[HOWTO] - Outlook (PC) & Outlook Express to Mail.app

Decado

Decado

Kallikanzaroi
Hi!
my girlfriend would like to transfer her microsoft outlook inbox (on a windows pc) to her new iBook G4.
is this possible? we can't even find the file outlook stores the mails in.

grateful for help

/dec
 
The file you need to find has a .pst extension and should be found in the profile for the account logged in when the mail is used. Just do a search and you will find it quite quickly.

Unfortunately, and I will be happy if I can be proved wrong, there is no way to use mailbox files created in Outlook with either Mail or Entourage. Though I have seen there is a way of importing via Mozilla mail, but I tired this unsuccesfully on several occasions.
 
If you are talking about Outlook XP (not Express) you will find it clicking in Outlook on file -> data folder (or something like that) -> Open the working folder (or something like that). Browsing to that folder will be slightly tough, since it's located in some hidden folders.
I don't know how to import the outlook.pst to apples mail.app anymore, but I did succeed (2002 ;)). I was googling for this and found a step by step instruction. Unfortunately I didn't save it and don't remember the site, but once I find it again, I will come back to this thread and post it..
 
Oh, and of course, Entourage can export to .mbox style format, which you can then use in Mail.app.
 
Thanks!
i will give this a try and, hopefully, post a success story here :)
finally we ca get rid of that ugly pc that has been standing like a prehistoric monolith in the bedroom ever since she moved in...
 
ok.
i followed frykes tip with a small refinement:
1) Imported the mailboxes from Outlook to Outlook express
2) draged them from Outlook Express into two folders on the desktop (inbox and outbox)
3) copied these to the ibook
4) draged them into entourage (30 day trial).
5) started Mail and choose "import mailboxes" from Entourage.
6) said goodbye to the pc forever.

thanks everyone!
 
Cool! So I guess Outlook can't directly export the way OE can (drag & drop). But if importing to OE from Outlook works fine, guess that's a good way! :) Congrats on banishing that PC. ;)
 
If it is possible for you to use the IMAP protocol (rather than POP), then the files are left on the server and can be accessed by any mail client, Mac or PC (or Linux I assume). Now the IMAP server can be accessed by Mail (Mail and most other clients can speak IMAP). Then your mail can be saved locally on your Mac, though you won't need to. It is often better to leave your Mail files on you Outlook server - Microsoft offers a web-mail capabilit; not elegant but it works.
 
How much would a IMAP account with 7gb capacity cost? :)
That's the big limitation of IMAP and the reason ppl rather use POP.
 
fryke said:
Cool! So I guess Outlook can't directly export the way OE can (drag & drop). But if importing to OE from Outlook works fine, guess that's a good way! :) Congrats on banishing that PC. ;)
Click to expand...

I tried with outlook 2k3, dragging and dropping Contacts resulted in a .msg file and so did emails. I don't know if Entourage can handle .msg's or not. If I get a chance maybe I'll check.
 
From the Take Control of Switching eBook by Scott Knaster:
"Transferring from Outlook: If you use Outlook in Windows, you should get a copy of Outlook2Mac (which you can buy for $10 from http://www.littlemachines.com/). This utility automates the process of converting your mail and address book from Outlook to your choice of Macintosh programs, including Apple Mail, Mailsmith, and Entourage."
 
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