Transfer Mozilla Thunderbird Data to MS Outlook for Free

Mozilla Thunderbird is an open-source application that stores emails and also acts as a personal information manager. It is free of cost and enables users to work with email messages, addresses books, and calendars, tasks, etc. Also, it stores its email items in MBOX format which is the most widely used email database format right now.

All the data of Thunderbird is stored at a default mailbox storage location. Users are allowed to change this location as per preference. Although it is a good email client to use, it is not the only one. Ever since its launch, MS Outlook has continuously been gaining popularity among the users for a while now.

In fact, according to statistics, MS Outlook is the most popular email client at the moment. It stores emails, attachments, contacts and other mailbox items in PST format. With a firm data management system and security features, Outlook outperforms Thunderbird at multiple levels. Therefore, users have been continuously migrating from Thunderbird to Outlook platform.

Since Thunderbird uses MBOX and Outlook uses PST format for data storage, the whole scenario becomes too much complicated. Through this post, we will discuss how to overcome these complications via both free and automated solutions.

Why Move to Outlook from Thunderbird:

MS Outlook comes with multiple applications in the MS Office suite. And it has strong integration with those products, unlike Thunderbird. Other factors are:

• No native task and scheduling software.

• No native calendar integration.

• Lack of group contacts.

• Long Process to view the message strand.

• Outlook has powerful email management features.

• Outlook has improved security features and intuitive UI.

• MS Outlook is more relevant from a professional point of view.

Small organizations have a tendency to start with free email applications Mozilla Thunderbird. But as they grow, these reasons along with multiple other factors entice them to switch from Thunderbird to Outlook.

Two Popular Choices of Transferring Thunderbird MBOX Files to Outlook

The two methods are as follows:

1. Free Solution

2. Professional Solution

We will start with the free manual method as if the free way can do the job for you, why pay for other solutions. But if you are intent on trying the professional tool as well, skip this part and go ahead for a free trial.

Free Solution to Convert Thunderbird MBOX to PST Manually

A creative way to go about Thunderbird conversion to platforms like Outlook is to look for a file format that is supported by both. In this case, we are lucky to have EML files, which both these email clients support.

Step 1: Run the Thunderbird email application

Step 2: Select and open the mail folder which contains emails that you want to export

Step 3: You can make use of Ctrl+A to select all the messages in the folder

Step 4: Right-click on the selected message( any one) and select the Save As option

Step 5: Select your preferred saving location for the emails and hit the Select Folder to start saving them.

Step 6: Once you've finished, leave Thunderbird and start MS Outlook.

Step 7: Create a new folder in the MS Outlook interface by clicking the Mailbox folder and selecting the New Folder option.

Step 8: Select the name required for this folder and keep this folder open as we will need this for the next few steps.

Step 9: Now go to the folder location on the system where all previous Thunderbird files were saved, then use the Ctrl+A button to select all these files

Step 10: After selecting all the emails, drag and drop them to the center of MS Outlook (make sure the new folder is open)

Step 11: Have patience as the process may take a lot of time to complete depending on the number of emails.

It has been seen that when it comes to moving only a small number of files, this method is more than enough to do that for you. But for users seeking data migration at a higher level, it proves to be incompetent. This makes it unsuitable for many users.

Some Common Issues Associate with Free Method

• Take long time and effort, High risk of human mistakes
• Broken Inline images and hyperlinks after process completion
• As a workaround, does not preserve Email headers
• Unable to guarantee the transfer of all emails
• Riddled with issues like loss of data and integrity of emails
• Missing Folder structure

The reason you will see technical experts recommending third-party tools is mostly due to these reasons. Also, the fact that software provides better data conversion services and more accurate results is also a major cause. To this end, there are many third-party solutions on the market.

How to decide about third-party tools?

Just like how in each field there are a lot of brands to choose products from. And the fact that you can categorize them as good or bad is what also happens in the conversion arena. What appears to be an excellent solution for one user may backfire completely for others because of the difference in requirements. It is possible that some people are happy with powerful tools with accurate results, while some want additional customize options along with that.

SysTools MBOX to PST Converter has been a popular choice for converting multiple MBOX files into PST format. With this tool, you can save your emails at any desired location and get multiple export preferences as PST, EML, MSG, NSF and HTML.

It also provides a FREE downloadable version with the capability to convert MBOX to PST (only 25 emails/folder) and preview all the emails and attachments.

In addition, the utility includes an automatic detection feature that allows users to access all Thunderbird mailboxes directly without providing a manual location. Along with Thunderbird, it also supports multiple MBOX clients such as Apple Mail, Eudora, Entourage, Spicebird, Opera Mail, The Bat, etc.

Some extra features:

• File Conversion in Batch Mode

• Data accuracy of 100%

• Selective email migration

• Automated Thunderbird mailbox fetching

• Adding MBOX files of 19+ email clients

• Fast conversion rate

• Safety from any form of data loss

The Bottom Line

The first thing that comes to mind while performing Thunderbird to Outlook conversion is the availability of free methods. That is why this article encompasses the most popular manual method. However, after analyzing various risks involved with it, experts advice the use of automated conversion tools. SysTools MBOX to PST Converter with its easy-to-use interface and powerful features makes this conversion a very simple one. It also ensures that no e-mails, folder structure, data integrity, attachments or header information are lost during the process.