migrating settings from windows to osx (outlook, firefox)

I figured I'd ask here about this, as perhaps some of you have successfully done this. Here's what I want to do:

Import as much data as possible from an Outlook 2003 installation on my windows machine to Thunderbird (or, if that is impossible, I guess I could use entourage) on OSX.

Import as much data as possible from an installation of firefox (2.0.1 I think) on windows to firefox on OSX.

Finally, is there a way to accept task requests and calendar update requests sent from outlook in OSX (i.e. with iCal maybe?).

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

 

If you export your mailbox and import it on the Mac you will have the mails and such at least, if not all the settings. I know this works in Mail (the mail application included in OS X), not sure about Thunderbird - never used it.

Same thing goes for the bookmarks, export/import them - should be no problem. That again does not bring all the settings, I never actually bothered moving settings over between machines so I always just entered whatever settings I wanted again (except between Macs, where it's automatic if you use the Migration Assistant).

Don't have any answers for the calendar questions.

 

Thanks for the information, that sounds quite promising. I will give it a go.

 

I guess you can try saving the whole firefox profile directory. Then install the same version under OS X, and copy the dir... it should work, but I have never tried it. This would preserve more than bookmarks - logins, cookies, etc.

 

Wooky is right, you can just save the whole profile for Firefox. Unfortunately, Outlook to Thunderbird may be more difficult. I would suggest installing Thunderbird on your Windows machine and let it import everything, then migrate your Thunderbird profile from Windows to Mac.

As for iCal and Outlook, it is a matter of getting Outlook to export a file in a format iCal can understand, which happens to be the iCal (.ics) format. I know a little confusing, the name Apple chose for their calendar is the name of the industry standard. Anyway, I do not think Outlook will export to iCal by default, but google outlook to iCal and I am sure you will find something that will.

 

Good tip r.e. installing thunderbird on my windows machine... I'll try that right now! The firefox migration worked without a hitch, and I found a (convoluted) way to get my calendar migrated to iCal, so I mainly just want to retrieve all of my outlook mail now. I find it amusing (and, unsurprising) that I had a relatively easy time moving around my firefox data, and I'm having a hell of a time moving stuff from Outlook. Though I actually do like outlook, I don't think I'll use it anymore--I hate the fact that my data in it is...umm...the opposite of portable.

Oh, and I'm loving my new mac.

 

Ya proprietary standards make things much more difficult.

 

[completely off-topic]I browsed you photolog and noticed a Portughese flag on your desk... you happen to be of Portughese ascendence? Or perhaps you've been there...[/completely off-topic]

 

I am Irish-German. My wife is Portuguese. Her parents are from St. George in the Azores.

 

just a quick update--cashmonee's suggestion of installing thunderbird on my windows machine, importing from outlook, and then moving the relevant bits of my thunderbird profile to my mac worked perfectly... thanks for the tip!

 

Wow, what a salad.

 

Lol ya tell me about it!

 

This is a great topic and I found this thread while doing
a GOOGLE search on how to import my settings from Windows
to OSX (even though I have been a member of this forum for a
while).

I just bought my first Mac machine.

I am a OUTLOOK and FIREFOX power user and wanted to
import settings from both.

There's a great little article on how to do some of the
transferring that you have talked about (even though many
of you already figured it out on your own)

http://www.apple.com/macosx/switch/howto/network.html

I am going to purchase a little $10 program that moves
all my OUTLOOK files to related Mac programs. It can be
found here:

http://www.littlemachines.com/

One of the biggest problems I have right now is that Mac
doesn't have anything comparable to Microsoft OUTLOOK that
is included in Office.

I use OUTLOOK to store all my contacts and appointments
and seamlessly transfer that information to my Windows mobile
PDA and Blackberry.

What Mac does have in their Office is something called
ENTOURAGE, but for the life of me I have no idea how it
stacks up to OUTLOOK and if you can import all your settings
to that program.

(My Mac Pro doesn't arrive till next week)

Fortunately, I'll be using Parallels for Windows so until I
find a suitable solution I can still use OUTLOOK with my Mac.

Look forward to any further suggestions anyone may have
concerning OUTLOOK and ENTOURAGE.

 

NJRonbo, that might be a little tough. Apple separates the Outlook functionality into three apps, Mail, Address Book, and iCal. They are somewhat integrated, but not as much as they should be. However, Leopard promises to change that. Part of the problem is that Outlook is so dominate, and other companies are hesitant to make a competitor. Maybe someone has a better answer, but my advice is use Outlook in Parallels until Leopard is released. Then you can see if the integration is enough for you.

 

That program I mentioned above (littlemachines.com) seems
awfully promising that it may just do the job.

 

Just a quick note r.e. Entourage--you might like it, but I was really unimpressed. I found it to be like a really watered-down, crappy version of Outlook, but your results may vary.

That program that you linked to sounded like a good idea to me too, but I didn't feel like shelling out the money. I was able to get most stuff imported properly through a mish-mash of more-or-less convoluted conversions. The only thing that didn't really work at all was attempting to import my tasks from Outlook into iCal. I ended up just re-entering them manually, since I only had a handful anyway.

Best of luck to you.

Oh, finally, if you're used to using, and like, Outlook, I would recommend taking a look at Thunderbird. I like it a lot better than Apple's Mail app, myself.

 

Guys,

You are saying that If I want to import all my Firefox
settings from Windows to Mac OS X all I need to do is....

1. Install Firefox on Mac
2. Copy all the files from my Windows Firefox folder to the
Mac folder?

Will this carry over all the favorites as well as plug-ins?

 

@NJ

Not exactly right on step 2. What you need to copy is your firefox profile folder (perhaps this is what you meant). It should be in C:\windows\documents and settings\application data\mozilla\firefox (or something like that--the folder is hidden by default).

If you copy and paste this over your profile folder on your mac install, it should import all of your settings (including bookmarks). The one odd thing that I found was that, for some reason, all my settings for extensions were imported, but not the actual extensions themselves. This wasn't a big issue, since I have only a handful of extensions that I use, but it may be more of a problem for you. I'm sure there's a way to import the actual extensions as well, but I didn't bother to try to find it (as long as my zotero library was imported, I'm happy. ).