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How2 Import .PST Files in Thunderbird

To import emails from an Outlook .pst file into Thunderbird or another email client on Windows: 1. Install Thunderbird and make Outlook the default email client. 2. Copy the .pst file to the computer and configure Outlook to use it. 3. Use Thunderbird's import tool to import emails, settings, and contacts from Outlook. Alternatively, there are tools that can directly convert a .pst file into the standard mbox format for use in Thunderbird or other clients without requiring Outlook.

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120 views2 pages

How2 Import .PST Files in Thunderbird

To import emails from an Outlook .pst file into Thunderbird or another email client on Windows: 1. Install Thunderbird and make Outlook the default email client. 2. Copy the .pst file to the computer and configure Outlook to use it. 3. Use Thunderbird's import tool to import emails, settings, and contacts from Outlook. Alternatively, there are tools that can directly convert a .pst file into the standard mbox format for use in Thunderbird or other clients without requiring Outlook.

Uploaded by

Nilesh Jadhav
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to import outlook .

pst file to thunderbird or other email client

Import .pst files (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Import_.pst_files)


This article was written for Thunderbird but also applies to Mozilla Suite / SeaMonkey (though some menu sequences
may differ).

Microsoft Outlook .pst files use a proprietary format. Thunderbird not only doesn't understand that format, it has no idea
that .pst files even exist. Thats why there is no import command that lets you browse to the location of a .pst file.

Normally you import the contents of a .pst file by setting Outlook as the default email client, and then use Tools ->
Import -> Mail within Thunderbird. Thats makes SimpleMAPI calls to Outlook, which returns the contents of the personal
folders (.pst) file. See this article for information on how to import from more than identity. If some of the messages aren't
imported correctly a common workaround is to import the messages into Outlook Express, and then import the messages
from Outlook Express into Thunderbird.

If you are running Windows there are several mail conversion utilities that support importing .pst files. However, they actually
make SimpleMAPI calls just like Thunderbird does. If you just have the .pst file (and can't install Outlook on the PC) you
could:

1. Install Thunderbird on another PC that has a compatible version of Outlook.

2. Make Outlook the default email client.


3. Copy the outlook.pst file to that PC and configure Outlook to use it. (may need to be in the default location)
4. Compact the .pst file using Outlooks File -> Data File Management commands to permanently get rid of any
deleted messages. Don't confuse this with compressing or zipping a file.
5. Import the messages using Tools -> Import -> Mail. You can use Tools -> Import to also import the settings and
address books.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 as necessary for any other .pst files.
7. Backup the Thunderbird profile. Mozbackup is a useful tool to do that.
8. Restore the Thunderbird profile on your PC.
9. Cleanup. (Uninstall Thunderbird on the PC with Outlook etc.)

What type/version of .pst file and what version of Outlook you are using matters. You normally can't open an Outlook
2003 .pst file (it defaults to Unicode) in Outlook 2002 (which only supports ANSI). You could export it as a Outlook 2002
compatible .pst file in Outlook 2003 using the File, New, Outlook Data File command, and then choose Outlook 97-
2002 Personal Folders File (.pst) as the storage type.

Outlook doesn't care what the folders names are since it stores all of the folders within a .pst file. Thunderbird however
stores all of the messages for each folder in a file named after the folder, so if you use characters in a folder name that
are invalid filename characters it can cause problems. If you get an error message about Thunderbird being unable to
create a folder you may need to rename all folders to use 7-bit alphabetical ASCII characters and try again. Another
possibility is that you had two child folders with the same name under two different parent folders. Rename one of the
child folders.

Thunderbird has no concept of Outlook identities or profiles so it only imports from the default identity or profile. If you
have multiple identities or profiles you need to set one as the default, import it using Thunderbird, and then repeat.

If you still have Outlook installed on a windows machine and your latest emails are in outlook, try the following:

1. Download and install Thunderbird Email Client for Windows:


http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/
2. When you load it up it will ask if you want to import mail from other applications. Guess what - you say yes!
3. Open up Thunderbird and see you all emails have transferred ok.
4. Close Thunderbird and go to your Profile folder to grab the .msf and other files with the same name as your
email folders. This is explained in more detail here:
http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/faq#q2.10
5. Copy those files over to your Linux box (say with a USB memory stick).
6. In Evolution select File -> Import -> Forward, Import a single file, Forward -> Browse.
7. Find the files with your foldernames, but no extension ("Inbox", "Family" etc).
8. If the file is the correct type it will automatically select "Berkley mbox format" and you're ready to go.

there's a tool written for converting .PST files to a standard .mbox format, which is accessible by things like
Thunderbird. It's called O2M (Outlook to Mac), it's $10.00 shareware, and it worked flawlessly for me when
I switched. From the Thunderbird FAQ:
How do I export e-mail messages to another mail program or computer?

Thunderbird's mail files are in the standard plain text "mbox" format, which almost all mail programs can
use or import. Many proprietary mail programs have a function to import from Eudora, which also uses the
"mbox" format; this function should read your Mozilla mail files properly.

Your mail files are inside your profile (see the Profile Folder), in the Mail and (if you use IMAP) ImapMail
folders. Each mail folder (Inbox, Sent, etc.) is stored as two files one with no extension (e.g. INBOX),
which is the mail file itself (in "mbox" format), and one with an .msf extension (e.g. INBOX.msf), which is
the index (Mail Summary File) to the mail file. Tell the other program to import mail from the file with no
extension.

If you want to transfer a mail file to another Mozilla profile or another installation of Mozilla, simply put the
mail file into the other installation's Mail folder.
It's a long way around, but it's cheap / free, no limitations, and quicker download than the Office 2007
demo. Hope this helps!
posted by ZakDaddy at 6:24 PM on May 2, 2007

mozilla has an excellent article on converting pst to mbox


Import .pst files - MozillaZine Knowledge Base
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Import_.pst_files
There is also some excellent tools and ways to do it on this page he has all sorts of mailbox conversion tools
on there

Mark Lyon's GMail Loader (GML) - Import Your Mail into GMail
http://marklyon.org/gmail/gmailapps.htm

If you are just sold on outlook and don't want to use thunderbird you can use outlook express to import
mbox files and than move them into outlook 2000 or use a tool to convert your mbox file to a more
compatible pst

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