Just the emails, nothing else: what is the least fiddly way to get my Thunderbird mail into a PST? I have seen guides involving IMAP relays and add-ons and my patience is short.
Windows 10, Thunderbird 78, about 8GB of local mail.
Export Thunderbird emails to PST Outlook format the easy way
Solved Email & Outlook
MS
Michael Scofield June 14, 2021
2 replies
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The least fiddly route is a direct converter run against your profile folder. No relays, no add-ons, no Outlook needed until the import at the end.
1
Find the profile: Thunderbird menu, Help, More Troubleshooting Information, Profile Folder row, Open Folder. Note the path, it looks like %appdata%\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default-release.
2
Close Thunderbird so the mail files are not locked.
3
Run a Thunderbird to PST converter, SysTools MBOX Converter handles Thunderbird profiles directly. Point it at the profile path, it auto detects the mail folders and shows the tree for confirmation.
4
Convert to PST, then in Outlook attach it: File, Open and Export, Open Outlook Data File. Your Thunderbird folder structure appears in the folder pane as is.
The 8GB should convert in well under an hour on a normal disk. Check one thing afterwards: message dates. Sort a converted folder by date in Outlook and confirm the range matches Thunderbird, a mismatch means the converter read received dates from the mbox separators rather than the headers, which the folder tree preview in step three lets you catch early on a small folder before committing the full 8GB.
Forty minutes for the whole 8GB and dates check out. This is the guide I wish I found before reading about IMAP relays for two days.