Netscape 6.1 Profile Transfer from Mac OS 9.2.1 to Mac OS X

[chemistry_geek]

If you started using Netscape 6.1 in Mac OS 9.2.1 and then installed Netscape 6.1 for Mac OS X and would like to have EVERYTHING from the Mac OS 9 version in the Mac OS X version such as multiple email accounts (Inbox, Sent, and other folders you created), passwords for websites, bookmarks, essentially ALL preferences, etc... there is a way to do it, painlessly.

Startup in Mac OS X. Make sure Netscape 6.1 in Mac OS X is NOT running.

Here is the path for your Netscape 6.1 profile folder in Mac OS 9.2.1:

Macintosh HD/Documents/Mozilla/Users 50/[YOUR NAME HERE]/614oimb9.slt

NOTE: "Users 50" may be "Profiles" instead, and "614oimb9.slt" is the name of my user folder, yours will likely be different with an equally incomprehensible folder name. Perhaps AOL likes to make life interesting by having us imagine why these folders have the names they do. For some reason, I had two profiles in my Mozilla folder in Mac OS 9. Just "Get Info" to see which one was most recently accessed to choose the right one if you have the same situation. My Mac OS 9.2.1 is on a separate disk than my Mac OS X.

Here is the path for your Netscape 6.1 profile folder in Mac OS X:

[YOUR COMPUTER]/Mac OS X/Users/[YOUR USER NAME]/Library/Mozilla/Profiles/default/vc5qavi2.slt

NOTE: "vc5qavi2.slt" is the name of my user folder, yours will likely be different with an equally incomprehensible folder name.

BACKUP OR COPY your "Mozilla" folder from your Library (Mac OS X) to the Desktop or some other convenient location in the event you make a mistake. To do this, Option-Drag the "Mozilla" folder to a new location. This assumes you already have some email and bookmarks in Netscape 6.1 for OS X and that you might need them in the future, but most of your important stuff is really in Netscape 6.1 for Mac OS 9.2.1.

Next copy the CONTENTS of the folder "614oimb9.slt" (Mac OS 9) into the folder "vc5qavi2.slt" (Mac OS X). You will be REPLACING many files, continue to replace them all. You may have to resubmit your username to my.netscape.com assuming you have an account for a webpage at Netscape (local news, mutual funds, etc...) (I had to resubmit my username but everything else was there - no loss of data or settings).

Next time you launch Netscape 6.1 for Mac OS X all your Netscape 6.1 for Mac OS 9.2.1 preferences, bookmarks, email account settings are there.

THIS ASSUMES YOU ARE ABANDONING NETSCAPE 6.1 FOR MAC OS 9.2.1 FOR EMAIL. THE DATA/FOLDERS/PREFERENCES ARE NOT SHARED IN NETSCAPE 6.1 FOR MAC OS X AND MAC OS 9.2.1.

If you upgraded from Netscape Communicator 4.78 to Netscape 6.1 (Mac OS 9.2.1) like I did, Netscape 6.1 automatically transfers your profile to the new program. Netscape 6.1 for Mac OS X didn't do this for me so I had to find an easier way. I thought of this because it was such a pain in the ars to re-type all that information into a Netscape 6.1 for Mac OS X, so I decided to attempt the profile folder transfer. Apparently it works.

Enjoy!

Any suggestions welcome.

chemistry_geek

My FrankenMac: Blue & White PowerMac G3 computer, PowerMac G4 logic board (replacement), 500MHz IBM G3 (Copper), 768MB RAM, IBM 12GB UltraATA, IBM 18GB UltraSCSI, ATi Rage 128, Adaptec 2930 UltraSCSI Card, 100MB ZIP (ATAPI), External 100MB ZIP (SCSI), LaCie SCSI CD-RW, Logitech 3 button wheel mouse, Hewlett Packard DeskJet 970Cxi printer, Hewlett Packard ScanJet 5300Cxi Scanner.