Export emails from Thunderbird to Gmail using GAMMO Tool

Migrate Thunderbird to Gmail

Thunderbird is a free email application developed by Mozilla, which is easy to setup and configure. It lets you manage as many email accounts as you like from one convenient location. Some of its features are quick message search, customizable views, support for IMAP/POP, RSS support and more. Apart from this, the portable version leaves no personal information behind on the machine you run it on, and so you can take your email and address book along with you. Gmail is a free Web-based e-mail service that provides users with a gigabyte of storage for messages and provides the ability to search for specific messages. The users often choose to convert Thunderbird to Gmail due to a couple of valid reasons. But they often find it difficult to perform the conversion process as they are unaware of what exactly to do. One of the often asked queries is,
“I would like to know the procedure (step by step) to transfer all my emails from Thunderbird app into an existing Gmail. Please let me know what I need to set up in my Gmail or Thunderbird (not sure if I need to configure the account setting for both Gmail and Thunderbird) settings in order for the emails to be transferred chronologically into the respective folders into my Gmail”.
 This article would provide you with both manual and expert solutions to import Thunderbird emails to Gmail.

Need to Export Thunderbird mails to Gmail

The reasons to export MBOX to Gmail are:

• • Gmail provides a better interface to the users compared to Thunderbird.
• • The future of Thunderbird is less certain.
• • Gmail is really easy to use on the go, as well as on multiple devices and it gives you more than 2.7 gigabytes of storage.
• • Gmail has better attachments and can create task reminders on a daily basis.
• • It preserves messages better compared to Thunderbird and also has advanced search and search operators.

Manual methods to transfer Thunderbird emails to Gmail

In order to do migrate Thunderbird to Gmail process, IMAP can be used. Using IMAP, Gmail account can be opened and can directly migrate email from Thunderbird to Gmail account. The messages in Gmail can be accessed immediately after being copied.

Create the IMAP Account

• • Log in to your Gmail account.
• • Choose the "Gear" icon and select the "Settings" option.
• • Press "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" tab.
• • Locate the "IMAP Access" heading and select "Enable IMAP."
• • Click "Save Changes" button.

Method: Migrate Thunderbird to Gmail

 After setting the IMAP Account, the steps mentioned below can be followed to export Thunderbird Mail to Gmail:

• • Double-click on the "Thunderbird" icon to launch the program.
• • Choose "Application Menu" button.
• • Select "Options" from the menu, and then select the "Account Settings" option.
• • Then Click "Account Actions" button.
• • Press "Add Mail Account" button.
• • Enter your name, Gmail address, and password. Click on the "Continue" button.
• • Select the IMAP option and click on the "Done" button. Thunderbird will populate the program with all of your Gmail folders and emails.
• • The final step to import folders from Thunderbird to Gmail is to Copy and paste all the old Thunderbird emails over to one of your Gmail folders. After you copy and paste your files, your Gmail account will update with the new emails. You can now close and delete the Thunderbird application.

Note: There may be situations when users have to migrate their MBOX files into an account in Gmail even when they do not have a Thunderbird. So, in such cases, we would have to go for something different. Since there is no direct method available to convert MBOX to Gmail, we will have to first convert it to PST and then transfer PST to Gmail either manually or using automated solutions.

Expert Solution

Even though there is no direct tool available to perform Migrate Thunderbird to Gmail, the users can perform the operation by first converting Thunderbird into a widely used format like PST by using the tool Convert multiple emails from .mbox which would reliably convert multiple MBOX files even in bulk to PST. And then using GAMMO (Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Outlook) Tool, users can easily import and open Outlook PST file in Gmail account. The steps followed are:

• • Create an Account in Google Apps

• • Launch GAMMO

• • Login to your Google Apps Account

• • Switch to GAMMO for further action

• • Import PST file into Gmail

• • Select the items you want to Import from PST

• • Start Migration process to Import PST into Google Apps

After completion, a message window will get displayed showing successful migration.

Conclusion

As mentioned above users often prefer to migrate Thunderbird to Gmail due to the uncertainty in Thunderbird.  Both manual methods and expert solutions are available to perform this migration process. Since no direct automated solution is available to convert Thunderbird emails to Gmail, it can be done efficiently using two tools namely, MBOX Converter tool and GAMMO tool which does the conversion in a reliable manner.