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Eudora and Thunderbird are exceptional email clients in terms of features and functionalities. However, many users prefer Thunderbird over Eudora because of a variety of reasons like it is open-source, free to use, owns a user-friendly interface, etc. Now, for users who are willing to migrate from Eudora to Thunderbird needs to have explicit knowledge of the methods used for migrating data between the two clients. Therefore, in this write up, we will discuss solutions for importing emails and other mailbox data items from Eudora to Thunderbird.
First, you need to find the exact location of Eudora Mail’s MBX file on your system. Typically, for Eudora 8 running on Windows 10 and 8 systems, the default location of the source database file (MBX) is:
“C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Roaming\Qualcomm\Eudora\”
If you have set the mailbox directory manually after configuring Eudora on your system, it’s easy for you to find the exact location of the MBX file. In case you are still unable to locate the source database file, launch Eudora and navigate through Tools >> Account Settings>> Message Storage section.
Note: Eudora Mail saves its data in MBX file format, which is a variant of MBOX file.
Once you got the source database file, all you have to do is to import MBX file to Thunderbird client.
Manual Approach to Import Data from Eudora to Thunderbird
Thunderbird requires the installation of ImportExport add-on in order to import external MBOX files. Follow the given instructions to add ImportExport add-on as well as to import the required MBOX files.
- Launch Thunderbird and click on the Menu button located at the extreme right of the interface.
- Click on Add-ons >> Add-ons.
- In the Add-ons Manager window, search for the ImportExport add-on. Then, select ImportExportTools NG and click on the Add to Thunderbird button.
- You will see a message asking to add the ImportExportTools NG add-on to your Thunderbird client. Click on the Add button and re-start the program to save the changes.
- Now, go back to the Thunderbird mailbox window, right-click on the root of Local Folders hierarchy and select ImportExportTools NG >> Import mbox file.
- Choose the option Import directly one or more mbox files and click OK.
- Browse to the location where Eudora’s source database file (MBOX) is stored; select the required files, and click Open.
- Again, go back to the Thunderbird mailbox window and click on the imported file to view its email contents.
Apart from the manual procedure to import Eudora to Thunderbird, you can also use third-party tools to view email contents of MBOX files or its variants. We have also highlighted an efficient third-party software “Kernel MBOX Viewer” designed specifically to import data from MBOX format files that are based on all major email client applications.
Kernel MBOX Viewer is capable of opening MBOX files without any MBOX email client. Embedded with intuitive email filters, the tool supports MBOX files based on major email clients like Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Eudora, Entourage, etc. Moreover, you can import multiple MBOX files with no restrictions on file size. Here is how the tool works:
- Launch Kernel MBOX Viewer on your system and select the source email client and click on the Next button.
- Click on the Add File(s) button to locate the required MBOX file on your local directories.
- Select the required MBOX files and click Open.
- Once the files are added to the interface, click on the Finish button.
- In the next window, select an individual mailbox folder from the left-hand side panel to view its email contents.
Wrapping Up
The Eudora users will find this article a highly useful one as it mentions that how you can access your data file and move it towards Thunderbird email platform. It will allow you to employ the features of new platform while protecting the original data from Eudora account. To increase the security of data and move large data set, you can use Kernel MBOX Viewer software to check the contents of Eudora file before moving it to Thunderbird.
Can you automatically load a hierarchy of MBOX files from Eudora, or do you have to load the MBOXs, one at a time. I have about 30,000 MBOXs in about 3,000 folders!
Hi Stuart,
You just need to select the root folder only. The software will automatically access all MBOX files present in different folders.