How to convert Outlook to Thunderbird easily?

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Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird are two emerging email clients of today’s time. There are several circumstances when users need to change their email client. The migration of Outlook to Mozilla Thunderbird is seen generally among users. If you want to convert Outlook emails to Thunderbird then this blog is really useful for you. The entire process to transfer emails from MS Outlook to Thunderbird is discussed in this post.

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Introduction – Outlook and Thunderbird

Microsoft Outlook –Outlook is a desktop-based email client from Microsoft. All the emails, contacts, notes, calendars, journals and other items in Outlook are saved into PST file format. It is available with MS Office suite.

Mozilla Thunderbird –Thunderbird is a free and open source email client by Mozilla foundation. The emails are saved in MBOX file format in it. Thunderbird can be accessed on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

Why convert Outlook emails to Thunderbird?

Converting emails of Outlook to Mozilla Thunderbird is needed due to various reasons –

  1. Cross-platform migration is one reason for this migration
  2. Thunderbird is a free and handy application
  3. With Thunderbird, one can move to Mac and Linux operating systems

Can Outlook emails directly moved to Thunderbird?

Thunderbird cannot import Outlook files. If you want to access Outlook emails to Thunderbird, you need to export Outlook mailboxes to Thunderbird. For this, you can use these three manual methods –

  1. Convert Outlook to Thunderbird on a single machine
  2. Using Google Takeout
  3. Using Gmail synchronization

1. When the conversion of Outlook files to Thunderbird on a single machine

  1. Click on the Start button and go to Default Programs
  2. Set Outlook by default and click on Set this program as default.
  3. Run Thunderbird application and click on Tools and then click Import/Export menu
  4. Set Outlook by default and click on Set this program as default.
  5. Select the radio button next to Mail and hit the Next button.
  6. Select Outlook from the list and click Next.
  7. Click on the Finish button to complete the conversion.

Repeat the process for importing address book, contacts, etc. Now set Thunderbird as your default program.

2. Using Google Takeout

The method needs configuration of Gmail account in Outlook. After that, you need to export Outlook emails to your Gmail account. Then, import PST file to Thunderbird MBOX. Open Outlook and follow the steps to add your Gmail account to Outlook –

  1. Click on File menu in MS Outlook.
  2. Click on Add account in new window.
  3. Click on File menu in MS Outlook.
  4. Fill username and password.
  5. Open your Gmail account and click on Settings.
  6. Go to Forwarding and POP/IMAP and select enable IMAP and then click Save changes.

Note: By performing these actions, open your Gmail account and turn on access for secure apps.

Before importing these emails to Thunderbird, it is necessary to install ImportExportTools add-in and then launch Thunderbird application.

Choose Application menu> Tools> Add-on and choose Install Add-on from file and then Relaunch Thunderbird.

  1. Go to Tools>select ImportExportTools > select Import MBOX file. This will import Outlook PST in Thunderbird MBOX file.
  2. Browse for MBOX file and press open button to open PST in Thunderbird.

3. Using Gmail synchronization

With this method, you can configure Gmail account in Outlook. Then, export Outlook emails to Gmail account and later on import Outlook mailboxes to Thunderbird (by configuring Gmail in Thunderbird).

For this, open Microsoft Outlook and follow the below-discussed steps –

  1. Click on the File menu in Microsoft Outlook.
  2. Provide username and password with the user credentials.
  3. Thee, Open Gmail account and go to settings
  4. Go to Forwarding and POP/IMAP and select enable IMAP > save changes.

Now, go to your Outlook account and copy all Outlook emails into Gmail account. After this, install Thunderbird email client and configure the same Gmail account in Thunderbird. Below are the steps for this –

  1. Open Thunderbird and click on Email option in account section.
  2. Click on skip this and use my existing mail.
  3. Fill your Gmail account details like username and password.
  4. Your Gmail account is now configured to your Thunderbird and use PST in Thunderbird.

Limitations of manual method to convert Outlook Mail to Thunderbird

You can see that the manual methods are lengthy and also they involves risk of data loss. Moreover, additional attention is needed while using manual methods. Your one mistake can lost your precious data for ever.

To overcome all these limitations, professionals suggest to go for MailsClick Convert PST to MBOX Tool. With this software, one can easily transfer Outlook mail to Thunderbird without any confusion. By following a few simple steps, the conversion can be completed –

  1. Launch the software and add Outlook PST file using the Browse button.
  2. The entire data of PST file is displayed on the software panel.
  3. Choose MBOX file format under Export Options.
  4. Choose selected folders or complete PST file for conversion.
  5. Click on the Browse button and specify a location to save MBOX file.
  6. Hit the Convert Now button to commence the conversion process.

Final Words

In the above post, we have discussed various methods to convert emails of Outlook to Thunderbird. Users can go with any of the solutions as per their requirements. However, the most preferable and safe solution among them is the software that you can test with demo edition before taking its license.