Transfer Outlook Messages to Thunderbird & Export PST Emails

Secure Way to Transfer Outlook Messages to Thunderbird

Nowadays, Outlook is one of the most popular email clients to manage the mailbox data. With this, end users feel easy to access their email messages on the computer system even without an internet connection. Outlook users can store all items like emails, contacts, calendars, notes, journals, tasks, etc. in PST format. However, due to some virus attacks, oversizing issues or some hardware or software failure, PST file may get corrupted or damaged. Thus, many users prefer to switch to other email clients such as Thunderbird, Outlook Express, etc. But, there is no method to transfer Outlook messages to Thunderbird and other email applications. In this article, we are going to discuss the step-by-step procedure to know how to export Outlook emails to Thunderbird. Before proceeding this, let us first learn about these two file formats (PST and EML) in brief.

Learn More About PST and EML Format

PST FileEach application has its own file extension for saving multiple emails and other mailbox items within it. PST (Personal Storage Table) is a file format which can store all items like emails, calendars, journals, contacts, tasks, etc., in Microsoft Outlook.

EML File FormatEML is an electronic email file which includes a single message associated with hyperlink and attachment. It also creates in multiple email applications i.e., Thunderbird, Windows Live Mail, etc.

Reasons Why Users Transfer Outlook Messages to Thunderbird

There are many possible reasons due to which users want to migrate Outlook emails to Thunderbird mailbox. Some of them are discussed below:

The stationary of EML file cannot be affected by changing the name of it.It can be saved to any desired location as per users choice and can be easily accessed.It may not clash with some other stationeries of files which have the same name.Using other file formats on multiple systems that can create a problem for users but EML format can be easily accessed anywhere.

Export Outlook Messages to Thunderbird Using Manual Approach

While using Thunderbird application, end users can easily perform convert emails from Outlook to Mozilla Thunderbird. But, both email client applications must be installed on the local system otherwise the data migration will not be possible. Now, follow the steps carefully to make the conversion easier:

Step 1: Launch the Mozilla Thunderbird and go to Tools optionStep 2: After that, click on Import button and then, a new wizard will appearStep 3: Now, you can choose two options like Import Everything and Select the type of material that you want to import (offers an option to select all items like emails, address books, etc.)Step 4: Next, you can select emails option from it and click NextStep 5: In the next step, navigate to MS Outlook and press Next buttonStep 6: Finally, Outlook messages to Thunderbird migration process can now startStep 7: After completion of the entire process, the Outlook data files will appear in Thunderbird

Professional Way to Transfer Outlook Messages to Thunderbird

As the manual approach requires both emails clients i.e., Microsoft Outlook and Thunderbird to be installed on the source machine. In such condition, if the users have not installed Mozilla Thunderbird or Outlook on their system then, they can take help of a trusted third party tool i.e., Outlook PST to EML Converter. It is designed to move Outlook data file into different file formats ( EML, MSG, VCF and PDF). It is also capable to transfer corrupted or password protected data files. Some of the additional features of the tool are discussed below:

Allows to transfer selective data items from Outlook PST

Capable to save.pst file in EML/MSG/PDF/VCF formats

Tool can preview any of the items along with attributes

Offers Different file naming convention during migration

Apply date-based filtering throughout the data conversion

Supports conversion of files without any size limit

Conclusion

Many times when the user tries to transfer Outlook messages to Thunderbird, they have faced various problems. These problems may arise because users have lack of skills or knowledge to perform file conversion. Therefore, to resolve this issue, we have described both manual as well as automated solution to move emails from Outlook to Thunderbird in a convenient way. End users can go for the solution that best suits their needs or comforts.

I am Software Engineer by Profession and Tech Blogger by passion. I love to write about technologies and solve user query on different forums.