My computing woes

[chrishansenhome]

I decided Wednesday night that it was time to ditch Eudora for my email. First and foremost, it occasionally decided not to show images in emails, which is nowadays a major pain in the arse. Second, it seemed to crash a lot. Third, as Qualcomm ditched it, there will be no bug fixes and no enhancements. Enough was enough. I had heard some good things about Thunderbird so I decided to try it.

These kinds of migrations have to be planned, however. I had understood that Eudora was kind of flaky when it came to things like standards for .mbx files. So, I searched out a program I'd heard of called Eudora Rescue, which purported to create files that Thunderbird could import more easily and accurately. For example, Thunderbird does not carry over the status (Read, Unread, and the like) from Eudora. This could be disastrous if you have a full inbox.

So, I installed Thunderbird, found and printed out the Eudora Rescue readme file, which is a good example of a readme file that contains exactly the right kind of information to perform a complicated transfer like this. I followed the instructions to the letter, created compatible files from Eudora that Thunderbird was likely to be able to read, and let it rip while I was asleep.

I discovered after breakfast this morning that the import had only gone around 1/2-way. After some futzing around I discovered which file was creating the problem (must be a stray control character) and removed it from the import, restarted the import, and got it finished. But the fun was just beginning.

• I've got a shedload of Eudora filters, none of which were imported along with the mail. I am now faced with creating filters for the next couple of months until all of my mail that I want filtered actually is. I will give them this: the filter-creation mechanism is easy to use. However, each filter works only on one particular mail host. Probably won't cause a problem, but it's surprising.


• When moving an email from one mailbox to one in the sidebar, you drag the email to the top folder, and it then opens up to reveal the folders underneath it. You can then move the email to the one in which you want it to be and drop it there. No problem. However, once you've dropped the email, unlike Eudora, the mailbox tree remains expanded, and you have to contract it manually. Kind of counter intuitive.


• It was a Cecil-B-DeMille production to configure the mail hosts for smooth downloading and sending of emails. But, now that I've got your attention, I can reveal that I've not tried to send emails from all the mail hosts, so I only know that the christianphansen.com address is working for sending. I'm sure that lovely problems await.


• I believe that, while all my attachments are around, the ones imported from Eudora aren't immediately present. I know they're in the "Attach" subdirectory of Eudora Mail, but where they are in Thunderbird beats the hell out of me.


• When you open an email to view and the email has pictures in it, Thunderbird asks you whether you want to show the images and you have to OK a silly window before you can see them. Thunderbird says it'll only be shown the first time you open an email from that sender. Pah! I don't know whether to believe them. After a couple of days, I think I believe them.

(Update early Saturday morning (00:01, to be precise)

I've been using it for a couple of days now. I have figured out the difference between the "Forward/Back" buttons and "Previous/Next" (first set gets to the next/previous mailbox, while the second set gets to the next/previous unread email). To get to the previous email (that you've already read) you have to press "B" on the keyboard, and to get to the next email (that you've already read) you have to press "F" on the keyboard.

I've sent mail from my gmail account (when gmail is up and running) and that seems to work OK. Will have to test the other ones, possibly later on today.

So that's it for Eudora. So long, Eudora! We've been friends for 15 years, but the time has come to part. It's not au revoir, it's don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.

Comments

[typographer.livejournal.com]

I moved from Eudora to Thunderbird February before last. I only had intact archives going back to 1997, and was quite pleased how easily all of them came through.

If you haven't found out yet: Thunderbird does not place attachments in a separate repository. Each one is treated as an object in the database along with the messages... on the plus side, it seemed to do a good job of keeping those attachments connected to each message.

I still wound up going through the archived attachment folder and looking for things I wanted to keep.

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this; I think that Thunderbird probably needs some more design and programming attention before it gets to the level of sophistication that Eudora showed before its sad demise.

I found that Thunderbird didn't bother to bring along attachments from Eudora, even though the Attach and Embedded subfolders were there...that kind of annoyed me but I know that the files are still there.

I had about 3.5GB of emails going back to late 1996 in Eudora so it was important that the transfer worked right first time, or I was farked. Luckily I didn't get farked.

Thanks for your observations...most helpful in understanding what I've gotten myself into. Like a new pair of shoes, I am easing myself into Thunderbird, not walking too far at first, and making sure that I've gotten all the options correct.

[smlee4.livejournal.com]

umm, i did not realise eudora was sophisticated to the level of your praise.

but, these days online mailbox is the in-thing, and i found it weird you have not switched over..

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

I like having control over my mail, and being able to store it on my machine and back it up. If the online service goes titsup, you might lose your mail entirely.

[smlee4.livejournal.com]

wat's titsup?

ya, there's a possiblity of losing the mails, but nowadays, online mailing is widely in use now, that it'll reflect badly on the company if the mails got lost..

hehe, gd luck to ur migration of mails anyway!

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

It seems to be working OK, and I am now used to Thunderbird's ideosyncracies. So, no going back now.

[smlee4.livejournal.com]

hehe, that's good to know :)

but, thunderbird is still a pc-based email program?

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

That's right, and I thought of another reason why I don't want to read and save email online.

I have about 8 different email addresses that I use for different things. I can download them all into Thunderbird and read them in the same place. If I were reading them online, I'd have to log in 8 separate times in order to read them.

So it's Thunderbird.

[smlee4.livejournal.com]

umm, in case you don't know, gmail and yahoo allow you to download mails from almost any mail servers and read them all together in one account.

hehe, not trying to convince you of a switch, but just letting you know the options.

But, I think you are using your ISP's email?

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

I knew that. I may be an old fogie, but I just don't like the thought that some faceless corporation that could go titsup (which means "die" or "go bust" depending on whether you're talking about a person or a corporation) at any time, taking my emails with it.

I have 3.5 GB of emails going back more than 10 years on this computer. I don't want to lose even a nybble of it.

[smlee4.livejournal.com]

umm, now i understand where you are coming from... hope things go fine with the thunderbird :)

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

I suppose I need to post again—I'm getting more comfortable with it as I use it and am pretty satisfied with the results.

Am going to take the Eudora off on a DVD and file it away, thus saving a bit of space on the computer.

[smlee4.livejournal.com]

hehe,, glad to hear tat!!

umm, mozilla has really done a great job with thunderbird!

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of places where Thunderbird could be improved.

-- This silly message that pops up about allowing Thunderbird to show images in an email should be able to be set globally rather than email-by-email.
-- When you've moved your emails over from Eudora to Thunderbird, if you then put new emails in a mailbox the "Next" key does not find them. You have to figure out that you're not seeing emails and go to the mailbox, which will take a while to format itself and show the emails. Before that it does not even indicate that there are unread emails in it.
-- The filters apply only to each separate email address you are using. I have seven or eight. The filters should be able to be applied to all of them at once.

I'm sure I will find more difficulties with it, but that's for starters. There is nothing there that is a show-stopper for me. However, it's little niggly things like these that can really bug the shit out of you.

[smlee4.livejournal.com]

maybe there are settings whihc can fix the problem?

u probably can try checking out the online forums?

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

I suppose...at the moment I am getting used to the changes from Eudora so will continue to get used to them while looking around Thunderbird.

I've been through all the settings and options and I think I've about wrung all the good out of them that I can. There are add-ons, and one of them allowed me to bring forward my signatures from Eudora to Thunderbird.

At the moment I'm finding that filing emails away in folders is a bit odd. When I move an email to a subfolder, when I release it into the subfolder the folder does not contract again, like Eudora does. So when I'm finished with email there are open folders laying around all over the place.

[smlee4.livejournal.com]

it's pretty surprising that an add-on is needed to send signatures from eudora to thunderbird.

as for the expanding and contracting of the folders, hehe, i guess it's a "u have to lose something to gain something" (i forgot wat's the proper term!!) it's not part of the thunderbird feature.. :)