2
Export Mail from Thunderbird to Microsoft Outlook
There is no default export feature in the application
2
Export Mail from Thunderbird to Microsoft Outlook
There is no default export feature in the application
1
Note: This approach definitely is not for the weak-hearted, though it is not as hard as it may seem at first. It does require some (guided) command line inputs and a basic understanding of troubleshooting, as there are some (minor) parameters that could go wrong and that then would need either common sense or a quick online search.
As far as I can see, there is nothing in this answer that could prove harmful to your e-mails: If, at some point, you decide that it is too hard for you, take a deep breath, read through the whole answer twice, and see if you can do it, then. If you still think it is too hard, then you can abort the process at any given point and/or uninstall any suggested programs - and not a single one of your mails will be missing.
I want to share my solution with the latest version of Thunderbird (52.9.1) and Microsoft Office Outlook 2016 to get local mails (received via POP3 by Thunderbird) into a .PST
-file (so POP3 on Outlook, too).
Basically, it uses an IMAP-server of your choice as an intermediate storage for your e-mails. I tried to automate the process as much as possible, while making it as reliable as possible. It still is a semi-manual process that takes some time (around 1 hour for 20 folders and 15 000 mails / 2.5 GiB), but in my experience, it works very reliably, it does not harm your existing e-mails, and it is still using free, mostly open-source tools.
Add-Ons
, press the cogwheel-button and select Install xpi
. Select the .xpi
-file, restart Thunderbird.ImportExportTools -> Export Folder
. You can select multiple folders at once. Note: I did choose to export in a non-recursive fashion because recursive files gave me problems later on with their encoding.mail.local
) that also neds to be set in your hosts
-file. Then, add an account to the domain, set your domain as default, maybe increase the size limit, and disable auto-ban.python .\imap-upload.py .\INBOX --gmail
for Gmail or --host=mail.local --user=YOUR_USER@mail.local --password=YOUR_PASSWORD
for your local IMAP server. You can also play around with --box
and add folders for each folder-file. Please note that if you want to keep your folder structure, you either have to use the --box
parameter or you will have to upload one file at a time, then go to the next step, then go back to this step, repeat..PST
-file (if you do not have one already) and set up and link your mail.local
-account to it. If you used --box
, use IMAP, else use POP3. Both the POP3 and the SMTP address are mail.local
. Set it up to delete the e-mails from the server after downloading them.
Send/Receive
and wait until all e-mails are downloaded. Then, move them to a new folder (if necessary).Send/Receive
and wait. Then, you can drag'n'drop the folders to your local mailbox.0
There is also the MBOX to PST Converter and reportedly you can use Mailstore Home for this as well. I haven't tried them, though.
It looks like you put a lot of effort into perfecting this, so kudos. But it doesn't look like a very practical solution for your average user. Just sayin'. – fixer1234 – 2018-07-17T23:10:37.413
1
@fixer1234 For your average computer user, this is most certainly true. They might be better of paying a fee for some program (or hoping the trial works well) or using another new e-mail client in the first place. But for everyone that is a bit above-average (i.e. people brave enough to at least try command line tools), this might be a no-brainer compared to the 60$-ish programs you find in your favorite search engine that won't do the task any better (or so I think). The biggest problem I faced was to get from "use IMAP" to a reliable process.
– flolilo – 2018-07-18T00:37:35.2601@fixer1234 I added a header to warn/inform users of the needed experience - and also motivate them to try it, still, as I still think that getting something for free while having the ability to learn something is a nice way to spend your evening. ;-) – flolilo – 2018-07-18T17:23:40.407