# Import Previous Emails

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** planned
**Created:** [30 augustus 2018 om 19:47 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035 "2018-08-30T19:47:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![YoavNordmann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/yoavnordmann/32/125158_2.png) [@YoavNordmann](https://meta.discourse.org/u/YoavNordmann)
#### Post date: [30 augustus 2018 om 19:47 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/1 "2018-08-30T19:47:40Z")

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Is there a way to import older mails into discourse which hold discussions.

I have a lot of chain mails which contains valuable Q&A sessions. I want to import all of this data into discourse and make it searchable.

All of the mails or on gmail.

Thanks for the help

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### Author: ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [31 augustus 2018 om 00:38 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/3 "2018-08-31T00:38:14Z")

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Note, this is a feature we really want to get to. “Forward long email chain to Discourse and have it untangle it, staging users and creating multiple replies”, unfortunately it is a devilishly hard problem. We hope to make some progress here in the next 12 months.

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### Author: ![Cozdabuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/cozdabuch/32/139120_2.png) [@Cozdabuch](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Cozdabuch)
#### Post date: [5 september 2018 om 08:46 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/4 "2018-09-05T08:46:00Z")

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@sam We are waiting… 😉

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### Author: ![zogstrip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/zogstrip/32/512781_2.png) [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [18 september 2018 om 08:43 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/5 "2018-09-18T08:43:36Z")

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@YoavNordmann & @Cozdabuch, if you could send me ([regis.hanol@discourse.org](mailto:regis.hanol@discourse.org)) some (\< 10) of these email chains I would truly appreciate it. 👍

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### Author: ![Cozdabuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/cozdabuch/32/139120_2.png) [@Cozdabuch](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Cozdabuch)
#### Post date: [26 maart 2019 om 00:34 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/6 "2019-03-26T00:34:57Z")

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Regis,  
I didn’t ever see you replied till now. (Little late).  
Unfortunately I can’t forward any of our chains as they are internal discussions.

Have you had any luck with your work on the email chain importer?

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### Author: ![zogstrip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/zogstrip/32/512781_2.png) [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [27 maart 2019 om 16:51 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/7 "2019-03-27T16:51:53Z")

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Not yet, still on the pipe though 😉

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### Author: ![Cozdabuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/cozdabuch/32/139120_2.png) [@Cozdabuch](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Cozdabuch)
#### Post date: [25 oktober 2019 om 20:01 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/8 "2019-10-25T20:01:04Z")

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Pestering. Just pestering. Any word?

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### Author: ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [28 oktober 2019 om 06:47 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/9 "2019-10-28T06:47:30Z")

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Not there yet, we have IMAP support by @dan in progress which will unlock some of this.

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### Author: ![albtuz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/albtuz/32/181220_2.png) [@albtuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/albtuz)
#### Post date: [26 mei 2020 om 07:05 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/10 "2020-05-26T07:05:50Z")

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Hello!

Any luck with this email chain importer yet? 😃

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### Author: ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [26 mei 2020 om 07:28 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/11 "2020-05-26T07:28:45Z")

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IMAP is getting pretty close to merge, but it will take 2-3 month prior to being ready for usage at scale.

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### Author: ![Cozdabuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/cozdabuch/32/139120_2.png) [@Cozdabuch](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Cozdabuch)
#### Post date: [28 mei 2021 om 21:39 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/12 "2021-05-28T21:39:59Z")

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anything on the horizon?

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### Author: ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [1 juni 2021 om 06:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/13 "2021-06-01T06:58:25Z")

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IMAP is a very very long game. We have some basic implementation but there are just so many edge cases.

We are though making some good headway around allowing a group to have a dedicated outgoing email box.

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### Author: ![nathank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/nathank/32/290039_2.png) [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [24 juli 2024 om 06:06 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/import-previous-emails/96035/14 "2024-07-24T06:06:13Z")

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Revisiting this, I’m often finding myself part of email chains that would do much better in Discourse. Is this still on the radar (clearly IMAP didn’t fly).

Parsing them correctly would be jolly difficult. I’ve done the odd one myself manually, which is doable but tricky (especially with time).

I do wonder if a semi-automated process / plugin would do the job quite nicely. I’m thinking:

1. Title / Category
2. A date / time picker
3. A user selector which allows creation of staged users
4. Post text that can be copied in
5. The ability to add as many replies as needed with the same stuff

This then generates a topic / replies (without notifications) as a done deal.
