ImportExportTools

ImportExportTools allows the user to export and import messages with more flexibility, with the following options:

Tools Menu --> ImportExportTools
Context menu on folders panel --> Import/Export

- export of folder in a single file (mbox format), with also the subfolders if you want;
- export of all messages in single files (eml format);
- export of all messages in single files (html or plain text format), with an index;
- export of all messages in one single plain text file;
- export of all messages in single files (PDF format);
- export of index of the messages in a folder (HTML or CSV format);
- mbox files import;
- eml files import;
- import of all the eml files existing in a directory;
- export of a profile or of all mail files of the profile (just from the "Tools" menu);
- import of a saved profile (just from the "Tools" menu);
- search with various criteria and export messages;

File menu --> Save selected messages
Context menu of thread panel --> Save selected messages

- saving multiple messages in eml/html/plain text/PDF format with just a click;

Message menu --> Copy to clipboard
Context menu of thread panel --> Copy to clipboard

- copy the message or all headers to clipboard.

Context menu on an EML attachment

- import file in the folder

To install the extension, follow this procedure:
- download the xpi file that you find in this page or in the homepage, right clicking on the link and choosing "Save target as";
- in Thunderbird, go in "Tools" --> "Addons" (or "Extensions") and click on "Install";
- pick the xpi file you downloaded and follow the instructions;
- restart Thunderbird.

Important notes:

IMPORT
- if the mbox file is not standard, you'll have a warning and you can try to import the file the same, because sometimes the import can work also with mbox files a little corrupted;
- at the name of mbox file, it will be added a random number from 1 to 999, to avoid coincidence of names with the other folders (from 2.3.3 version, this happens just when it's necessary);
- the files are imported as they were all of received mails, so it's shown the sender and not the receiver. If you want that it's shown the receiver, you must import the file as subfolder of the "Sent";
- you can't import mbox files in IMAP or NEWS accounts or folders;
- you can import EML files in IMAP accounts just with TB3 and version 2.3.3 or higher;
- you can import more mbox file with one click;
- because of a limit in filepicker itself, importing a big number of eml files can fail (if the total number of the chars of their names is more than 4096). You can bypass this limit, using the option to import all the eml files existing in a directory;
- from the 2.2 version, it's possible to import also messages saved from "View-source"in Hotmail website.
SMS import (experimental): from 2.4.2 version, it's possible to import SMS in the format generated by the programs "SMS Backup and Restore" and "Nokia2AndroidSMS".

EXPORT
- the exported file is automatically renamed, if necessary. You can anyway overwrite the files with the same name, if you enable this option in the extension preferences;
- if you choose to export all the mail folders of the account or also the subfodlers, will be exported all the folders that aren't empty file;
- with IMAP or NEWS folders, the export in mbox format will work just for the single folder, even without the "offline" option enabled;
- if the account is very large, the export can take some time, especially with IMAP or NEWS folders;
- in the status bar, you can see the progress of export;
- the extension can import and export the folders with their subfolders, keeping their structure. To export in this way, choose from the "Import/Export" menu the item "Export folder with subfolders (with structure)" and you'll have a file, with the folder name, and a directory, with the folder name plus ".sbd". To import, choose from the import dialog the item "Import one or more mbox files, with its/their subdirectory" and select just the mbox file;
- export of messages in plain text can be not perfect;
- in messages export, it is used the subject to build the filename, converting the not-ascii chars in "_". You can avoid this conversion, choosing the option about it in extension preferences (Note: from 1.2.1 version by default the extension uses the original chars).
- copy to clipboard, when it's possible, is in HTML format; if you want it always in text format, you can choose this option in preferences panel (Note: this can give compatibility problems pasting in other programs);
- export all messages of a folder, the files will have the name created by subject+index+date. If you prefer the order date+subject+index, enable this option in preferences panel;
- from 2.1.1 version, you can set the file time with the date of the message. This option is disabled by default and you can enable it setting the preference "mboximport.export.set_filetime" to true;
- usually export in HTML format reproduces the original HTML of the message, even it's displayed just as text. If you want to export in HTML respecting the view options of Thunderbird, you must enable, in preferences panel, the option "HTML format as displayed in messages panel". NOTE: this option can fix, in some cases, encoding problems due to bug 384127;
- from 2.2 version you can set predefined directories for export.

At the present the extension has italian, english, spanish, slovak, catalan, japanese, russian, french, portoguese, hungarian, dutch, korean, chinese, danish, galician, swedish, german. Some locales could be unfinished. If you are interested in traslating the extension in other languages, please do it through Babelzilla project.

Known issues:
- export folders with structure has some bugs and for this reason some features don't work well;
- some localizations could be unfinished.

The extension is compatible with Thunderbird 1.0 - 9 and has the autoupdate enabled.

Backup: from 2.6 version, when you use always the same directory for backup (with customized name), after the first time, just the files changed since last backup will be saved again. This will make backups much faster.
In 2.5 series the backup function used a "modal" window; in 2.6 series, the window was set as normal. This choice is surely better, but unluckly it seems not to work properly in some systems.
For this reason it's now available the preference named "mboximport.autobackup.use_modal_dialog", that will set the window as "modal" if its value is "true and as "normal" if its value is "false". The default value - from 2.6.0.3 version - is "true".

Show full changelog

Changelog 3.0 version
- compatibility with Seamonkey;
- possibility to save messages in PDF format;
- added a procedure to import a profile (EXPERIMENTAL - not available on Seamonkey);
- fixed some bugs and added new minor features;
- added armenian localization;
- preferences name is now standard compliant: they're under "extensions.importexporttools." and not anymore under "mboximport." - save of attachments with HTML or text format now includes also EML attachments (Thunderbird 17 or higher required);
Changelog 3.0.1 version
- fixed a bug with some locales;
Changelog 3.1 version
- fixed some minors bug;
- new separator between the messages, when you save them in a single text file (you can change the separator with the preference extensions.importexporttools.export.mail_separator);
- possibility to save the messages in Postscript format instead of PDF (to enable it, set the preference extensions.importexporttools.printPDF.fileFormat to the value 1);
- it's again possible to import the mbox file with a non stardad format (for example with the Eudora format), without guarantee of compatibility.
Changelog 3.2 version
- possibility to have the index also for selected messages;
- disabled saving in PDF format on MAC OSX because of bug 1071173
- bugfixes;
- added slovenian locale;
Changelog 3.2.1 version
- fixed a regression in saving selected messages in CSV format;
- fixed a regression in salving in PDF format on some operative systems;
Changelog 3.2.2 version
- fixed a regression in saving the index of selected messages;
- changed the layout of the window "search and export";
Changelog 3.2.4 version
- fixed a bug that broke importing a profile on Windows;
- disabled saving in PDF format on Postbox;
Changelog 3.2.4.1 version
- fixed a bug with Search and export --> selected messages;
Changelog 3.2.5 version
- import now can handle also eml files with the "Date" header non fully standard compliant;
Changelog 3.3.0 version
- compatibility with Thunderbird 59;
- fixed some bugs;
Changelog 3.3.1 version
- fixed a bug that broke export in PDF format;
Changelog 3.3.2 version
- fixed a bug that broke export when using prefix in filenames;

Go to the page at Addons Mozilla Org

Download 3.3.2 version

This article is translated to Serbo-Croatian language by Jovana Milutinovich from Geeks Education.