Migrate Thunderbird emails to MS Outlook

Nikita Garg

Updated On - September 25, 2024

Thunderbird is an open-source email client that saves user mailbox data in MBOX file format. It is a multi-platform email client for Windows, Mac, and Linux. However, Thunderbird has many limitations that make it unsuitable for professional email communications. Owing to many business-friendly features, professionals prefer MS Outlook over Thunderbird. Because Thunderbird has many limitations that make it unsuitable for professional email communications, many professionals prefer MS Outlook over Thunderbird.

Why should you migrate from Thunderbird to MS Outlook?

Thunderbird, previously regarded as an excellent email platform for both individual users and small businesses, has seen a decline in popularity owing to a lack of substantial community support and advanced functionality.

Despite Thunderbird’s excellent features, such as message organization, open-source nature, and cross-platform compatibility, the features it provides no longer meet the needs of modern communication. As a result, people and companies are increasingly switching to alternate email services.

Manual Methods to migrate Thunderbird emails to Outlook

There are two manual methods to migrate Thunderbird emails from Outlook:

Step 1: Migrating Thunderbird emails to Outlook by Drag ‘n’ Drop method
Step 2: Migrate Thunderbird emails to Outlook with the help of Gmail IMAP

Method 1: Migrating Thunderbird emails to Outlook by Drag ‘n’ Drop method

Thunderbird emails can be easily moved to Outlook by using the Drag ‘n’ Drop method. First, we convert MBOX emails to EML format and then we import these files to Outlook.

Step 1: Export Thunderbird emails to EML

Right-click on the selected emails and click on ‘Save As’.

Save the files in the desired folder by clicking on ‘Select Folder’, and your files will be saved in EML format.

Step 2: Import EML files to Outlook

1. Launch MS Outlook and create a new folder to save the imported EML files.
2. Name your folder, and then open the folder where all the EML files are saved.
3. Drag all the files to the folder you’ve just created in Outlook and drop them there.

Method 2: Migrate Thunderbird emails to Outlook with the help of Gmail IMAP

Step 1: Authorize IMAP protocol in Gmail

• Log into your Gmail account and click on Settings from the Settings icon.
• Select ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ and click on ‘Enable IMAP’ under ‘IMAP Access’ section.
• Click ‘Save Changes’

Step 2: Log into Thunderbird using your Gmail account

• Launch Thunderbird and click on your email account.
• Click on ‘Email’ under ‘Set up an account’
• Click ‘Continue’ after entering your full name, email address, and password.
• Choose ‘IMAP’ configuration and click on ‘Done’. Your account’s configuration is done.
• On the left-hand side, right-click on ‘Inbox’ and click on ‘New Folder’
• Name the folder that’s just been created and click on ‘Create Folder’.
• Copy all the desired Thunderbird emails into the newly created Gmail folder in Thunderbird.
• It might take a while for Thunderbird to sync the copied emails to the Gmail server.

Step 3: Log into Outlook using your Gmail IMAP account

• Launch MS Outlook and log in with your Outlook account.
• Now, sign in with the same Gmail account that was used in Thunderbird.
• Allow Outlook to sync all the Gmail folders, such as the new folder that you set up in Thunderbird, where you transferred all the Thunderbird emails. This process could take a while, depending on the number of mail items and network speed.
• Copy and paste the new folder into your Outlook account after the syncing process is complete.
• Congratulations! You’ve successfully migrated your Thunderbird emails to Outlook. You can log out of your Gmail account now.

Limitations of Manual methods

• Not feasible for migrating a large mailbox
• There’s a risk of losing some of your emails during Drag ‘n’ Drop process if Thunderbird or Outlook crashes.
• Folder hierarchy is lost, and timestamps aren’t preserved.
• Deleted emails can’t be exported from Thunderbird to Outlook.

Automated method: Recoveryfix for MBOX to PST tool

The manual method is time-consuming and complicated, with considerable risks. This method is only suitable when you’re migrating a small mailbox and carries the risk of data corruption. Hence, a professional tool is recommended for such a tedious task.

We recommend using Recovery Fix for MBOX to PST tool for seamless migration and accurate results. 

Conclusion

Though Thunderbird was once regarded as an excellent email client it has now lost its popularity due to lack of community support and advance features, hence users and organizations are migrating from Thunderbird to Outlook. Manual methods are time-consuming and carry risks of data loss and corruption, making it an unreliable process. We recommend using professional tools such as Recoveryfix for MBOX to PST for efficient Thunderbird to Outlook migration.