ARCHIVED: In Mac OS or Mac OS X, how do I import my Pine address book into Outlook Express or Entourage?

Note: Pine is not available on any central UITS systems. UITS does not support the use of Pine at Indiana University.

Note: The software discussed here is no longer in common use at IU, and UITS may no longer be able to verify this text's accuracy; additionally, the UITS Support Center may no longer have the materials needed to adequately support this software.

There is no easy way to import a Pine address book into Outlook Express or Entourage, but it is possible. The following instructions explain how to convert a Pine address book into something Outlook Express or Entourage can import. This procedure does not work for distribution lists, only nicknames for single addresses. For other solutions, see How do I convert my email address book into a format used by another email program?

Note: In this document, <Tab> represents the Tab character. It is not meant to be written out literally.

Use an FTP program like Transmit or Fetch and connect to your account.

In your home directory, you will see a file named .addressbook. Download this file to your computer. Then open your Pine address book file in a text editor like TextEdit, SimpleText, BBEdit, or Alpha, and make the following changes, depending on which version of Outlook Express or Entourage you are using.

Outlook Express 5.x or Entourage

• Remove any entries for distribution lists. It takes so much work to import them correctly that it would be faster to simply re-enter them manually into Outlook Express or Entourage.
  
  
• If you have set a separate "Fcc:" field for an entry, remove it.
  
  
• Pine separates each field with a Tab, but stores the first and last name in a single field (the "full name"). Outlook Express and Entourage expect the first and last names to be in separate fields. Therefore, you must modify each entry so that the full name is separated by a Tab character into the first name and last name, for example: Luke<Tab>Skywalker
• Pine stores comments for each entry in an indented line directly below it. For Outlook Express or Entourage to recognize the comment, it must be on the same line as the entry. Put the comment on the same line as the rest of the entry, with a Tab separating the comment from the last field, for example: han<Tab>Han<Tab>Solo<Tab>hsolo@rebel.org<Tab>Scoundrel!
• There should be no empty lines. Outlook Express and Entourage improperly interpret empty lines as empty address book entries.
  
  
• There should be only one Tab between each field.
  
  Note: Even if a field does not have a value, it still exists. For example, an entry that has the first, but not the last, name recorded would look like this: yoda<Tab>Yoda<Tab><Tab>yoda@jedicouncil.org
• On the first line of the address book, you need to create a header entry that tells Outlook Express or Entourage what is in each field. Make it look like this: Nickname<Tab>First Name<Tab>Last Name<Tab>Email Address 1<Tab>Notes If you don't have any comments in your address book, you can leave off the last <Tab>Notes field.

The address book file should look something like the following:

Once you have made your changes, save the document. You're now ready to import it into Outlook Express or Entourage as follows:

1. Launch Outlook Express or Entourage and, from the File menu, select Import... .
   
   
2. An Import window will open. What you do next differs slightly between Outlook Express 5 and the version of Entourage that you are using:
   
   
   • If you are using Entourage v.X or 2004, click the radio button next to Import information from a text file. Click the right-facing blue arrow to continue to the next step, then click the radio button next to Import contacts from a tab- or comma-delimited text file. Click the right-facing blue arrow to go to the next step.
     
     
   • If you are using Entourage 2001, click the radio button next to Import information from a text file, then click the radio button next to Import contacts from a tab- or comma-delimited text file. Click the right-facing blue arrow to go to the next step.
     
     
   • If you are using Outlook Express 5, click the radio button next to Import contacts from a text file. Click the right-facing blue arrow to go to the next step.
   
   
3. A dialog box will appear. Find the Pine address book file you just modified, then click the Open or Import button.
   
   
4. If you did everything correctly, the "Import Contacts" box should contain the correct information for the first entry on your list in the appropriate fields on the left. Click the Open or Import button.
   
   
5. If the import is successful, click the Finish button in the next window that appears. Your Outlook Express or Entourage address book should now be updated with the information in your Pine address book.

Outlook Express 4.x

• Remove any entries for distribution lists.
  
  
• For each entry, remove its information in the "Nickname:", "Fcc:", and "Comment:" fields. All you should have left for each entry is the full name and the email address.
  
  
• Pine separates each field with a Tab, but stores the first and last name in a single field (the "full name"). Outlook Express expects the first and last names to be in separate fields. Therefore, you must modify each entry so that the full name is separated by a Tab character into the first name and last name, for example: Luke<Tab>Skywalker
• There should be no empty lines. Outlook Express improperly interprets empty lines as empty address book entries.
  
  
• There should be only one tab between each field.
  
  Note: Even if a field does not have a value, it still exists. For example, an entry that has the first, but not the last, name recorded would look like this: Yoda<Tab><Tab>yoda@jedicouncil.org
• On the first line of the address book, you need to create a header entry that tells Outlook Express what is in each field. Make it look like this: First Name<Tab>Last Name<Tab>Email Address

The address book file should look something like the following:

Once you have made your changes, save the document. You're now ready to import it into Outlook Express, as follows:

1. Launch Outlook Express. From the File menu, select Import, and then choose Contacts... .
   
   
2. In the dialog box that appears, select the Tab-Delimited Text File checkbox. Deselect any of the other checkbox choices. Click the OK button.
   
   
3. In the resulting dialog box, find the Pine address book file you just modified, then click the Open button.
   
   
4. If you did everything correctly, your Outlook Express address will be updated with the information in your Pine address book.

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