How to migrate emails from Thunderbird to Outlook with Contacts?

Best Ways to migrate emails from Thunderbird to Outlook

In this article, we will provide you the best solution to migrate emails from Thunderbird to Outlook along with contacts.

We will take a look at the best possible solution for moving both emails and contacts separately.

You can use this method to export Thunderbird emails to PST format without losing any data items. Knowing how to convert Thunderbird files into Outlook is a complicated task. And users always have a tendency to struggle due to these complications.

If that struggle has reached you and you also wish to perform this migration without losing attributes, then be sure to read this complete article.

A reliable solution, some simple steps, and accurate results – this is what we aim to provide the users with. Before moving onto the steps, let us first know about the technical aspects of this conversion.

Thunderbird & Outlook – A Technical Perspective

Mozilla Thunderbird is a desktop email client that saves its data in MBOX files. A closer look at these files will reveal that they don’t have any extension. Users may also see several SBD files in the Thunderbird local storage directory.

This SBD folder is responsible for maintaining the sub-folder hierarchy of Mozilla Thunderbird. The underlying MBOX files are present as inbox, draft, sent, etc., i.e., one file for each mailbox. As far as the contacts are concerned, Thunderbird provides an option to export them directly in CSV files.

On the other hand, Outlook is the most popular email client among business as well as home users to manage emailing functions. Outlook is a part of Microsoft Office which offers to save its entire data in PST file format.

So that the entire data of Outlook such as emails and attachments, contacts, notes, tasks, calendar entries, etc. is present in PST file format. Although Outlook can store everything in its PST file, it also provides a way to import the contacts file in CSV format.

How to move Mozilla Thunderbird Contacts to Outlook?

There is a manual solution available for this task. Users will need to export the address book from Thunderbird and later import it in MS Outlook. The step-by-step guide is as follows:

I. Exporting the contacts from Mozilla Thunderbird:

Run Mozilla Thunderbird and click on the Address Book icon on its interface.
An Address book windows will open. Here go to the menu bar and hit Tools followed by Export button.
Choose the Save as type to CSV format and export the contacts at the desired location.

II. Importing the CSV contacts in MS Outlook:

Run the MS Outlook client and open the File menu
Choose Open and Export, then Import/Export, then Import from another program or file
In the next window, choose CSV format, i.e., Comma Separated Values
Browse the earlier exported CSV file and choose destination folder as Contacts.
Continue with the process until Finish button appears. Hit it to start the importing of contacts.

This is how a user can import Thunderbird contacts into Outlook. For the migration of emails, take a look at the next section.

Solution to Migrate Emails from Thunderbird to Outlook

There is no direct method available to carry out this task. And those who have used manual workarounds are fully aware of how unreliable these methods are. Thus, in order to resolve all issues related to Thunderbird to Outlook conversion, users need to opt the tested and trusted approach i.e., SysTools MBOX to PST Converter.

It is an efficient method that can export multiple MBOX files from Thunderbird email client to Outlook. Its ability to auto-detect the mailbox of Mozilla Thunderbird makes it one of the most effective solutions for this task.

The tool has a user-friendly interface packed with powerful features that help both technical and non-technical users to carry out conversion easily.

Steps to Convert the MBOX Data From Thunderbird

Although professional tools have 3 phases to carry out such conversion, this intuitive application can do that in just two phases. As it does not require the user to backup Thunderbird emails manually into an MBOX file.

However, if you do have the MBOX file, this tool is fully capable of processing it without any supportive application. The steps to follow are given below:

Start SysTools MBOX to PST Converter and click on the Add File button. It will open the next window, where the files will be uploaded in the software.
Now, select the Default Profile Configured option. It will automatically fetch all the Thunderbird profiles along with its database.
Or, go for the other option to browse and select the MBOX files from the local storage.
Once the Thunderbird data is scanned, the software will display all the emails and attachments. Just hit the Export button on top.
Now, select the folders you want to convert and set PST as the conversion type. Finally, click on the Export button to start the process.

This is how you can migrate emails from Thunderbird to Outlook PST with all attachments intact. Later, import this PST file in Outlook using its free Import option. And access the Thunderbird emails in Microsoft Outlook platform.

Beneficial Features of Thunderbird to Outlook Converter

Convert multiple mailboxes saved in Thunderbird along with all email attributes.
Export the emails with attachments and other metadata properties intact.
Has the ability to automatically detect the Thunderbird database.
Works on all Windows versions including Windows 10, 8, 7, etc.
Retains the folder hierarchy after converting Thunderbird files to Outlook.
Can split the large mailbox files into smaller ones as per requirements.
Displays all the emails and attachments. Also provides a detailed conversion report at the end.
Can merge multiple Thunderbird mailboxes into a single PST file.
Comes with a 24*7 customer support and lifetime valid license.

Conclusion:

In order to migrate emails from Thunderbird to Outlook, you must bear three things in mind.

First, there is no official method for this task.

Second, manual workarounds are not feasible for large migration.

Third, although using third-party software is mandatory as per many experts, you need to understand that not all professional solutions are the same.

Thus, here, we have included a tried and trusted Thunderbird to Outlook converter for your convenience.

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