Thunderbird will only import one VCF card file at a time, from the folder on my computer which contains about 50 files.
I'm migrating from Windows Live Mail to Thunderbird. I've exported all my contacts out of Live Mail as VCF files and saved them into a normal folder on my computer. When I use Thunderbird's Import wizard, none of the options achieve multiple address import. In that wizard "Import Everything "isn't appropriate. "Address Books won't do it, not surprisingly because I am not trying to import an 'Address BOOK', just a load of single VCF address files. "Mail" is no good either, I'm not importing mail, nor am I importing "Feed Subscriptions", or "Settings" or "Filters".
"Address Books" does allow me to navigate to the folder containing the files, but then it won't permit multiple flle selection. . Ctrl + A is ignored. Selecting one file then holding down Shift and clicking on another file further down is ignored. Likewise select, move down then Ctrl/Select is ignored. There is nothing wrong with the folder itself or the contents. If I go into it direct, (ie. File Explorer), then Ctrl/A; Select then Shift/Select, and Select then Ctrl/Select all work correctly.
Drag and Drop, (ie. Ctrl/A the VCF files in the folder, then dragging them onto an existing Address Book in Thunderbird's left-hand column doesn't work either - the mouse-pointer changes to a "not allowed" symbol - a red circle with a diagonal red line through it.
I've looked into all the menus, (Tools, File, Edit, etc) and can't find an alternative import item. All I can find is Tools->Import, which opens the import wizard that doesn't do what I need.
Help appreciated please.
All Replies (12)
Following up my own post, what's that scroll bar doing in the middle of my posted text? I didn't do that.
The usual recommended route for exporting Windows Live Mail contacts and importing them into Thunderbird is via a .csv file -- e.g.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Ex3NiWhOU Did you have a particular reason for wanting to use VCF files instead?
Hi, No I didn't have any particular reason for wanting to use VCF files. When I exported the addresses I actually did it twice, (being cautious!), once to VCF, a second time to CSV. So in principle I can simply go and use the CSV files instead. However,
1. these CSV files are still just individual address files, not address BOOKS, so, (I assume, at least, possibly wrongly), the import wizard wil still only accept one file, one address, at a time - a rather tedious process when I'e got over 50 of them!
2. Thank you for that YouTube link. I have just used it. It says: "First, you will want to export your Windows Live Mail contacts into a .csv file." Note the singular noun - "..... A .csv file". Maybe that's my problem. I exported each contact into a separate CSV file of its own. Should I have exported my contacts into a combined single file, not multiple files? And is that possible? I guess I could go back to Live Mail and find out. Maybe Live Mail can export multiple files as a BOOK? Again, I'll go look.
Thanks for your support.
To import multiple vCards:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1110388#answer-845804
Thank you very much sfhowes. I have used that link you kindly provided. Just one query before I proceed with it:
On the left-hand side it says "Italian version". Does that mean all the instructions, etc will not be in English?
No, that's just a link to the page with Italian documentation. Download the installation xpi file at the very bottom of this page.
Ah, ok. Thank you very much once again, greatly appreciated. Will go sort it out and let you know.
Oh, and don't put in leading white space if you want to avoid the horizontal scroll bars.
Like this:
Oh, and don't put in leading white space if you want to avoid the horizontal scroll bars.
HI Zenos, Thanks for that info. In over 30 years of computing that is something I've never come across before. In spite of being a highly experienced computer user, (but no programmer, I'm no techie!), I don't even know how or where I came to add that leading white space that caused the addition of a horizontal scroll bar. I can only think that I pressed the space bar at the end of a line after a word, which resulted in it wrapping round to the next line. Could that be it?
He sfhowes, Well I downloaded MoreFunctionsForAddressBook 0.7.4.1 successfully, (to my Downloads folder not surprisingly!). When I clicked it to run it, Windows opened a window wanting to know what App to run it with, (so it's not an .exe file, obviously). I simply didn't know, so I scrolled down through the "More Apps". The only one that looked sensible to me was Thunderbird, so I selected that. The result was that it opened a New Message Thunderbird window. That's no good, so I decided to download it again with the intention of looking for an alternative app to open it with. Unfortunately, when I did it the first time, "Always use this app" must have been ticked, so the second attempt to run the second downloaded copy all that happened was a repeat of the first time - a New Message window opened. Help!
The leading space is a peculiar quirk of the forum software. It allows easy insertion of material that you want to be handled verbatim.
Add-ons are delivered as xpi files and you are expected to install them using the built-in add-ons manager in Thunderbird (and Firefox).
Unfortunately, it's easier to give you an URL to locate an add-on than it is to explain the use of the Add-ons manager.
See if this helps: http://xenos-email-notes.simplesite.com/416814616
<tl:dr>? Drag your xpi file onto Thunderbird's Add-ons window.
Cross linking duplicate questions https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1116916
I am closing neither as there is extensive discussion on both.