what is the source of the CSV? Excel for instance still uses 20year old text forms that are incompatible with Thunderbird. If excel is in the mix, you need to open the file in windows notepad and explicitly save it as text encoding Unicode (Unicode is the default for windows since XP, but Excel is still lagging.)

Matt said

what is the source of the CSV? Excel for instance still uses 20year old text forms that are incompatible with Thunderbird. If excel is in the mix, you need to open the file in windows notepad and explicitly save it as text encoding Unicode (Unicode is the default for windows since XP, but Excel is still lagging.)

I exported them from Thunderbird on my Linux Fedora system.

Here is a sample of CSV file

First Name,Last Name,Display Name,Nickname,Primary Email,Secondary Email,Screen Name,Work Phone,Home Phone,Fax Number,Pager Number,Mobile Number,Home Address,Home Address 2,Home City,Home State,Home ZipCode,Home Country,Work Address,Work Address 2,Work City,Work State,Work ZipCode,Work Country,Job Title,Department,Organization,Web Page 1,Web Page 2,Birth Year,Birth Month,Birth Day,Custom 1,Custom 2,Custom 3,Custom 4,Notes, Ann,Cohen,Ann Cohen,Ann C,anncohen@gmail.com,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Ariana,Basco,Ariana ,Ariana,,,,646-286-6216,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Yeah, but is it coded using Unicode?

Given you're using Linux. the answer is probably "yes", but we have to ask.

What happens to lead you to say "Seems like only one line at a time can be imported"?

There are arrows in the import tool to step through records to check the data fields. The OK button should do the import. Did you tick the checkbox for headings, since you do have these?

If you want to export/import address books between Thunderbirds, LDIF works better than CSV. None of that messy alignment of the fields, and your Mailing Lists would also be preserved.

Or, you could just copy over the *.mab files for PAB and CA (abook.mab and history.mab). Other *.mab files aren't so co-operative; you could import them using the MoreFunctionsForAddressBook add-on.

OK, and while we're here, why not move the whole profile over?

OK I exported them as LDIF files and all went well. To the responder who asked why I didn't migrate everything I am closing out more than ten years of activity, have backed it all up on my Linux System and I can reference if necessary. It is strange about the CSV format; possibly that should be fixed. Thanks much for your help.

unless things have changed, the export actually exports one field more than the import imports. The result is some manipulation of fields is almost always required in a spread sheet before a Thunderbird CSV export can becomes a Thunderbird CSV import.