Transfer Mac Mail to Outlook with Step-by-Step Method

Summary: Obtain a simple two-step method to transfer Mac Mail to Outlook 2019. The conversion takes place on the Mac system and is readily supported by all Outlook email clients regardless of their version.

Mac Mail (also known as Apple Mail) app is the default email application of Mac OS X and macOS systems. It is readily used by users for both home and professional email management.

Outlook is a product of Microsoft, available for both Mac & Windows systems. The latest version is currently Outlook 2019. It can be integrated and used with Office 365 and Exchange servers. It is the most popular email client as of now.

Table of Contents:

• Mac Mail and MS Outlook – Technical Constraints
• Prepare Messages of Mac Mail for Conversion
• Export Apple Mail to Outlook PST file
• Import PST File in Outlook 2019

Mac Mail to MS Outlook – Technical Constraints

Mac Mail stores its messages in MBOX file format. There is also a way to save the individual messages in EMLX files. The MBOX files store all the email messages in a single mailbox. For example, the emails that reside in the Inbox folder are stored in Inbox.mbox file locally.

MS Outlook uses PST files to save its email messages. Like MBOX, PST file also stores several email messages of a mailbox folder in a single file locally.

The technical constraint that occurs while moving Mac Mail to Outlook is the difference in the file formats used for local storage. Mac Mail does not have a feature to export emails in PST format. Also, Outlook does not support importing the MBOX file. So, there is no native option that can directly transfer mac mail to Outlook.

The proper way is to export the messages from Mac Mail in a file format that it supports i.e., MBOX, and then convert the MBOX file to PST. Since Outlook has an import functionality for PST files, the whole process becomes easy to understand and carry out.

Step 1: Prepare Messages of Mac Mail for Conversion

Locate the MBOX files from the system and copy them to an easily accessible location. To do that, follow these steps:

1. Open a Finder window and choose Go >> Go to folder.
2. Input and navigate to ~/Library/Mail and look for a subfolder with V(x), where x is any number such as V6.
3. Remember the location or copy the MBOX files to an easily accessible location.
4. There is another way to prepare the MBOX files of Mac Mail:
5. In the Mail app, select the mailbox folder such as Inbox.
6. Click on the Mailbox menu and select Export Mailbox.
7. Select the destination and save the file.

Similarly, save all mailbox folders that you want to export to Outlook.

You may find it interesting: Import EML files into Apple Mail account?

Step 2: Transfer Mac Mail to Outlook 2019 & Other Editions

MBOX to PST Converter for Mac is a proven tool to export multiple mailbox files of Mac Mail into PST format. These PST files are of Unicode type and are supported by Outlook 2019. There is no need for MS Outlook to carry out the conversion process. Multiple features are also provided in order to help users customize the process such as selective conversion, filters, .pst file creation, etc.

Alert: Do note that this tool works on only the Mac system. However, the files generated by the tool can also be imported into Outlook for Windows system. You can apply the free methods to convert MBOX to PST if working on a Windows system.

Instructions to transfer Mac Mail to Outlook PST are as follows:

1. Run the Mac Mail to Outlook transfer utility and click on Add Folder.
2. Locate and select the folder that contains all the Mac MBOX files.
3. In the next window, select PST from the Export list.
4. Click Advance settings to apply date filters, create single PST or split PST file.
5. After saving the changes, click the Export button to successfully convert Mac Mail to PST files.

Want to Import PST Files in MS Outlook? Do it Like this!

The steps are for importing files in Outlook 2019 for Mac. It varies with the Windows versions.

1. In Outlook for Mac, click on the File menu.
2. Select Import >> Outlook for Windows archive file (.pst) and continue.
3. Browse the converted PST file and click Import.
4. Once all items are imported, click Finish.
5. The Mac Mail messages will be under ‘On My Computer’.

Wrapping It Up

Mac Mail and MS Outlook are two popular email clients. The transition between these two email applications is often seen. Users choose the app as per affordability and usage. To make the process easier, we have defined a simple 2 step method to transfer Mac Mail to Outlook 2019. This method is also applicable for Outlook 2016 and 2011 email clients.