Hello

I have heard that a very long time ago, Thunderbird used to support direct import of PST files. Is it true I don't know, but nowadays it's certainly not true. you can import from Mbox format using an add-on called ImportExportNG, and then you need a tool to convert PST to Mbox. I had success with a tool called pst-utils but it's available on Linux. I think you may find other Windows utilities to convert from PST to Mbox, try an Internet search. In fact I'm sure that there are some, but I don't know if there are good ones and free to use.

See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1394487

See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1394487

MailStore Home (Windows, free) looks encouraging but there is no "import" PST that I can find and neither the MailStore user manual or community forum are very helpful.

If you have done this before can you provide instructions on what to do?

Select Archive E-mail and then MS Outlook PST file (first picture), then Export E-mail, Mozilla TB (2nd picture). Once you have the mail in mbox format, copy the mbox files into the Mail/Local Folders location of the TB profile folder, with TB closed (if they aren't automatically copied by MSH).

Select Archive E-mail and then MS Outlook PST file (first picture), then Export E-mail, Mozilla TB (2nd picture). Once you have the mail in mbox format, copy the mbox files into the Mail/Local Folders location of the TB profile folder, with TB closed (if they aren't automatically copied by MSH).

I am not that familiar with TB - what do I do once I have done the first 2 steps. I don't understand your instructions "copy the mbox files into the Mail/Local Folders location of the TB profile folder, with TB closed"

UPDATE - MailStoreHome copied my archive directly into TB - without me doing any additional steps. TY - now I have my close to 10,000 archived emails in TB.

Another question -

MaiStoreHome worked great the first time I ran it, but I wanted to update TB with my updated PST file.

When I archived my PST file in MSH it worked great - I can see the additional emails in "My Archive" but when I try to export the archived email to TB it doesn't add the new/additional emails to TB.

I deleted the MSH directory in TB before exporting the new file to TB.

What I am doing wrong? Thanks

If the direct export of the new pst doesn't work, try exporting to eml files. Eml files can be imported to a subfolder of Local Folders in TB by drag and drop from File Explorer to the subfolder.

@sfhowes - MSH seems to archive the PST file fine when I look in the MSH app but where does MSH save the exported MBOX or EML files on my PC so I can copy them to TB? And where is the local folder in TB?

When you select Export E-mail, then Directory (File System), then Run, specify the Target Folder for the eml files. Of course, you must first create a profile for Mozilla TB under Archive E-mail.

Local Folders is a subfolder of Mail in the TB profile. Help/More Troubleshooting, Profile Folder, Open Folder, to open the profile.

When you select Export E-mail, then Directory (File System), then Run, specify the Target Folder for the eml files. Of course, you must first create a profile for Mozilla TB under Archive E-mail. Local Folders is a subfolder of Mail in the TB profile. Help/More Troubleshooting, Profile Folder, Open Folder, to open the profile.

Thanks - I will play around with it. I'm still learning TB and MSH and slowly abandoning MS Office after decades of us.

When you select Export E-mail, then Directory (File System), then Run, specify the Target Folder for the eml files. Of course, you must first create a profile for Mozilla TB under Archive E-mail. Local Folders is a subfolder of Mail in the TB profile. Help/More Troubleshooting, Profile Folder, Open Folder, to open the profile.

I have been doing this - but for some reason MSH isn't exporting all of the PST emails in Outlook - it seems to be a behind a couple days.

What files am I supposed to copy from the export to TB and where does MSH save them after the archive?

sfhowes said

When you select Export E-mail, then Directory (File System), then Run, specify the Target Folder for the eml files. Of course, you must first create a profile for Mozilla TB under Archive E-mail. Local Folders is a subfolder of Mail in the TB profile. Help/More Troubleshooting, Profile Folder, Open Folder, to open the profile.

I have been doing this - but for some reason MSH isn't exporting all of the PST emails in Outlook - it seems to be a behind a couple days.

What files am I supposed to copy from the export to TB and where does MSH save them after the archive?

If MSH exports eml files, they are found in the Target Folder specified above. Then, open TB, create a subfolder of Local Folders, and add the eml files by drag and drop to that subfolder. Have TB in one half of the screen, File Explorer in the other half.

@sfhowes - I don't know what I am doing wrong and don't understand what you keep telling me to do - and I worked in the tech world for 40 years.

I searched my entire PC for EML files but only found one from years ago. MSH must be working correctly because after I export to TB emails show up in TB - but the number of emails archived and exported are different (3503 archived and 3515 exported). I don't find any EML files in my profile folder (C:\Users\Current User\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles) so I'm not what files TB is reading.

Either MSH or TB are not picking up any emails from the past week. Thanks.

When eml files are imported to TB, they are added into a single mbox file, which is a file without an extension, and named after the folder. A like-named .msf index file is also created. MSH can either import directly to TB, without any intermediary eml files, or export eml files to a Windows folder.

I think you should seek help in the MSH community forum, as the issue seems to not be due to TB.

@sfhowes - thanks for trying to help. I did post on MSH forum the same time I posted here - but haven't received a reply. I guess I will have to contact them directly.

MSH worked great the first time - but I haven't been able to figure out what is going on since. Probably because I am new to both TB and MSH.