alphabetically last, though it is, but it only exists for one reason and is otherwise unused. It isn't logical having it as the first at the top of the pane as if it was the most important account, and rather irritating! If I did change any of the others to be the same, and creation order is the way it works with no way of altering it, I'd have to give thought to which I wanted the most visible before the rest scrolled off the bottom of the screen. And do they ALL have to appear ahead of Local Folders, or can that be placed somewhere nearer the top?
Many thanks for your time and trouble.
Modified by cottage-r
Very helpful, and thanks christ1 All crystal clear now, and I'm grateful.
The tacked-on last query about the Folder Pane might also be solved , as now found an add-on I hope will do the trick - about to find out.
More... The Folder Pane add-on seems to work well so far, so all looking good. Manually sort folders 1.1 by Jonathan Protzenko https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/manually-sort-folders/ (main function is to manually sort folders but it will re-order accounts as well)
My thanks again to Matt and christ1 for their kind help - would have loved to choose BOTH your posts as the solution but unfortunately doesn't seem possible.
Modified by cottage-r