Streetsblog.net

LS Groups Migration Instructions > Google Groups

These instructions are for people who would like to move information from a Livable Streets Group mailing list to a Google Group.

1. Navigate to the mailing list by clicking on "Discussions" and then choose the list you want to migrate.
2. Click on the new "Export" link.  See screenshot.
3. Then click on the button "Export as mbox" to get a mailbox file containing all messages from the list.
4. Click on "Export as CSV" to get the list of the mailing list subscribers in a csv file.

1. Go to Google Groups and login with a Google account.
2. Click on "Create…" to create a new group.
3. Fill out the details for your group.  We recommend you that you give your group a "Restricted" Access level to minimize your risk of getting spam.
4. When you’re prompted to invite members to your group, click on "Add members directly". See screenshot. (If you "Invite members" instead, people will have to respond to the invitation to be added.)
5. Open up your csv file in a text editor and copy the contents into the space for email addresses.
6. Write a welcome message to let your subscribers know about this migration and then click "Add members".
7. Now, in your new group, click on "Group Settings" and go to the "Advanced" tab.
8. In the section "Use Google Groups to manage a remote archive" click on "This group is hosted by another mailing list host".
9. Enter your email address into the box in (2) and then copy the address in (3) to use later.
10. Then click "Save Changes".
11. Next, in "Group Settings", click on the "Email delivery" tab.
12. Enter the subject prefix as "[your group name]" and then click "Save Changes".  This will format the subject lines to your messages in the same way they were on Livable Streets Groups.

1. In Mail, click on the menu "File" and then "Import mailboxes…".
2. For the option "Import data from:" click on "Files in mbox format".
3. Import your file and then find the new folder in the "Import" folder.  Click on the newly imported folder to make sure all the messages are there.
4. Now go to the "Mail" menu and click on "Preferences…" and then click on "Rules".
5. Add a new rule that redirects to the email address you saved when you set up the Google Group: See screenshot.
6. When you click "OK", Mail will ask you if you want to apply your rules to the selected mailboxes. If you’re sure that your newly imported mailbox is selected, click "Apply". If Mail doesn’t prompt you to apply this rule to your selected mail folder, select all the messages in that folder and then click the menu "Message" and "Apply Rules."
7. All your old messages should be imported into your new Google Group within a few minutes. If you have more messages, it will take longer. Please note, the messages from your archive may not appear in
   chronological order.
8. Once this is done, go to the "Group settings", "Advanced" tab again on your Google Group and uncheck the box "This group is hosted by another mailing list host" then "Save Changes".
9. Also go and delete the rule from your Mail client. This should be done promptly to prevent any of your incoming mail from being redirected to the Group.