Thunderbird is a popular open source email client capable of managing groups of email accounts. Various functions can be configured as required. This fantastic email client has multiple features like multiple platforms, open source, server addresses and more. Therefore, it is the first choice of thousands of users worldwide.
Although Thunderbird is an excellent email client, Mozilla Corporation has stopped developing Thunderbird since 2012. The company now only releases maintenance and security updates. Therefore, the user community must hire a group of developers to configure all other features accordingly. This can be expensive for some users. Because Outlook is a wider and more flexible email client and offers a more powerful solution. As a result, many users plan to switch their Thunderbird email client to MS Outlook. It is more flexible and requires no configuration during the development phase.
However, Thunderbird does not support any integrated utility for converting to Outlook. So you have to use some tool and follow the procedure to open Thunderbird Mail in Outlook. Here you will get three methods, two manual process and one third party software to do the job.
Manual Method to Open Thunderbird Mail in Outlook
Note: This method is applicable for Outlook 2007 and above editions only.
1. Run Mozilla Thunderbird.
2. Open the mail folder you wish to migrate from Thunderbird.
3. Select the messages you want to export as needed, or you can select all the messages.
4. Right-click on the selected message and select the “Save As” option from the menu.
5. Select a folder and the message has the same format as the EML file, then select “Choose folder” and export the message.
6. Now open MS Outlook.
7. Right-click on Outlook in the main window, go to the menu and select “New Folder”.
8. Name the folder based on your selection in the “Name” option and click the “OK” button to create the folder.
9. Now select the folder you just created and it will be empty and does not contain email. This means that the middle pane is empty.
10. Select all the emails you exported from Thunderbird.
To import all the messages into the new folder, click and drag the email into the center pane of MS Outlook. All Thunderbird emails will be displayed and the import process is complete.
Second Manual Process:
Mozilla Thunderbird does not include any specific functionality for opening email in any other email client. Even so, this method can help you import all messages using their original sender and date information.
Note: Always keep in mind that the automatic send / receive option in Thunderbird was disabled before starting the conversion process, otherwise you may end up with new messages.
1. Open Thunderbird Mail Client.
2. Select the messages you want to open in Outlook. The time required to complete the process depends on the number of messages, attachments and the speed of your Internet connection.
3. After selecting the message, right click and select the “Forward as attachment” option. A new message opens with all selected additional messages. Now enter your Outlook email address and hit send.
4. Now open Outlook and go to “Send and Receive”.
5. Open the email sent by the Thunderbird mail client and move it under the active window so you can view the Outlook screen.
6. Now drag all attached messages from the active window into the Inbox folder and use them as needed.
Shortcomings:
Neither of the two methods above is sufficient to open Thunderbird mail in Outlook without any issues. You may lose some documents or messages. Therefore, for a 100% guarantee, we advise you to choose a professional solution. These are carefully designed for MBOX to PST conversion and can offer you hassle-free complete conversion.
Professional Way to Import Thunderbird Emails in Outlook
If you are looking for a professional one-click solution and don’t want to follow the steps above, the Thunderbird to Outlook conversion wizard is a good choice.
This tool is capable of quickly and easily converting complete mail items, including converting all mail items. If you use many email clients and all email clients create MBOX / MBX files, this tool works like magic and converts all MBOX / MBX email clients to Outlook PST files, you can open the file in Outlook. This MBOX to PST conversion tool offers the flexibility to add new Outlook data files to existing profiles or newly created PST files. Full mailboxes can be converted to Outlook files that can be imported directly. The tool also allows you to preview mail items before importing them into Outlook. The tool supports multiple email clients including Thunderbird, Entourage, Spicebird, Poco Mail, Apple Mail, Eudora, Mulberry, Sea Monkey, Netscape, Claws Mail, Opera Mail, Mozilla Mail, Evolution, Sylpheed, Cone, Mutt, Gnu.
Steps to Open Thunderbird Mail in Outlook App:
1. Run the professional tool and select the “Add File” button on the home screen window.
2. Click on the Thunderbird option from the list of email clients and select the preferred option to load Thunderbird files.
3. Selecting the “Default Profile configured” option allows you to automatically load the Thunderbird data into the software.
4. While choosing the “Select file/folder” option lets you select Thunderbird MBOX files for conversion.
5. Once the Thunderbird data is loaded, the tool displays all the emails from the loaded files along with attachments.
6. You can select the preferred Thunderbird Mail to open in Outlook and right-click to select the Export option.
7. Or, you can simply click on the “Export” button from the menu bar for bulk migration.
8. Now, select “PST” file format from the list of export options given in the tool.
9. Browse the location to save the file and apply the optional file splitter setting.
10. Finally, click on the “Export” button to start converting Thunderbird mail to PST file.
The converted files with .pst extension can be imported in all the latest Outlook versions i.e., Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007 & 2003.
Wrapping it Up
This article describes different methods that can help a user understand how to open Thunderbird mail in Outlook. Both manual and professional solutions are available to resolve such query. What a user decides to implement is his/her choice.
