How to Export Outlook to Thunderbird

Outlook and Thunderbird both are the popular email clients for users. But there could be several cases when users need to export all data to Thunderbird client from Outlook. Grab Outlook to Mozilla Thunderbird conversion opportunities with this post that provides measures to export complete mailbox folders from Outlook to Thunderbird in a sequential manner.

It is true that email applications play an important role in today’s digital environment. In fact, emailing is the most relevant component to maintain communication. Outlook is the most popular email client which is used by thousands of users all over the world. It supports various developed features such as low cost, easy to handle, good connectivity to Exchange server, etc. But Outlook is a paid email client. However, Thunderbird is a free and next popular client after MS Outlook. It has various advantages like it is free of cost, open source, multiple platform, etc. So, various users would like to move Outlook email folder to Thunderbird, due to its outstanding functions.

What is the Importance of Thunderbird?

Today, Thunderbird application became one of the most popular email clients after Outlook. It is developed and distributed by Mozilla foundation. It is free to use and available both for Windows and Mac users. Various extensions are installed on the application to perform many tasks. The email client has a chat feature that enables you to chat with users on Facebook chat, Google Talk, Twitter, etc. The application possesses an LDAP feature by which you need to enter few letters of the person’s name who is in your contact list and the rest of the address is completed by the feature.

Outlook and Thunderbird both email clients have storage of data in different formats therefore, it creates problem for users to access Outlook data into Thunderbird. PST i.e. Personal Storage Table is the format utilized by MS Outlook and MBOX format is utilized by Thunderbird client. Therefore, users need to migrate Outlook data to Thunderbird client. To carry out the migration, we are going to discuss the solution in next section.

How to Transfer Emails from Outlook to Thunderbird

Outlook and Thunderbird both are different from each other. There is no direct method by which users can move Outlook data to Thunderbird but a manual solution is available which has few steps but needs technical expertise to perform the migration.

There are various manual ways to perform Outlook to Mozilla Thunderbird migration –

Way 1. Exporting Outlook to Thunderbird by Google Takeout

The method requires configuring Gmail account in Outlook and exporting all your emails from Outlook to your Gmail. Then, importing PST file to Thunderbird file format i.e. MBOX. For that, open Outlook and perform Outlook to Mozilla Thunderbird migration by Google Takeout. To add Gmail account to Outlook, here are the steps for this -

  • Click on File menu in MS Outlook
  • Click on Add account
  • Insert username, email id, and password
  • Open your Gmail account and go to Settings
  • Go to Forwarding and POP/IMAP and select Enable IMAP > save the changes

By performing these actions, now open your Gmail account online and Turn on access for secure apps.

  • Go to Outlook account and click when the process gets completed.
  • After that, you will find Gmail have been configured to Outlook. Now, drag and drop Outlook folders to Gmail account.
  • Login to your Gmail account
  • Open Google Takeout
  • Click on create an archive of emails, search items, tasks, etc. that is linked to your account
  • Email the copy of folders to your Gmail account.
  • Open the zip folder that has been downloaded from Gmail.

Now first of all, download ExportImportTool add-in and Launch Thunderbird application.

  • Click on File menu in Thunderbird
  • Install Add-in from file and relaunch Thunderbird application
  • Go to Tools menu > ImportExportTools > Import MBOX file
  •  This will import Outlook data file in Thunderbird as MBOX file

Way 2. Exporting MS Outlook to Thunderbird by Gmail synchronization

This method needs Gmail configuration in Outlook client. Then, you need to export Outlook Mail folder to Gmail account. After that, configure that Gmail account to your Thunderbird application.

Here are the steps to configure Gmail in Outlook application –
  • Open Outlook client and click on File menu
  • Click on Add account and provide username and password of your Gmail account
  • Now, open your Gmail account and go to its Settings option
  • Go to Forwarding and POP/IMAP. Enable IMAP and save the changes
  • Now, go to your Outlook and wait for the process to complete.
Install Thunderbird client and follow the below steps to configure Gmail account in it.
  • Open Thunderbird. Click on Email option under Account section.
  • In the next window, click on skip and use the existing email.
  • Provide Gmail account username and password.
  • Select IMAP connection and click done
  • Your Gmail account is successfully configured to Thunderbird and you can access Outlook data to Thunderbird client.

With these two manual methods, you can move Outlook Mail folder to Thunderbird. But some of the users find this method not suitable for them and they have various reasons behind it –

  • Time-taking and lengthy process
  • No surety of data safety
  • Needs technical expertise to handle the process
  • Not suitable for exact migration
Move Outlook Mail folder to Thunderbird in automated way

To get rid of all drawbacks to transfer Outlook mailbox to Thunderbird in an effortless way, try out Softaken Outlook to Thunderbird Converter application. The program is simple to understand and has few steps to export Outlook email folders to Thunderbird application. 100% safety of data during and after the migration. Before you invest your money to purchase this application, you can take a free trial of the utility and can examine it completely.

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