Thunderbird 2.0 beta2 spotlight integration

[enekoarriaga]

Hi,

There is a report at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=290057 complete with an spotlight .mdimporter and indication of how to modify thunderbird's .plist so that Thunderbird 2.0 beta2 mails can be integrated in Spotlight results.

You might want to start by reading comment 93 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=290057#c93

I have managed to copy the .mdimporter to the Library but can't find the key that needs to be edited in the current thunderbird .plist or in the new .plist for Thunderbird available in the bugzilla report.

Has anybody managed to get it to work? Can someone simplify the instructions to enable the integration?

I think this would make for a great hint in the main website. I can see in the forums there are a lot of members using Thunderbird so I think getting this to work will useful to many.

Thanks very much,

Eneko

[wilfried]

I would love to find out also...

[rathlin]

The following seems to give working spotlight integration for Thunderbird.

1. Install Thunderbird 2 RC 1 (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20359). I installed over TB 1.5 and it created the necessary mozmsgs folders for all my existing email folders. The mozmsgs folders hold individial copies of all folder messages.

2. Install the mozilla mdimporter (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=253622) into \library\spotlight.

3. Under ThunderBird Preferences - Advanced - General - Config Editor. Set mail.spotlight.enable to true.

4. I then rebooted. You can verify that the mdimporter is registered with /usr/bin/mdimport -L.

It takes some time to index. You can check the Activity Monitor for mdimport activity.

I did have some TB crashes while trying to access spotlight search results but after a couple of hours all messages did seem to have been indexed.

So. It works. Hallelujah.

Well done to those that worked on this. Universal thanks will no doubt follow.

[Massachute]

When I click on the e-mail message title in Spotlight, it opens Thunderbird, but Thunderbird does not take me to the relevant message. Should it? Is there something else I should set within Thunderbird?

Otherwise, all Spotlight is doing for me is saying "yes, the message exists" but I must still use search within Thunderbird to actually open it.

[Massachute]

This does seem to be a real bug, and is being discussed at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=290057

[dgcassidy]

I've installed Thunderbird 2.0 (final version) but it hasn't created "mozmsg" folders for all my mail, only some. Granted, I have a LOT of mail in Thunderbird, so I'm thinking that it's just taking its time. Is the "mozmsg" conversion process documented anywhere?

[stevebr]

Last I checked, in order to get Spotlight queries to work with IMAP in Mail.app required caching everything locally, thus defeating one of the biggest reason I use IMAP in the first place.

How does Thunderbird's Spotlight support work WRT caching & IMAP? I realize that it's unlikely to be able to index the body of messages without a local copy, but are headers still available to Spotlight or is it all-or-nothing like Mail.app? Not seeing anything on this in the linked Bugzilla report.

Also, Massachute: You may need to set the .mozeml files to open with Thunderbird: see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=290057#c61

[Massachute]

Also, Massachute: You may need to set the .mozeml files to open with Thunderbird: see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=290057#c61

No, they are set to do that, and Thunderbird opens. It's just that nothing happens next -- the message itself does not open.

[marcthouvenin]

Did someone finaly find a way to open display email by opening mozeml files in Thunderbird?

Marc

[spunkybart]

I am a new Mac user -- 10.5 is my first version of the Mac OS. I use Thunderbird 2.0.0.9.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to get Spotlight to bring Tbird emails into the search results, even though I have followed the instruction on downloading the importer and changing the Tbird preference to enable Spotlight integration.

Tbird is definitely creating mozeml files, and the importer is listed along with the other importers when I do an "ls" in Terminal.

I've also tried re-creating the Spotlight indexes (can't remember the Terminal command), and Spotlight dutifully reindexed after I restarted the machine.

But still no joy in the search results.

I was wondering if this is working for anybody else in 10.5?

[Las_Vegas]

Unless Thunderbird supplies a Spotlight plugin, Spotlight won't add it to the index. Did you try the above solution?

[bgrieder]

The integration is not as clean a the one with Mail.app bu at least, spotlight returns results on my emails.

My environment is: Leopard+TB 2.0 and 2 IMAP accounts (on GMail) with local synchronization of some folders.

Here is what I did

1- follow all the steps above (mdimporter install, spotlight activation in TB, etc...)

2- shutdown Thunderbird if running

3- create a Directory called Thunderbird.emails under Documents in your home directory

4- copy the ImapMail (and Mail for local email) folders found in ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxxx.default/ to you newly created Thunderbird.emails directory. To save space, you can try a move but you are on your own. I have not tried a simple symbolic link, but this may work.

5- restart ThunderBird

6- for each account, in Account Preferences, Server Parameters change the local folder to the new corresponding folder under your Thunderbird.emails directory

7- restart Thunderbird and make sure it works

8- after a while, mails should appear under the Documents entry of the spotlight search window

9- delete the ImapMail (and Mail) folders in ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxxx.default/


Bruno