Last modified: May 16, 2006

Contents
1 - Summary
2 - Backup Mail and Contacts
3 - Mozilla Thunderbird Installation
4 - Convert Mail
5 - Convert Contacts
6 - Import Mail and Contacts
7 - Reload Evolution


1 - Summary

This little guide will show you how to import your mail and contacts from
Microsoft Outlook into Ximian Evolution in FreeBSD. For this guide to work you
will need to have Microsoft Outlook installed in Microsoft Windows and Ximian
Evolution installed in FreeBSD.


2 - Backup Mail and Contacts

To backup your you mail in Microsoft Outlook, go to the Import and Export
Wizard and select the Personal Folder File (.pst) option. To backup your
contacts, go to the Import and Export Wizard and select the Comma Separated
Values (DOS) option. This will create a .csv file.


3 - Mozilla Thunderbird Installation

Install Mozilla Thunderbird if you don't already have it. You can download the
installer at http://seb.mozdev.org/thunderbird/.


4 - Convert Mail

Now, the mail will be converted into mbox format with Mozilla Thunderbird. Start
Thunderbird and open the import tool by selecting Tools, then Import. Select
Mail, then Outlook. The conversion will now begin. The converted mail folders
can be found at:

C:\Documents and Settings\Ryan\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\default\
xxxxx.slt\Mail\Local Folders\Outlook Mail.sbd

The files with no file extensions like, Inbox, are now in mbox format.


5 - Convert Contacts

Now, the contacts will be converted into vcard format with a perl script. First,
copy the new mail files, along with the .csv file to a directory you can access
in Unix. Boot into Unix. The script can be downloaded at:

http://www.packetwatch.net/documents/guides/csv2vcard.pl

Here are the commands that need to be entered.

# cd /home/ryan/outlook-backups
# chmod +x csv2vcard.pl
# ./csv2vcard contacts.csv contacts.vcf


6 - Import Mail and Contacts

To import your mail and contacts in Ximian Evolution, go to the File menu and
select Import. Continue through and select the Import a single file option. To
import your mail (mbox) folders choose the Mbox file type, and select your
files, then click next to import. To import your contacts follow the same steps
except choose the VCard file type.


7 - Reload Evolution

Now, log out of X-Windows. Log back in as a normal user and run evolution. Go
into evolution and check you mail folders and your contacts. That's it, now you
have imported your mail and contacts from Microsoft Outlook into Ximian
Evolution in FreeBSD.