README for OEimporter

Purpose:
    To take existing email from Outlook Express 5.5 or later
    on a PC and move it to Outlook Express 5 or to Entourage 
    (Office:mac 2001 or Office v. X) on your Mac.  
    
    If your original email is in Outlook on your PC, you must 
    first import your Outlook email into Outlook Express by
    using Outlook Express's File -> Import -> Email Messages
    -> Outlook option.
       
    If you need to move email from Mac to PC, use OEexporter.
    
Disclaimer: 
    This comes "AS IS".  It worked for me, so I hope it 
    works for you!  
    
Author:
    Bill Wright (bwright_us@mac.com) with special credit to
    Steve Friesan (steve@skyweyr.com).  The OEimporter script
    is his Archive Messages script called "Import Indiv. Msg
    Archive" with a couple of slight modifications.  I changed
    the log file name to include the date/time of the import.
    I also relaxed the check requiring both file type and 
    creator type to be from Outlook Express in order for 
    message files from PCs to be imported.  Instead,  it
    takes all files whose filename ends with ".EML".  This 
    allows the script to work with the procedure below.
    
Required software:
    On Mac:
        MacOS 8.5 or later.
        Outlook Express 5 or Office:mac 2001 or Office v. X 
           for Entourage (www.microsoft.com/mac)
        MacZip (freeware at www.sitec.net/maczip)
           (Stuffit Deluxe also supports zip files, but
           I did not try this.  Stuffit Deluxe is a
           commerical product from www.aladdinsys.com)
        CRLF utility (freeware;  go to
           http://macinsearch.com/infomac2/compression/crlf-120.html or
           http://mirror.apple.com/mirrors/Info-Mac.Archive/_Compress_&_Translate/crlf-120.hqx)
           [CRLF does not run natively on MacOS X.  So for the end-of-line
            conversion step,  you can do this from Classic mode, or look for      
            an equivalent conversion utility for MacOS X.  Try an internet
            search for'"MacOS X" unix2dos' or take a look at 
            http://www.freebsd.org/ports/converters.html]
          
    On PC:
        Outlook Express 5.5 or later (http://www.microsoft.com)
        WinZip (an evaluation copy is available at
           www.winzip.com if you don't have it already) 
           
Modification History:
    28-Jun-02 Add some notes on MacOS X, CRLF links
    24-Mar-01 Support Entourage; Change log filename.
    10-Mar-01 Initial version.
    
Importing Email Messages from PC-to-Mac Procedure:
    On PC:
    1.  Create a new folder in Windows Explorer on one of
        your hard drives.   Manually recreate the folder 
        hierarchy found in Outlook Express under this top
        folder using Windows Explorer.

    2.  In Outlook Express, open each folder, one at a time.
        Select all the messages (Ctrl-A) and drag the 
        selection onto the corresponding folder in the 
        Windows Explorer window.  This "exports" your
        messages -- one file per message in the folder.
        
        WARNING TO WINDOWS 98 USERS:  If multiple email
        messages with the identical subject lines exist in
        the selection,  W98 will complain.  On the second
        duplicate, it will display a dialog box asking if
        you want to overwrite the existing file (from the
        first message).  Say "NO".  Append "()"
        at the end of file it complained about.   Reselect
        messages starting with the second duplicate.  
        Because of this problem on W98, it is probably
        easiest to first sort the messages in each folder
        by Subject (click on the Subject column heading)
        to get duplicate messages arranged together.  Repeat
        the selecting/dragging/renaming as necessary until
        all messages are exported.
        
        With other Windows platforms that I tried (W95, NT4,
        and WME), Windows automatically appends "()"
        to the filename to disambiguate duplicates.  This
        makes the exporting much easier than on W98.  If
        anyone knows how to get this behavior to work on W98,
        please let me know!
        
    3.  Use WinZip to zip up the entire hierarchy under the
        top folder created in 1:
           - Open the WinZip application.
           - Drag the top level folder onto the WinZip window.
             The "Add" window pops up.
           - In the Add window, supply a location and name 
             for your zip file.
           - *IMPORTANT* check the "Store filenames in 8.3 
             format" box (this creates unique file names 
             the are short enough for the MacOS file system).  
           - uncheck the "Include system and hidden files" box

    4.  Copy the zip file to your Mac.  The easiest way
        is to email it to yourself as an attachment.
          
    On Mac:      
    5.  Get into Outlook Express (or Entourage) and read
        the message you sent yourself.   Save the zip file
        attachment (Message -> Save all attachments) onto
        one of your Mac's volumes.  The attachment is
        probably MIME(Base64) encoded.  NOTE, if the zip
        file for all your PC email is large, repeat this
        procedure doing portions of your email folders each
        time.

    6.  Unzip the file by dragging the zip file's icon over 
        the MacZip icon.  This will automatically expand 
        the contents into a hierarchy of folders starting
        with a folder called ".zi0".

    7.  Set up the CRLF utility to (a) change the end-of-line
        character from CRLF (PCs) to CR (Macs) and also
        to set the Creator of each file to be MSNM (Outlook
        Express).  After downloading and installing CRLF, 
        hold down the  keys and double
        click the CRLF icon.  The settings window pops up.  
        Make sure the last row of the table is set to:
          
                              EOL Character   Creator
        
        last row:      IBM -> Mac(CR)         MSNM
          
        NOTE:  In one case, I had to rebuild my desktop file
        in order for the CRLF autolaunching icon to appear.
        This is done by rebooting your Mac and holding down
        the  keys.          
         
    8.  Now, drag the ".zi0" folder onto the 
        CRLF icon.  This will autolaunch CRLF utility and 
        it will convert all files in the nested folders
        into Outlook Express files that can be imported.

    9.  Go through the 8.3-format named folders under the 
        ".zi0" hierarchy and rename them to
        folder names you want in Outlook Express.
        
  10.  Compile the OEimporter and OEimporter4Entourage
        scripts by activating the Script Editor (Macintosh
        HD:Apple Extras:AppleScript:Script Editor).  For
        each file:     
          - Go to File->Open and select the script file.
          - Once the window opens, click the "Check Syntax"
            button on the upper ride side.  When prompted
            for the location of either Outlook Express or
            Microsoft Entourage, navigate through the
            folders in the window to locate (and choose)
            the application by that name.
          - It should compile without errors.
          - Go to File->Save As and select the Kind: to
            be "Compiled Script".  Save it in the same 
            folder as the original text scrip file, 
            replacing the original with the compiled one.
            
  11.  Move the compile script file to the proper folder
        where it can be executed.
        
        For Outlook Express:
          - Drag the compiled OEimporter script file to
            Outlook Express' "Script Menu Items" folder
            located in the folder containing the Outlook
            Express application (e.g. Microsoft Internet 5:
            Outlook Express 5.02 folder:Script Menu Items).
            
        For Entourage:
          - Drag the compiled OEimporter4Entourage script 
            file to Entourage's "Entourage Script Menu Items"
            folder located under Entourage's Documents folder
            (e.g. :Documents:Microsoft User Data:
            Entourage Script Menu Items  NOTE: This is not
            the Script Menu Items in the folder where you
            installed Microsoft Office).
         
  12.  Now you are ready to import the message files into
        Outlook Express or Entourage!   Get into either
        application and select the OEimporter item in its
        Applescript menu (the scrolling paper icon).  This
        script takes the Finder folder that is choosen and
        imports into Outloook Express or Entourage each
        message file ending with the .EML found in this
        folder's hierarchy.  It creates the same folder
        structure as the Finder's in Outlook Express or
        Entourage under a top level local folder named
        "Imported Folders".
        
        Answer the following prompts:
          - Do you wish to turn on logging (if you select 
            this, a file called, OEimporter.log
            is created in the same folder containing the
            application).          
          - Choose the folder which will be imported (select
            the ".zi0" folder and hit "Choose")
           
        When the script is done,  a final dialog box will 
        pop up saying the import has completed.
          
  13.  Drag the new folders to their appropriate final 
        location in your Outlook Express/Entourage folder
        hierarchy.
          
          
Importing Address Book from PC-to-Mac Procedure:
    On PC:
    A.  In Outlook Express, execute the "Export Contacts..." 
        command under the File menu.  Specify the filename to 
        be "contacts.txt".  Check off all the items to export.

    B.  Use email to send the "contacts.txt" file as an attachment 
        to yourself.  The default encoding for attachments on 
        Windows is MIME/Base64.
        
    On Mac:
    C.  Get into Outlook Express or Entourage and read the
        message you sent yourself.   Save the "contacts.txt"
        file attachment onto the Desktop.
        
    D.  Make sure the CRLF utilities' preferences are set up 
        as described in step 7. above.   Drag the "contacts.txt"
        file onto the CRLF icon.  This will autolaunch CRLF
        utility and it will convert the file to be Mac formatted.
                       
    E.  Now, in Outlook Express or Entourage, select the File ->
        Import... option.  Select the "Import contacts from text
        file" option.  Select the "contacts.txt" file from the
        Desktop.  Then pops up a window asking to map unmapped
        fields to Outlook Express/Entourage fields.  Simply drag
        any of the unmapped ones of interest to you from the right
        side of the window to the field on the left side of the
        window.  Run through your contacts (hit Next> button) to
        make sure you don't miss any unmapped items that only exist
        for a few contacts.

    F.  You may get some duplicate entries for folks that had
        several email addresses.  This may be a problem with
        flattening out the contacts that have multiple email
        addresses.  Try it and see!
          
You're done!  Happy Mac-ing!