# Mbox importation, topic/thread creation + user accounts?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/mbox-importation-topic-thread-creation-user-accounts/132429
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [November 2, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mbox-importation-topic-thread-creation-user-accounts/132429 "2019-11-02T04:04:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mreach](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mreach)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mbox-importation-topic-thread-creation-user-accounts/132429/1 "2019-11-02T04:04:45Z")
I have a large mbox importation from Yahoo Groups to execute (there are around 100 .mbox.00xxx files to import). First, I believe I’m to use the `[import_scripts/mbox.rb](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/script/import_scripts/mbox.rb)` for this, correct?
Secondly, I need to somehow attribute these posts in the threads with users in the system. There are several thousand users and 99% of them have not yet created accounts in Discourse. What is the method by which to go about associating these emails to accounts? Do I need to create unactivated accounts first in some fashion and then import the messages to their threads?
Just wanting to get a comprehensive overview before I dig in here.
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### Author:  [@gerhard](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gerhard)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2019, 9:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mbox-importation-topic-thread-creation-user-accounts/132429/2 "2019-11-02T09:32:30Z")
You can follow [Migrate a mailing list to Discourse (mbox, Listserv, Google Groups, etc)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/importing-mailing-lists-mbox-listserv-google-groups-emails/79773). Existing users will be matched by email address. New users will be created for non-existent email addresses. You can merge users ([Rake task for merging users](https://meta.discourse.org/t/rake-task-for-merging-users/89086)) after the import if some users used different email addresses in your Yahoo Groups.
I recommend trying it out with a backup of your current forum.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2019, 9:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mbox-importation-topic-thread-creation-user-accounts/132429/3 "2019-12-02T09:33:55Z")
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