Scribe Import/Export

People often ask about getting mail/contacts into and out of Scribe, so I thought I'd put together a rough FAQ on how to do just that. Scribe supports some of the modern/common mail programs data formats and also the standard formats. I'll describe both general and specific cases for importing/exporting.

Scribe's import/export system is moving towards a drag and drop approach for files that the user can find easily. So if you have a file you'd like to get into Scribe that the general principle is to drop it onto the right sort of folder. If the file contains email then you should drop it on a folder of email... likewise if the file contains a contact then drop it on a folder of contacts.

Scribe internally understands the format of data by it's MIME type. When data doesn't have a MIME type, Scribe tries to work out what that MIME type is. Under windows this is done by looking at the extension on the file. Under Linux it's done by passing the file to the "file(1)" command and parsing the result. Under BeOS it just asks for the filesystem meta data on the file (gee it's just so much easier on BeOS). To this end you should be aware that an incomming file's extension is important and should be correct, esp. on windows.

You can use Scribe's ability to convert it's own native object into a file by dropping the object onto an application that accepts files to attach objects to an email. Just create a new mail, and drop the object onto the mail window. This attaches the object to the email as an attachment. It also works in reverse, drag an attachment from and email onto the appropriate folder in Scribe and the file will be imported. This is a great way to send information from one Scribe user to another.

MBOX - Mail Folder Format
Extension: .mbx (or .mbox)
Mime Type: text/mbox
Scribe can read/write the universally recognised MBOX mail format. Imported data will appear as a list of email created in the folder you dropped the file on. If you drop a folder from Scribe onto an application expecting a file (like Explorer) then the folder will be converted into a MBOX file. This may take some time so a progress dialog will tell you the conversion is taking place. Just hold the mouse button down until the conversion is complete and then drop it on the target application.
vCard - Contact/Address Book Format
Extension: .vcf
Mime Type: text/x-vcard
vCard files can be dropped onto Contact folders to import. Contacts can be dragged to an application expecting a file to export as vCard.
iCalendar - Calendar Entry Format
Extension: .ics (or .vcs)
Mime Type: text/calendar
iCalendar files can be dropped on the Calendar folder to import. Also a Calendar entry can be dropped on an application expecting a file to export in iCalendar format.
Outlook Scribe can accept Mail and Contact objects dropped from Outlook. Also you can import from a MAPI profile by using Tools->Outlook(MAPI).
Outlook Express Scribe can accept Mail and Contact objects dropped from Outlook Express.