My company finally made the switch to Google Apps. I have been using Outlook for the last few years to access my email from a FirstClass server and upgraded to Outlook 2011 a few months ago. I love the Google Email interface so now it’s time to ditch Outlook completely. Unfortunately there isn’t a direct import utility from Outlook 2011 to GMail or Google Apps so I combined a few. Here’s  how:

1. Download, install and run EagleFiler (Free 30-day trial/$40 to buy)
2. Close the how-to guide.
3. Create a new library in EagleFiler called Outlook Export (name doesn’t matter)
4. In Outlook, select the emails you want to import (use ⌘-A) and then press F1 (Fn-F1 for most Mac keyboards)
5. Let EagleFiler do it’s work. If you have Growl, you will see notifications as it processes the email into mbox format.
6. Repeat step 4 for all of the folders you want to import
7. Open Mac Mail and setup a dummy account if you don’t already have one
8. In Mac Mail – select File - Import Mailboxes and select Files in mbox format and select Continue
9. Browse to the location that you created your EagleFiler Library (mine was in Documents:Outlook Export) and select the Outlook Export Folder and Choose
10. After a bit of Searching for data… you will receive an Import box allowing you to select the folders you want to import. Check the ones you want and click Continue
11. Google makes it easier to get from Mac Mail to GMail by using the Google Email Uploader Mac. Go get, install and run it.
12. Google Email Uploader Mac will detect the Mac Mail account automatically. Enter your credentials for GMail or Google Apps.
13. Make sure you have Apple Mail selected and clock Import

It took me about 3-hours to upload 9500 messages but it worked. Special thanks to C-Command software for making a great product. I wish there was a donate button on their site so I could shell a few bucks their way for making this possible.

I am continuing my automation work with folder actions and applescript and had a desire to be able to email from the new Mac Office 2011 using Outlook. There are several examples for how to do it with Entourage but the syntax has changed regarding mail to recipients. Without further delay, here is a working script:

Source code

tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
	set newMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {subject:"Hooray for automation"}
	make new recipient at newMessage with properties {email address:{name:"Jim Shank", address:"jim.shank@example.com"}}
	open newMessage
end tell

After hours of searching, I finally came across this fantastic example from Bobby Kansara at Microsoft. Thanks to the early adopters and beta testers.

Here is a little script that I adapted that allows you to assign a Folder Action that uploads anything you add to that folder to Google Docs. Here’s how:

1. Download google-docs-upload
2. Create the script below in /Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/transfer – Google Docs.scrp
3. Right-click on a folder in finder and select Folder Actions Setup…
4. Select the script and you are good to go!
5. Now anything you put in that folder will be uploaded to Google docs!

Source code

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
	repeat with aFile in added_items
		do shell script "java -jar /Users/OSX_USERNAME/Library/Scripts/google-docs-upload-1.3.2.jar " & quoted form of POSIX path of aFile & " --skip-all -u EMAIL_ADDRESS_FOR_GOOGLE_DOCS -p PASSWORD >> /Users/OSX_USERNAME/Library/Scripts/GDocs-upload-log.txt"
		end repeat
end adding folder items to

The script as-is will upload to your root folder in Google Docs, however, by adding the –remote-folder switch, you can specify where you want it to be. You could create a number of different scripts for different destinations.

Happy Birthday Angel!