Re: Automating an e-mail conversion process

Thanks for your response Bob.
I was afraid that was the case about OE not supporting automation,
but I appreciate knowing that for sure before I spent too much time heading down that alley.
Carl

Bob O`Bob wrote: 
Carl Imthurn wrote:

I have been given the task of automating (as much as possible) a conversion from Netscape mail to Outlook 2003.
Here's the scenario:

Most of our users are running Netscape 7.x
Outlook 2003 cannot import from Netscape Mail.
Outlook Express cannot import from Netscape 7.x; only from Netscape 4.x.
So, here's what happens:
Netscape 7.x --> Netscape 4.x --> Outlook Express --> Outlook 2003
If the user is running Netscape 4.x the Netscape 7.x part does not apply, of course.

Following is a *very* brief overview of the process as done manually:

If (user is running Netscape 7.x) then
   Copy all Netscape mail folders and sub-folders _
      from the Netscape 7.x location to the Netscape 4.x location
   Launch Netscape 4.x
   Click on each folder so that the .snm file is created _
      which is needed for the import to Outlook Express
End If

Launch Outlook Express and import from Netscape 4.x 


OE does not support automation.
This means the only hope you have of 'driving' it from a program is
to emulate the user interaction, calling menus, posting text into
dialog windows, and so on.  It's a gigantic PITA.


Quit Outlook Express, launch Outlook 2003 and import from Outlook Express



The ultimate goal is to start with the Netscape mail files and wind up with a .pst file (the Outlook 2003 mail file).
Informational note: the file format for Netscape mail is mbox.

Am I re-inventing the wheel here? Does anyone know of a conversion utility already out there? 



Don't know of any.
mbox is fairly straightforward, but Outlook's format (pst?), that one's
a massive pain to deal with, and nearly impossible to write.

I might possibly be able to write a converter - if there was a contract
involved, but that's really not what these newsgroups are for...
In any event I would advise forgetting entirely about manipulating Express,
that's mostly a giant time-sink. One possibility might be to write .eml files
(Express's format, rather than Outlook's) from the messages in the mbox.
That should all be possible via file & string manipulation, then you'd
only need to automate Outlook to do the import.

You may want to bug Microsoft directly, to see if there's any plans
to extend the range of what Outlook can import.  Maybe not very likely,
but certainly the easiest implementation if you get lucky.


Bob 

.

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