Mbox & Maildir to Gmail Loader (GML)
Import Your Mbox or Maildir Files into GMail

ATTENTION: The Graphical Version of GML has been released.  This version is still provided, however,  for those without the need for a graphical application, or those who would like to work with the simpler source code from this older version.  

I recently was invited to use Google's GMail service by a friend.  As you certainly know, Google included an entire gigabyte of storage space with the account, which is wonderful for email packrats like me.  I, for instance, have all my email dating back from 1994 stored in Netscape.  When I realized the benefit of having all my email easily searched and managed through GMail, I looked for an option to import my existing messages.  No such feature exists.

To remedy this problem, I've created the Mbox & Maildir to Gmail Loader (GML).  To use, simply unzip the mbox.zip file found below.  Then, run the command:

gml.exe [mbox or maildir] [mbox file or maildir path]
            [gmail address] [Optional SMTP Server]

For example, when I transferred my Netscape email to my new GMail account, I used the command:

gml.exe mbox "C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\default\Mail\Inbox"
marklyon@gmail.com

The loader will then send one message every 2 seconds to GMail's servers.  The delay between messages is to reduce the load sending so many messages will certainly create.  Start it running, go to bed, and see the results in the morning.  Alternatively, you can sort your messages as they come in.

The messages will not be deleted from your local Mbox file, so you can continue to use that as a permanent storage location.  Personally, I have set up my mail to be stored on a POP3 server which is downloaded into Mozilla for long-term storage and forwarded to GMail for web-based usage.

If you're using a Microsoft product like Outlook or Outlook Express that stores mail in .pst files, you'll likely have better luck importing your mail into Mozilla first, and then using Mbox & Maildir to Gmail Loader (GML) to transfer your mail from Mozilla to Gmail.

Notes (please read each of these before emailing me about problems):

  • It takes a minimum of 2 seconds per message (due to the timeout) to send your mail. Plan appropriately.
  • Gmail's inbox shows the time THEIR SERVER recieved the message so while the sender will show the appropriate person, the times in the inbox will be the time Gmail recieved the message, not the date it was origionally sent. There is no way for me to correct this problem, since the stamping is done by Google's servers. Gmail does display the correct date and time in the message, though.
  • The count of messages sent will likely not match up with the number the application sent. This is because the number you see in GMail is the number of conversations. Related messages were grouped as they were recieved.
  • If you would like a sample mbox file to test with, download this one.
  • If you recieve nothing but "ERROR SENDING MESSAGE FROM" warnings, it is likely that your ISP is blocking SMTP. Check with them about the proper server to send your mail from. Include that address as your "Optional SMTP Server" on the command line.
  • In some rare cases, Google's SMTP server won't accept messages from the script. In that case, perform a MX lookup for gmail.com and use one of the addresses provided as the "Optional SMTP Server" on the command line.
  • If you recieve "Can’t open file or directory. Is the path correct?" make sure you can get to the file using the path you supplied. For mbox, you should point to a file, for maildir you should point to a directory.
  • I am recieving reports that Mozilla/Thunderbird is not importing messages properly, and that their mbox files fail for unknown reasons. Some people can import directly from Outlook to Thunderbird without problems, while others report they must import from Outlook to Outlook Express and then import Outlook Express into thunderbird.
  • For some reason, Google is being very strict about parsing messages. Some emails sent with the script may come across from "(unknown sender)" with the subject "Unable to parse message". This is not exclusive to messages sent from GML. I have also recieved many emails like this that were not sent from the script. Most, if not all such messages, appear to be spam.
  • OSX users with mail.app should note the location of their mbox is: "/Users/<username>/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/INBOX.mbox/mbox". Tim Conner has created an applescript to make using my program much easier on OSX and mail.app.
  • If you use PINE as your mail client, skip GML and follow Oliver Aaltonen's instructions.
  • For those wishing to access your Gmail from a POP 3 client, I encourage you to check out Pop Goes the GMail
  • For those who want notification of new Gmail messages, check out GTray.
  • If you'd like to auto-forward your hotmail messages to Gmail, give GetMail a spin.
  • If you'd like to download your Yahoo mail using POP, try YoSucker.
  • You can also make your browser automagically turn all mailto links into links that send mail using your GMail account by installing G-Mailto.

Download Now
(Download Linux Version / Python Source Only)
Current Version is 0.4, 17 Jun 04 13:15

Go to MarkLyon.org.


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