2 Ways to Do Thunderbird to Outlook Transfer | Easy & Free

Can I transfer emails from Thunderbird to Outlook?

Thunderbird, an open-source cross-platform email client for Windows, Mac, and Linux, stores emails, attachments, and other mail items in MBOX files on the local machine. Renowned for its versatile features such as message management, support for add-ons and themes, and effective junk filtering, Thunderbird stands as a robust and user-friendly email solution.

But occasionally, due to bugs, virus attacks, or unexpected errors, the Thunderbird email client crashes, and many people want to transfer Thunderbird to Outlook. In this post, we will discuss the advantages of Thunderbird to Outlook transfer and learn how to convert Thunderbird to Outlook. If you're seeking a straightforward solution, this post aims to help you.

Why transfer Thunderbird to Outlook?

Microsoft Outlook, a widely recognized email client, stores its entire information in PST and OST formats. MS Outlook also provides various features that are not available in Thunderbird. Here are a few reasons why you may consider moving from Thunderbird to Outlook:

• Better management: Outlook has a better folder system than Thunderbird, which makes it easier to organize and sort your emails, contacts, and other data.
• Higher security: Outlook offers better security features such as message encryption, filtering of suspicious attachments, and sending malicious emails to spam.
• Email synchronization between devices: Compared with Thunderbird, Outlook supports not only Windows/MAC OS but also mobile devices like Android and iOS, allowing for seamless sync.
• Microsoft Office integration: Being a part of Microsoft Office, Outlook is easier to build a unified eco-system to work with documents in your office.

How to perform Thunderbird to Outlook transfer easily

To move Thunderbird Mail to Outlook, here are two free methods for you: relying on Gmail IMAP or via the drag-and-drop play. In the following, we will show you detailed guides to each solution. You can choose any as per your convenience.

Method 1. Move Thunderbird to Outlook with Gmail IMAP

To do this, you will first need to configure Gmail in Thunderbird, export your Thunderbird emails to Gmail, and then import them into Outlook. To perform Thunderbird to Outlook transfer, follow the steps below.

Step 1. Enable IMAP Access from Gmail

Sign in to Gmail using a web browser, and open Gmail settings. Under the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab, select Enable IMAP for IMAP Access, and hit Save changes.

Step 2. Configure Gmail in Thunderbird

1. Start the Thunderbird app, click on your Thunderbird email account, select Email under Set up an account, then enter your Gmail username and password to click Continue.

2. Select IMAP (remote folders) and click on Done.

Step 3. Copy Thunderbird MBOX to Gmail Folder

1. After signing in, right-click on the Gmail account, and select New Folder to create a new folder.

2. Then, enter a name and choose your Gmail account for Create as a subfolder of. Then, hit Create Folder.

3. Select your Thunderbird account and press Ctrl+A to select all emails. Right-click them, select Copy to, choose your Gmail account, and select the folder you just created.

Step 4. Configure Gmail in Outlook

1. Launch MS Outlook.Head to File > Account Settings > Account settings subsequently.

2. From the Email tab, click on New. Then, input your name, Gmail address, password, and tick Manual setup or additional server types. Then, click Next. After validation, click Finish.

3. After that, you can click on Gmail address to check if you have migrated Thunderbird to Outlooksuccessfully.

Method 2. Export Thunderbird to Outlook via drag-and-drop

In this method, the process involves exporting Thunderbird emails to EML format and importing EML files to Outlook. This option proves to be helpful for smaller mailboxes.

Step 1. Export Thunderbird emails to EML

Open Thunderbird, select the target emails that you wish to export, right-click on them, and choose Save As. Then, specify a location to save these exported Thunderbird emails.

Step 2. Import EML files to Outlook

Run Outlook > select the target mailbox > right-click on the selected mailbox and select the New Folder option > right-click on the selected mail and choose Save As an option > give the folder a name and click on the folder > Go to the folder containing EML files and drag and drop them to folder to transfer mail from Thunderbird to Outlook.

Don't miss: Backup Outlook regularly to prevent data loss

That’s all about how to transfer Thunderbird to Outlook. However, it is crucial to note that Outlook data can be easily lost due to disk failure, accidental deletion, or other reasons. To safeguard your Outlook data, you can rely on the best Outlook backup software, AOMEI Backupper Professional. It offers the following features:

• Its Outlook Backup feature facilitates comprehensive data backup in Outlook, including emails, contacts, notes, calendars, tasks, and more.
• Its Schedule Backup enables you to back up emails and other mailbox folders on a daily, weekly, monthly, event trigger, or USB plug in basis.
• It enables you to backup Outlook emails to USB drives, cloud storage, local disks, external hard drives, NAS devices, and various destinations.
• It allows you to backup only changed files in Outlook through incremental backup or differential backup, saving a lot of backup time and hard disk space.

You can download and install this professional Outlook backup software, and start Outlook data backup now. If you are a Windows Server user, you can choose the AOMEI Backupper Server version.

Step 1. Add the account you want to backup in Outlook desktop app. Then, open AOMEI Backupper Professional and select Backup followed by Outlook Backup.

Step 2. Click on Add Outlook Data and choose the email account containing the mailbox you wish to back up. Once selected, click OK.

Step 3. Click on the second box to select a local path, add share or NAS Devices, or select a cloud drive to save all emails in Outlook.

Step 4. Hit Schedule Backup to enable automatic Gmail backups as needed. Confirm your backup settings, and then click Start Backup to initiate the backup process.

To prevent your backup disk from being full, you can enable Automatic Backup Cleanup in Backup Scheme to delete old backup images at a set frequency.

FAQs about Thunderbird to Outlook transfer

#1. Can Thunderbird connect to Microsoft Exchange?

Yes, Thunderbird works with most popular mail server applications, including Microsoft Exchange.

#2. Can you export all emails from Thunderbird?

Yes, you can export all Thunderbird emails by highlighting the emails > right-clicking them and choosing Save As. Then, choose a storage location for the exported emails.

#3. How to convert Thunderbird emails to Outlook PST?

You can first migrate Thunderbird emails to Outlook using the methods above. Then, export entire mailbox to PST from Outlook easily.

Conclusion

With the solutions outlined above, you can easily perform Thunderbird to Outlook transfer. But since Outlook data are fragile and easily corrupted, it is recommended that you use professional email backup software AOMEI Backupper to backup your Outlook mailbox flexibly.

Moreover, this tool is also the best data migration tool, you can clone Windows OS to M.2 SSD without booting issues. So don’t hesitate to try it out!