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How do I read Eudora/Mac mailboxes from the late 1990s, in current Windows Thunderbird?

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  • Last reply by Matt

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I have a Macintosh Powerbook purchased in 1999, that ran OS 9.1 and Eudora - not sure of the versions, but the ones that existed for Mac from 1999 to 2002 or so.

I recently pulled data off the hard drive, including all my Eudora mailboxes. I would like to convert them so I can read them with my current version of Thunderbird. How do I do this?

The mailboxes all have names like "In" or "._Out" - no suffixes. Again, created in a Mac/Eudora environment into the early 2000s, and I'd like to use Thunderbird for Windows to read them.

I have a Macintosh Powerbook purchased in 1999, that ran OS 9.1 and Eudora - not sure of the versions, but the ones that existed for Mac from 1999 to 2002 or so. I recently pulled data off the hard drive, including all my Eudora mailboxes. I would like to convert them so I can read them with my current version of Thunderbird. How do I do this? The mailboxes all have names like "In" or "._Out" - no suffixes. Again, created in a Mac/Eudora environment into the early 2000s, and I'd like to use Thunderbird for Windows to read them.

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You first need a copy of Thunderbird that will import Eudora as that has been dropped in recent years.

I would suggest V3.1 A US version is here http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/3.1.9/win32/en-US/

3.1 is the earliest version of Thunderbird with tabs, so what you learn using it will apply to the current version. It is also a version before the problems that lead to the discontinuation of Eudora import occurred. It also has the same import "engine" that those that migrated to Eudora OSE had to put up with.

Look here for more information on Eudora import and the use of Eudora rescue to fix some issues. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Importing_from_Eudora_(Thunderbird)

If you Apple mail MBOX folders are version 1, Then they will import with the import export tools add-on.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/