Convert email between Entourage and Mail

Introduction

Apple provides a script to convert mail from Entourage to Apple’s own OS X Mail program. However, I’ve gotten unreliable results with it. This manual method seems to be more effective, and also covers conversion from Mail back to Entourage (which is important if you expect to go back once Entourage is Carbonized).

Before you begin:

Work with a copy of your data and, ideally, back up as well. Going from Entourage to Mail, you’ll automatically be working with a copy of each mailbox once you export.
Warning:

Use at your own risk!

This method was developed through trial and error rather than specifications or other official documentation. I was satisfied enough with it to trust my data to it, but whether you reach the same conclusion is up to you. I make no guarantees with regard to this method’s safety, effectiveness, or security, and waive all liability and responsibility for any loss of data or damage to software or hardware incurred through its use.

Background

Both Entourage and Mail understand the standard text-based MBOX mailbox format. Entourage is able to import and export it, and as far as I can tell Mail’s mailbox format is based on it. (Again, that’s not based on any specification but determined through exploration — if you’re unsure I recommend you do the same.)

MBOX is a simple text-based mailbox format. Messages are stored sequentially, and the beginning of a new message is indicated by a line that starts with “From”, following by a space. Any lines of actual message content that start “From ” are stored as “>From ” to distinguish them from the start of another message.

Entourage’s own mail format is proprietary and not relevant here. However, if you drag one of your Entourage folders from the folder list to the Finder, it will be converted to MBOX and stored as .mbox. You can sometimes drag an MBOX file from the Finder onto Entourage’s folder list to import it; when that doesn’t work Entourage’s Import function contains an MBOX option.

Mail’s mailboxes (stored by default at ~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes) are also named .mbox. However, these are not MBOX files. They are, in fact, folders that the Finder displays as files (as it does with applications and other bundles). If you examine a mailbox’s contents using the command line, you’ll see several files, including one named mbox that stores the actual message data. The rest store other information about the mailbox, including index information and which messages have been read. As far as I can tell this mbox file is in the standard MBOX format.

From Entourage to Mail

For an Entourage folder named My Mail Folder:

Drag the folder from Entourage’s folder list to the desktop or a Finder window. You should see a file named My Mail Folder.mbox.
Your new MBOX file is a Mac-style text file, which uses a different type of line break from the UNIX-style text files that Mail understands. You now need to convert it to a UNIX text file. The easiest way to do this is probably with a text editor that can save both Mac and UNIX text files, such as BBEdit or BBEdit Lite (free). Both of these have OS X versions, making them good choices. Simply open the file in your text editor, then do a Save As and choose the UNIX line feed option, overwriting your original file with the converted one. In BBEdit you’ll need to click the Options button in the Save dialog to reach the line feed options:
Create a folder, My Mail Folder, in ~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes (or a subfolder thereof). Don’t add the .mbox extension yet, or it will appear as a file and you won’t be able to view its contents.
Move the converted text file (My Mail Folder.mbox) into your new folder and rename it mbox. It’s important that you get the name exactly right.
Add “.mbox” to the end of the folder name, changing it to My Mail Folder.mbox. The Finder will ask for confirmation:

Click OK.
Open Mail and select your new mailbox. Mail will index and display it, and you’re done!

From Mail to Entourage

For a Mail mailbox named My Mailbox:

Your mailbox is in ~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes. (If you use nested mailboxes it may be in a subfolder, in which case you’ll have to adjust the paths used in this example slightly.) It’s named My Mailbox.mbox and looks like a file, but in reality it’s a folder that the Finder displays as a file. This means we’ll have to use the command line to get at its contents. If you’re new to the command line, don’t worry: Just enter the each command exactly as written (making modifications to match your files’ names and locations, of course) and press Return to execute it.

Create or designate a working directory in which you can get the mailbox ready for import. Ultimately this directory’s contents will be deleted. For this example we’ll use ~/Documents/Mail Import.
Open the Terminal application (in /Applications/Utilities) to get at a command line prompt (shell).
Move into your mailbox folder using the cd (change directory) command:

cd "~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/My Mailbox.mbox"

The quotation marks are important in above example because otherwise the command line would misinterpret the space in My Mailbox and treat it as two items.

If you like, you can list the folder’s contents using the ls command.
Copy the file named mbox to your working directory using the cp command (so you’ll be working with a copy rather than the original):

mbox "~/Documents/Mail Import"
Now you’re done with the command line. Open your working directory in the Finder and you should see the file mbox inside it.

Note: If you don’t see the file, it’s probably because the Finder hasn’t “caught up” with what the command line has done. Try relaunching the Finder or rebooting your Mac altogether if this occurs.
At this point I recommend you rename the file (My Mailbox) to distinguish it from other mailboxes you might be importing, since every mailbox file will start out named mbox.
My Mailbox is a UNIX-style text file, which uses a different type of line break from the Mac-style text files that Entourage understands. You now need to convert it to a Mac text file. The easiest way to do this is probably with a text editor that can save both Mac and UNIX text files, such as BBEdit or BBEdit Lite (free). Both of these have OS X versions, making them good choices. Simply open the file in your text editor, then do a Save As and choose the Mac line feed option, overwriting your original file with the converted one. In BBEdit you’ll need to click the Options button in the Save dialog to reach the line feed options. (See the illustration in the previous section.)
Open Entourage and choose Import… from the File menu. Select the options for importing an MBOX file in the assistant that appears:

Click the right arrow.
Select your mailbox file in the dialog that appears and click Import.
That’s it! Entourage should import your mailbox. Click Finish to close the assistant, and you should see My Mailbox in the folder list. (If you already had a folder named My Mailbox, Entourage will change the name of your imported folder to My Mailbox 1.)

Posted Saturday, July 14th, 2001 at 2:00 pm under General. (RSS)

InterfaceThis