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Somebody_Else
New member
Status: Not right now

Hi

I recently upgraded my Thunderbird client to v102.
The calendar export options have changed and when reviewing the Release Notes I note in the "Changed"
- Support for importing and exporting calendars from Outlook CSV format was removed

This has significantly impacted my usage. This is where my timesheets are created / stored.
This format is excellent for further analysis and billing tools.
To use html or ics is very limiting and problematic for such purposes.

From what I have found online, all ics to csv convertible tools are a extremely poor substitute

Can this be reversed or can someone suggest an add-on to remedy this situation ?

Thanks

20 Comments
Somebody_Else
New member

1) Customised cells to yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss
The csv export generates a T (after the date) and Z (after the time)
Excel does not recognise the date/time format.
I will have to do a find/replace to clear out those letters.

2) Another problem, the NOTES are exported as HTML.
So I am not required to convert to a html to text converter.
https://www.webtoolhub.com/tn561393-html-to-text-converter.aspx

TBH not a great "out of the box" solution.
Reinstating the Thunderbird csv export is preferred.

asbopardikar
New member

I have used some formulas in Excel and got this result, check it suitable for you. 

asbopardikar_0-1665040650308.png

 

Simon-M
Strollin' around

Hi

I have the same problem. I need the csv expot like it was in former times.

Please but it back in!!!

The solution with these ics konverters is not a good thing. I don't whant to let the data run in a onlineplatform.

Thanks

JoD
New member

I agree, please bring back the calendar to csv export capability in TB v102 on the Mac.  I use this capability to analyze data from scheduling up to 30 different baseball teams to avoid conflicts.  This is a nightmare if done manually.

heccccc
New member

I cannot effing believe you removed the proper export, csv. This was the main reason to use this calendar feature, please put it back!

Jaxom_99
New member

I also concurr to the thread : please bring back this function, or provide a functionnal workaround for us users.

Maybe another developper would be interested in providing such a tool, released as FLOSS? The needed pieces of code/software are laying around, but a professionnal may forge them into a functionning tool 😄 I open a pad to gather suggestions (and maybe funding ?) : https://md.metanum.fr/YSQ5vecySPOcryMl7_JmYw#

rodspencer
New member

I don't know, why a good working function gets deleted for no reason.

Please bring back import and export csv function. I need it for easily sending and importing appointments for my non-profit association. Hope this is possible in some of the next version.

Alpacaman
New member

I couldn't find a suitable tool, so decided to use an AI (ChatGPT) for a solution. I knew that it was possible using sed or awk, so formulated the query below:

"i need a script (e.g. sed) to replace all occurrences of the letter T in between groups of two digits bounded by a dash (-) at the start and a colon (:) at the end (e.g. -05T15:30:) with a comma (,)"

ChatGPT came straight back with a suggested sed command, which I then fine-tuned into the following:

# Replace stray 'T's in each line with a comma:

sed -E 's/(-[0-9]{2})T([0-9]{2}:)/\1,\2/g' input_file > output_file

# Remove stray 'Z's in each line:

sed -E 's/(00)Z/\1/g' input_file > output_file

Simply change the file names to suit and Bob's your uncle!

jwq
New member

> I don't know, why a good working function gets deleted for no reason.

Bug 1226851 (reported 2015-11-21; actioned 2021-08-14) answers this question: someone thought that "known limitations" of the export were sufficient reason to remove this feature. This was mis-read in that bug as "broken". There were no comments pointing out that CSV export/import has much wider utility than interoperability with Outlook.

Commit 2f14d5c8 to comm-central shows the code changes.

Bug 1802813 (reported 2022-11-27) was summarily closed on 2022-11-30 on the basis that "there's plenty of resources on how to convert them to CSV via Google" and "We're not planning to add CSV export at this time."

It appears that the comments here are not being received by Thunderbird employees.

Status changed to: Not right now
wsmwk
Thunderbird Team
Thunderbird Team

 

At this time, there is not a plan to bring this capability back to Thunderbird, but thank you for all the information and interest.  I have added the helpful information to https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1802813#c2.

It is certainly possible that this could change in the future. And please continue to vote and add new information to this topic that might other users.