I was given the task of getting the Gmail MBOX file to PST (Outlook for Windows). At first, I was quite anxious as to how to do that. I knew MBOX isn’t compatible with Outlook. Soon I found out that I can convert it to PST, which is the native file compatible with Outlook in Windows.
Google Takeout (Gmail MBOX file)
Google MBOX is a file that you can download through Google Takeout feature. It is a feature in Google services that lets you download all your data from across any Google services (like Gmail, Blogger, Contacts, Drive, etc.) into an MBOX file. You can choose to have multiple but smaller MBOX files as well, instead of a single massive file.
But the only problem is that if you don’t have any program in your PC that can open or import MBOX file, it is pretty much useless, unless you go through the conversion.
Converting MBOX files to PST
Converting MBOX, which is a complex email file, to any other format sounded too complex to me. And to tell you the truth, it sorta is. MBOX can contain more than simple text; headers, email addresses, Unicode content, and more. To process everything into a very different file isn’t something easy to pull off by an inexperienced user like myself.
Right when I was about to give up and go to someone else for help, I found out a great solution – Mail Passport Pro – which is basically a software that converts MBOX files to PST. Actually, it can convert many other formats and databases from many email clients to Outlook PST, but we will leave that for now and focus primarily on MBOX to PST.
The thing that took me by surprise the moment I launched it was how simple it looked. Right from that first minute, I knew how it works and what I have to do.
How to convert MBOX files to PST & Import into Outlook
- Firstly, it asks you to select your source of data (input) that you want to convert. Easy! I checked “MBOX” and then browsed to the location of my Google MBOX file.
- It then showed me all the contents/folders inside the file. I had the option to select or remove any that weren’t necessary to convert to PST. In my case, I had to convert everything, but if you are short of space on your disk and short of time, you can exclude the unnecessary folders.
- Next up, click “Next” and the tool begins its process. Once finished, it gave me the link/button to directly go to the location where it had saved the output PST files.
- Last option was to simply import PST files into Outlook.
And what a simple and quick job that turned out to be!
Another important aspect of “Mail Passport Pro” that I realized was the accuracy. I had suspected that I might lose some information or at least the structure of my folders, or maybe the Unicode text might lose the integrity, and other similar errors. But it worked pretty accurately and thoroughly. The entire database in my PST files were perfectly similar to how it was in Thunderbird.
I couldn’t be more satisfied with the way it all worked out.
Get it for converting MBOX files to PST
You too can stop worrying about converting MBOX files to PST. Get a free trial copy first if you want to know more.
Official Website: https://www.mailpassportpro.com/
I didn’t need to get any help, but if you do, or if you have any other questions, the tech support available 24 x 7 is a great addition to an already excellent software tool.