How can I import an evolution email directory onto a new computer?

Question

I have a backup of the hard drive of a system that got messed up and could no longer load a window manager. I'm trying to import the data from it to a new computer, and I am stuck at the point of making evolution work. I tried rsyncing the data into place in .local/share/evolution but it doesn't appear to be recognized on the new system. I know evolution normally has a nice backup procedure available, however I don't have access to the original install to make that work.

The version of evolution I'm using is 3.8.4. I don't for sure know what version the old one was, but it would've been quite recent.

Can anyone suggest a process for getting access to this email data?

Answer 1

I am working with Evolution 3.22.6 on Kubuntu 16.10. I transfered data\settings from close version of Evolution on Kubuntu 16.04 LTS.

First, install Evolution itself.

Second, copy folders /home/%user%/.local/share/evolution/, /home/%user%/.cache/evolution/ and /home/%user%/.config/evolution/ from old user folder to new.

This got me all of my mails and setting besides my IMAP account password.

Answer 2

Evolution has an "import" feature (in the file menu) that you can use in this case. Your .local/share/evolution folder should contain a bunch of .mbox files and the like that can be imported.

Also, I think you could find this thread on the Ubuntu forums useful.

Answer 3

I found an old properly exported backup. I tried importing it, and then rsyncing the directory structure overtop to get the most up to date emails. This turned out to work, but it's definitely not a thing I'd rely on.