For the last 12 years or so I have been using Mozilla's Thunderbird application as my email reader. I was also using either OpenOffice or LibreOffice as my office suite. My boss finally got a subscription to the Microsoft Developer's network, meaning that we had access to multiple licenses for Office 2013, which includes Outlook 2013. Since some of the documents I must work with don't format correctly if they are opened in OpenOffice or LibreOffice, I decided to install Office 2013. Coinciding with that, I had a motherboard failure in my work laptop and was presented with a new one. I figured it was as good a time as any to convert to Outlook 2013, since I had been experiencing random freezes with Thunderbird.
Imagine my shock to find that Microsoft had made it all but impossible to import mail from any other mail program -- even Outlook Express. (That right there, I say that right there, is what we call sarcasm, son.)
I did find some commercial applications that claimed to be able to facilitate the conversion, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay $50 for something I'm going to use for less than an hour, ever. So I did what all good geeks do - I saved that $50 by spending $500 worth of my time looking for a free solution.
I didn't find one.
Not to be deterred, I did some thinking. And I came up with a way to move my email over, for free. I would just use GMail.
Here's how it goes:
Step 1: Get a throwaway GMail address.
Step 2: Make sure that your new GMail account has IMAP enabled. Go here and follow the prompts.
Step 3: Configure your GMail account in Thunderbird. You can find those instructions Here. There is also a good discussion of the relationship between Thunderbird folders and GMail Labels.
Step 4: For each folder of archived mail you have in your main Thunderbird account, create an identical folder in the GMail account in Thunderbird.
Step 5: Open each main Thunderbird folder and copy all emails to the corresponding folder in the GMail account. Since the GMail account is set up to use IMAP, when you copy those emails in they get mirrored up to your GMail account. It even preserves the original send date. Be sure the synchronization is complete before proceeding to Step 6.
Step 6: Configure your GMail account in Outlook 2013 and do a send/receive to download all of your email from GMail.
Step 7: Configure your main email account in Outlook 2013 and create your folders.
Step 8: Copy over the messages from your GMail account folders to your main email folders in Outlook.
Step 9: If you wish, you may remove your GMail account from Outlook and delete everything from your GMail account.
Step 10: Pour yourself a beer, buddy. You're done. For free.
Hi Friend,
ReplyDeleteWhen i was copying the emails from thunderbird to gmail as per step5, i got this error
===
Thunderbird
The current command did not succeed.
The mail server for account jaivije@gmail.com responded [ALERT]
Message too large.
http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?answe=8770.
===
Finally, i could succeed this outlook migration work. Thanks a lot for your help.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this post was helpful for you.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you can help with this, but here goes!
I was using Thunderbird, hosted by my old ISP. I migrated to a different hosting company (still using T'bird). Now, I have Outlook 2013, and I would really like to import all my old emails.
The problem I have is that since moving to another hosting company, the old emails are no longer available on the IMAP server. I have them backed up on my PC using Moz Backup.
Is there any way I can import these messages (and prevent them being deleted every time I synch emails with the server?)
Thanks in advance!
I really don't know about importing the messages into TB. I've never used Moz Backup.
Deletei had a good laugh at your $50 vs. $500 worth of time comment. i believe tech people are curious by nature and that's how we justify the expenditure of our for time such projects. we experiment, whether to feed our own curiousity (as 90% of tech work is repetitive drudgery) or maybe for the satisfaction of finding a solution while only using existing tools. that being said, i was quite happy to follow your steps rather than spending the time to reinvent something myself. your gmail IMAP solution worked great. thanks for doing the research and sharing.
ReplyDeletecheers,
randall
Glad I could bring a smile to your day. I do like to tinker, so spending $500 worth of my time to save $50 wasn't a total waste.
DeleteHi guys, well i read all the comments above and frankly speaking i was using a SysTools mbox converter for the same job coz i was not at all aware of any such process. I guess i am bit late & had already invested my more than $50. I used the term invested and not wasted as the tool is working great for me , i used it so many times and its reliable. So, happy to find one such great recommendable way out but my selection is also very much time savvy specially when data is in GB and TB's and you need to save item not just in outlook but in applications like windows live mail, windows mail, OE and msg formats too.
ReplyDeleteIf there is simple way to convert email from Thunderbird mail to outlook, why I follow lots of steps to get the same? I am totally agreed with John smith. This is my personal opinion to try this marvelous tool. I had converted 1000+ mails at once that were stunning for me and my organization.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this! I downloaded so many "free" programs to move my email and finally found this!
ReplyDeleteIs there a simple way to move contacts also?
Hi Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI didn't do any research on transferring contacts. It may be possible to export the address book into a format that could be imported into Outlook, but I just haven't tried it.
Hi
ReplyDeleteJust want to say thanks. I am glad there is someone else unwilling to spend 50 bucks for a one time use. Migration complete in about an hour.
Okay, Dunce here...So I have two mailboxes, Gmail AND Comcast.net mail. It seems this would only do the Gmail side? Am I correct?
ReplyDeleteDUD, never mind, I think I just figured out to cop my email from Comcast to the Gmail folder.
ReplyDeleteThis might work
For Thunderbird address books use DAWN. I worked really well once you get the hang of what it can do. Available on http://mysite.verizon.net/zakharin/software/Dawn/
ReplyDeleteheheheeheeeee, billons hours of money-time Jamey, jaaajaajaaa, i know what u'r talking about... I'll try soon your method in an entirelly big office..., i'll be back to comment about. Thx a lot for the humor. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteYour method worked great! I used an existing email account setup in TB with IMAP, copied the local emails to mirrored folders in that account, set up the email account in Outlook 2013 using IMAP, and then moved the email to the local folders in Outlook 2013. Didn't occur to me to transfer using IMAP. Clean and easy process. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteGlad people are finding this helpful.
ReplyDeleteSaved me $30 and was straight forward
ReplyDeleteCheers for the top tip
Running this right now in Outlook 365 (if you call it that). Mind you, this is set up by default to only synchronize the past 2 weeks! Took me some time to figure that out.
ReplyDeleteI was in the midst of trying to choose which program to buy when I came across your post!
ReplyDeleteI have a GMail account setup, and I am going to add it to Thunderbird, but I can't figure out how the messages stored in TB's Local Folders will move across as I cannot see how to even create folders in TB under an account. Maybe it will work with an IMAP account? The accounts I currently use in TB are all POP3.
If I remember correctly, you can add folders by right-clicking on the account name.
DeleteI would also like to suggest another third party tool to convert MBOX to PST files, which is well known as Kernel for MBOX to PST Converter that can easily transfer MBOX to Outlook PST files.
ReplyDeleteOne tool can do this job very easily. Get the tool from this link http://www.thunderbirdconverter.com/mail-to-outlook-migration.html
ReplyDeleteThank you Jamey Saunders, It works fine for me. :)
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteFor a quick conversion of Thunderbird data to Outlook, you can get some help from here http://www.free.convertmboxtopst.com/. It is very advanced MBOX to PST conversion software that easily saves Thunderbird emails to PST format.
Minor heads-up.... slash (/) is valid in a Thunderbird mailbox name... but not in IMAP... So save yourself some headaches by renaming any folders in Thunderbird to remove the slashes.
ReplyDeletealso > :-(
DeleteGood to know, Malcolm. I didn't have any TB mailboxes with slashes, so I wasn't aware of this.
DeleteAnd one final "gotcha" I hope.... Folder name contains two spaces together.... so... ABC[space]DEF copies OK... but ABC[space][space]DEF fails silently :-(
DeleteThank you for providing such essential information for Thunderbird to Outlook conversion. Recently I used an application to convert Thunderbird mail to Outlook PST format and found it very helpful. I would also suggest others to try free edition of the tool for taking an idea about the process.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great advise. Works a treat and forces me to clean up my mailbox at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to suggest here another tool, which is well known as MBOX to PST Converter. You can download a free download of this software from here...http://www.mozesoft.com/mbox-to-pst-converter.html
ReplyDeleteThis definitely works, and it's definitely free. I've had one problem, though, and that is that when the e-mails are through the pipeline and into Outlook, they now have the burner gmail account as the "from" account. Which kinda makes sense. The only thing, then, is to remember when replying to change the "from" address to one of the valid Outlook ones.
ReplyDeleteOh and I totally <3 Outlook 2013! It's been a very long time since I've used a Microsoft mail client, but this is so sweet.
DeleteMBOX file are supported by Open source of technology (Thunderbird, Postbox, Opera mail and many more) while PST file are supported by Outlook emails. To convert MBOX file to PST format,
ReplyDeleteUse: http://www.pcrecoveryutility.com/mbox-to-pst-converter.html
Downloaded three trial versions of different software before I found this post - thanks, saved me spending out on software I didn't need - much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteThe best way to deal with any kind of critical issue in Outlook users should make use of third party PST repair software as it is an ultimate solution to fix all kinds of PST file corruption issue with ease. For more info visit :http://www.pstrepairsoftw.com/
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA step by step guide to convert MBOX to PST
ReplyDeleteSince Converting MBOX file to PST file is quite tedious and time consuming task, but can be done easily with the help of third party tool. There are multiple Software available near you, but the problem is how to use them, so I would like to suggest you one of the best tool to convert MBOX file to PST within minutes. Go with “SysTools MBOX to Outlook Converter” for safe and efficient conversion.
Merci beaucoup. Tres helpful. I had trouble accessing the Gmail account through Outlook before (temporarily) setting this:
ReplyDelete"Allowing less secure apps to access your account":
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255?hl=en
Convert as well as to recover corrupt MBOX email file user can download advanced MBOX to PST converter software. Software easily converts MBOX file saved MBOX files of Thunderbird, Entourage, Spicebird, Netscape, Incredimail, ClawsMail, Pocomail, AppleMail, OperaMail, MozillaMail Eudora, Evolution, Sylpheed , Mulberry, SeaMonkey, etc. application to Outlook PST format. Software supports in all version of MS Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, etc. and also lets user to recover both MBOX/MBX files after corruption.
ReplyDeleteFor more detail visit: http://www.convertmbox2pst.com
Just spent my $500 of time (at least) trying to find a free way to accomplish this task. This is the ONLY free method (I could find) that still works, seven years after the original post. The drag-and-drop/export to PST method just gives you a folder full of EML files.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Switch Thunderbird emails to Outlook format with the help of a reliable solution i.e. ZOOK Thunderbird to Outlook Converter. It is the best tool to easily export the batch emails at once along with all the attachments embedded in it. It enables users to export both POP and IMAP Thunderbird profiles to Outlook format without any hassle.
ReplyDeleteExplore more details:- Thunderbird to Outlook Converter