Import From File System

summary: This page describes the procedure to import archived email from your filesystem into ZOË.

The Process

Get your email into Mbox Format files. If you need help with this see Converting To Mbox.
Put all your email to be imported into your ~/Library/ folder or whereever you've set your preference to (they're in Mbox Format, right?).
In ZOË go to the preference panel (under ZOË on the main page).
Click on one of your accounts.
Click on IMPORT button.
ZOË will then check your ~/Library/ folder for any mbox files and import them.

On Windows note that you will need to create the directory c:\documents and settings\[yourusername]\Library.
Note the capital L in Library
Your files must end in .mbox. Other variations (eg. .mbx) simply won't do.
ZOË checks for mbox files recursively, so you're allowed to have you emails inside of folders.
ZOË will not follow symbolic links/aliases/shortcuts. Make sure that your mail boxes are effectively under ~/Library'.
ZOË will not index duplicate emails, so if ZOË is shut down during a long import process, it's ok to import the entire directory again (is this really true? i haven't tried it..)

Berkley mail format is close enough to .mbox that it can be imported directly:

Just copy the mail folder files into your ~/Library directory (storing in a temporary subdirectory is recommended) and rename the files to have a .mbox suffix.
- If you have a lots of these files use the following commands:

		foreach FILE ( * )
		foreach? echo ${FILE}
		foreach? mv ${FILE} ${FILE}.mbox
		foreach? end

N.B.: simply renaming the files--as the script above does--will not change them to mbox format.

You may convert your Outlook mail into the Mbox Format using Dbxconv [1] with "-mbox" option. Please remember to change the extension to mbox.

Mozilla mail uses the Mbox Format [2] so it can be imported directly
mail files are usually[3] located in C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\.
- If you are using the default account, mail files are located in your profile, in the Mail and (if you use IMAP) ImapMail folders.
- Each mail folder (Inbox, Sent, etc.) is stored as two files:
  1. one with no extension (e.g. INBOX), which is the mail file itself (in Mbox Format
  2. and one with an .msf extension (e.g. INBOX.msf), which is the index (Mail Summary File) to the mail file (not needed by ZOË).
ZOË (v0.5) by default will look for files in c:\documents and settings\[yourusername]\Library
1. create the ~\Library folder and copy your mail folders without extensions (e.g. Inbox, Sent, etc.) into the new folder,
2. rename each file with the extension " ~.mbox "
3. click on IMPORT from your Account page within ZOË.