As mac Minis and iPods tempt users over to the Mac platform, some will be looking to bring their emails with them.
There are a number of ways to get your emails over from a PC to a Mac (e.g. doing “The IMAP Shuffle” or using a program like Outlook2Mac), but you can also do it using an open source utility called DbxConv. Here’s how:
1. Download DbxConv and unzip it into a new folder on your PC’s c: drive (e.g. c:\emails).
2. Locate all your Outlook Express mailboxes (search for *.dbx in Windows Explorer) and copy them over into the same folder (e.g. c:\emails). If you use Outlook, you could try importing all the mail in your .pst file into Outlook Express first and then copying the .dbx files into the folder after that.
3. Open a DOS prompt window (Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > DOS Prompt) or click on Run in the Start Menu, type in cmd and press enter.
4. Navigate to the folder you created (e.g. c:\emails).
5. Type:
6. All your .dbx files will be converted into .mbx format.
7. Transfer all the resulting files over to your Mac and put them in a folder (maybe on your Desktop).
8. Open Mail and select “Import Mailboxes” from the File menu. Select “Other”, then check the “Mailboxes (mbox format)” and tell Mail where you saved the transferred files.
9. Voila! All done.
UPDATE: Or you could try this method using Mozilla to convert Outlook’s *.pst files.
[...] Switchers moving over to Mac will want to bring their contacts with them after importing their mail into Apple Mail. I know of two ways to move contacts over. [...]
[...] Getting your head around the new software is one thing. Moving your mail over from Outlook or whatever PC client you used is another. You can read some tips about how to do that here and here. [...]
[...] I’ve blogged before about using DbxConv and Outlook2Mac to switch Outlook messages, contacts and calendars over to Apple Mail. [...]
hi im just wondering if u kno any web sites dat r quicker at sending messages than msn messenger but onne dat u have 2 sign on from line like msn hotmail.co.uk for example
plz ur a life saver if their is on thanxz
Hi Tracey. I use Fastmail for my email. I think it is a terrific service.
Fastmail has free accounts, but you do have to sign up for them. I can’t think of any service that would give you email without the need to sign-up to create an account.
I just wanted to say THANKS! for this great tutorial to assist in transfering mail from outlook express on the pc to mac mail! It worked like a charm and now my girlfriend loves me again. Yes, I introduced the MAC into this relationship and not getting all her mail over immediatly was having a bit of an impact
Good news!
I love a happy ending :)
Hi ,
You are great ; great prog !!!!
You saved me in corner .
Patrick
I changed to Mac Book Pro , I love it ! Why the f..k I don´t changed bevor
any ideas on how to switch from mac mail to outlook? i am working remotely and using broadband dialup. mac not so cool for that. want to switch my mailboxes from mac mail to outlook on my macbook pro…
Hi Rob,
Are you using Panther or Tiger? The mailbox structure is quite different in each.
I wonder if the suggestion at the end of this post will help:
http://www.hawkwings.net/2005/10/23/switching-from-thunderbird-to-apple-mail/
Hi
I have saved my .dbx folders on a portable hard drive and no longer have my PC just my macbook pro. Is there anyway I can convert to my .dbx folders to .mbox on the mac without using a pc?
Thanks
Rosie
Hi Rosie. I wonder if emailchemy will help you. It converts an astonishing amount of formats.
Just want to thank you for the tip! I’m gradually transfering all my stuff – music, photos, email, etc. – from my trusty old Dell desktop PC to a shiny new Mac Book Pro. Thanks to you (and of course the author of dbxconv.exe) transfering the email has been totally painless.
Thank you, thank you for the great tips & app!
Thank you for the tip. dbxconv works well indeed! Oh yes, it might be obvious but it’s easy to forget: don’t copy *.dbx files while Outlook Express is running it can lead to data corruption.
Hello,
I tried using this tip, it worked (even though it was very slow…:-)).
But do you know how to transfer your outlook express emails in a way that the organization of the folders is transfered as well (I have around 400 folders… and now they all appear one below the other in Mail.app… and all the hierarchical structure is gone).
If you know how to do that, that would be great!
Thanks for the great tip and content of your site.
Regards,
Julien
Julien, I’ve never tried to do this myself, but I wonder if using Mozilla as the middle man will give you better results:
http://www.hawkwings.net/2005/11/22/switching-from-outlook-to-apple-mail-via-mozilla/
Another option is to move all your email to IMAP, which will not only keep your folders intact, but help you to sync your email between multiple computers and give you extra insurance against data loss.
Help! Some of our important e-mail on outlook express is going directly into the delete file.
Could you please help me as to the solution.
Thank you very much. Pete
vobeda@alynk.com
Switch to Apple Mail.
Thank you so much for this amazing program and web tutorial! This literally recovered e-mail I had in storage for 2 or 3 years! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
POP @ mac -> IMAP -> Big mess with Stupid Outlook Express on XP -> back to mail.app !
Works like a charm ;)
Thanks !
Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a great tip.
If somebody is looking for a more automated way of converting Outlook email to mbox files, check out our product – MessageSave –
http://www.techhit.com/outlook/export_import_outlook_mac.html
Thanks for posting this. I found that my version of Mail (2.1.1) does not have the “Mailboxes (mbox format)†checkbox and would not recognize the *.mbx files. I renamed them to *.mbox and everything worked fine.
Hi there. I’m evangelising Macs to my website clients and most of them will be adopting Mac’s Mail to replace the Outlook Express they are familiar with, mostly on the basis of not getting virused up every week and having to get someone to de-louse their PC. They will need to bring their old messages over to their Mac in most cases before they scrap the PC altogether and it looks like your method will save a lot of hassle for Switchers.
I think you could write a nice Switcher’s guide article for the excellent UK-based magazine MacFormat which caters for PC to Mac switchers in it’s articles. The editor’s (Graham Barlow) email is: gbarlow@futurenet.co.uk
I would strongly suggest you send them a proposal for an article.
By the way – thanks for saving my reputation!
best of luck,
James Burke
Ireland
Works great for me..
(outlook express 6.0019 to IMail 2.1.3)
Many thanks !
Leo Bakker
Netherlands
would like to add that I had to move the imported folders (in Imail) from the import folder to another folder otherwise the e-mails were not readable after a whiie..
The website list in “1.” above (DbxConv) is German. Is there an equivalent English site? Thanks!
What do you suggest if the PC is not working? I’m getting the hard drive info off of it but I imagine that functionality will be limited. I can export directly, but probably won’t be able to save the files as a different file name or into a different program before taking it off the computer.
[...] called DbxConv and is available here: http://people.freenet.de/ukrebs/dbxconv.html This site – Importing email from Outlook and Outlook Express | Hawk Wings – gives a good description of how it works so I’m going to give it a go tomorrow. K86 – I’m going [...]
Did you think that you can import your email with duplicate emails? If you don` t want to import them you should use outlook 2007 duplicate email remover