Converting from PocoMail to Gmail

Wifey was tired of PocoMail. It has not been revised in years, the HTML renderer, while “safe”, is not very conformant, which translates into lots of Tech Support calls. Me. Since she uses Gmail at work, why not migrate to Gmail?

PocoMail uses Unix MBOX format files to store email – very nice, a standard format, no translators needed. But how to get into Gmail?

Use the Google. “How can I import messages that were exported from a university mail system using Pine?” had some good hints, but its most valuable recommendation was IMAPSize, a 2009 vintage utility to browse and manage IMAP mail stores. I was able to create the folders I wanted in Gmail, open with IMAPSIze, and browse into the correct folder. Right-click, “Upload…”, choose the PocoMail data file for that year (renamed from .mbx to .mbox, so I could tell which had been done already), and let er rip.

IMAPSize can be a bit hinky; sometimes it locks up at the end of a transfer, and it would be nice to do multiple uploads concurrently. Oh, well. For large MBOX files it takes a bit of time, but after a few hours of loading and waiting, it was done.

Contacts were easier. I found the address book .ini files in the PocoMail Address tree and was able to add column headings after renaming the file to .csv. That allows the GMail contacts import to use the correct column. Piece of cake. Only the mailing lists are questionable. I didn’t bother – when we need them again, it is easy to make a list.

Changed some redirection on the Domain, had GMail pick up the POP mail. Done. She can now check her email from school on a familiar, decent HTML client without sitting at “THE” computer.

Kudos to the IMAPSize developers. I dread the day when these great utilities no longer work on the “current” OS. Please put the code on GitHub.

This entry was posted in Computers, howto, Software and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply