I would like to export emails from Kmail to ‘mbox’ format so I can exchange messages with an email client on Windows. Until recently all messages in a folder could be selected with CNTL-a and saved to a file in mbox format with a right-click. But this seems to be no longer possible, only single messages can be saved to mbox format.
Why is this? Is there any way of exporting an entire folder with the Kmail in Leap 15.1?
It was also once possible to select the format of a Kmail folder as either ‘maildir’ or ‘mbox’ but I notice that’s no longer possible either.
Is Kmail capable of interworking with any external mail system now, or is it all one-way?
You’ll need to setup a new “Receiving” account with an “Mbox” format – setup folders as needed in that directory and then, copy your e-Mails over to those folders.
Within the ‘~/.local/share/’ directory related to your “Mbox” account, the directories related to your “Mbox” folders contain “.mbox” files which you can then copy off to the system which will import the “.mbox” e-Mail files.
Thanks for your response. I remember that used to be the case, but adding a folder in Leap 15.1 doesn’t allow the type (mbox or maildir) to be specified and Folder Properties > Maintenance only shows ‘maildir’. I assume Kmail is standardising on the maildir “standard” because it’s more efficient and more robust.
I’ve also discovered that Kmail’s archive-folder command creates a simple maildir backup. Thunderbird can also be configured with maildir storage although it’s not officially recommended. Thunderbird’s import command doesn’t accept a maildir folder with sub-folders either, but it’s good enough for small volumes and I can describe the end-to-end process if anyone is interested.
Correct for the default “Local Folders” but, if, you add a “Receiving” account – with the format “Mbox” – instead of “IMAP-E-Mail-Server” or “KMail-Mail folder” or “Kolab-Groupware-Server” or “Maildir” or “Microsoft-Exchange-Server (EWS)” or “POP3-E-Mail-Server” – then, a new directory will be added to “~/.local/share/” for Mbox files and, in addition to the “Local Folders” tree and the “Search” tree, a new (Mbox) tree will appear in the main KMail window – in the “Folder list” pane – with the name you entered when creating the new “Receiving” account.
It still seems impossible to select all emails in a folder (or just selected emails) and save them as a single mbox file, but I can probably write a script.