Migrating Your Data Into Xubuntu

This chapter provides instructions on importing your data from Windows applications to the corresponding Xubuntu applications. The instructions assume that you will use the default collection of applications installed with Xubuntu and have followed the instructions in the the section called “Preparing to Switch” chapter.

Files

You will probably want to move your files into your Home folder. It is considered good practice to store all of your personal files (such as documents, pictures, music and the like) in your Home folder. Then, they are all in one easily-accessed location.

To access your Home folder, click PlacesUsername. You can create new folders inside your Home folder by clicking FileCreate Folder... or pressing Shift+Ctrl+N. The folders Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos have already been created by default and are located in your Home folder. Placing similar file types in the corresponding folders (i.e. Ogg Theora audio files, .oga, in the Music folder) will help to keep things organized and you will be able to find your files quicker and easier if they are categorized in this manner.

How you copy your files from Windows into your Home folder will depend on how you decided to store your files from Windows. See the section called “Transferring Your Data Safely” for more information on this. However you decided to store your files, the procedure for transferring them across is very simple. For a CD or DVD for example, you would use the following procedure:

  1. Insert the disc into the disc drive of your computer. After a short while, a disc icon should appear on your Desktop.

  2. Double-click the icon to view the contents of the disc.

  3. Ensure that your Home folder is open in another window by pressing PlacesUsername.

  4. In the window corresponding to the disc you inserted, click EditSelect all files. This will select all of the contents of the disc.

  5. Click EditCopy to make a copy of all of the selected files.

  6. In the window corresponding to your Home folder, click EditPaste to copy all of the files to your Home folder. If you have many files, this may take a long time.

  7. Once the copying process has finished, your files will be available to use as normal.

Importing Photos

Xubuntu does not include a powerful photo manager by default. However, you can install the F-Spot Photo Manager, which you can use to organize all of your photos.

  1. Open the Pictures folder by clicking PlacesPictures.

  2. Copy any photos you have into the Pictures folder.

  3. Install the F-Spot application

  4. Click ApplicationsGraphicsF-Spot Photo Manager to start F-Spot.

  5. The Import screen should be shown. If it is not, press FileImport... to show it.

  6. To prevent two copies of your photos from being stored, deselect the Copy file to the Photos folder.

  7. From Import source select the option Select Folder. Select the Pictures folder in your Home folder by clicking it once.

  8. Press Import to start the import process. Depending on how many photos you have, this may take a while.

Importing Music

Another useful application installed by default in Xubuntu is the Exaile. This allows you to organize and play all of your music.

  1. Open the Music folder by clicking PlacesMusic.

  2. Copy any music files you have into the Music folder.

  3. Click ApplicationsMultimediaExaile.

  4. Press the Add Music button or click EditCollection.

  5. In the Collection Manager window, click Add and choose the directory that contains your music files.

  6. Click Add again.

  7. Your selection will appear in the Collection Manager window. If you wish to add other locations of music files, click Add, otherwise, click Apply.

  8. Your music collection should be visible under the Collection tab.

  9. The import process may take a while depending on how many music files you have. Once finished, you can organize and play your music using Exaile.

See the section called “Music” for more information on using Exaile.

Exaile will alert you if it encounters a file it cannot play. In this case, it is likely that the file cannot be played because support for the audio format it uses is not currently installed. See the section called “Converting Unsupported Audio Formats” for more information on this.

Emails

If you saved your emails from Windows, you may now want to import them into the Mozilla Thunderbird mail client. The following instructions assume that you are importing emails exported using Mozilla Thunderbird, as described in the section called “Preparing Email For Export Using Thunderbird:

  1. Start Mozilla Thunderbird by clicking ApplicationsNetworkMozilla Thunderbird Mail/News.

  2. Select ToolsImport... to start the Import Assistant.

Contacts/Address Book

If you saved your address book from Windows, you can now import your contacts into Mozilla Thunderbird. The following instructions assume that you are importing the address book from Microsoft Outlook Express 6 or Microsoft Outlook 2002:

  1. Start Mozilla Thunderbird by pressing ApplicationsNetworkMozilla Thunderbird Mail/News.

  2. Select ToolsImport... to start the Import Assistant.

  3. Click Address Books and then press Next.

  4. Select the type of file you would like to import, then click Next, locate the file that you saved your address book into and select it. Press Open.

  5. From File type, select VCard (.vcf, .gcrd) or Outlook CSV or Tab (.csv, .tab), depending on which format you saved your address book into. Press Forward.

  6. Choose a location in which to save the contacts, such as On This ComputerPersonal.Press Next.

  7. Press Import to import the contacts into Mozilla Thunderbird. Once importing has completed, the imported contacts should be immediately available.

Browser Bookmarks/Favorites

If you saved the list of favorite web pages from the browser you used on Windows, you can now import them into the web browser available with Xubuntu. The following instructions are intended for users of the default Firefox Web Browser who are importing their favorites from Microsoft Internet Explorer 6. Please see the section called “Web Browser Bookmarks” for more information.

  1. Click ApplicationsNetworkFirefox Web Browser to start the Firefox Web Browser.

  2. Click BookmarksManage Bookmarks... to launch the Bookmark Manager.

  3. Click FileImport... and choose the From File option, then press Next.

  4. Find and select the file that you originally exported from Internet Explorer (see the section called “Web Browser Bookmarks”) and press OK.

  5. Your list of favorite web pages should be imported into Firefox.