Export email from Outlook to Entourage

By Dave Riches

When I changed my main computer over from a PC to a Powermac G5, one of the biggest problems was an easy way to import a series of large Outlook mailboxes to Entourage (the email application within Office v.X for Mac).

Outlook uses a .pst file format which is not recognised by most other programs. My first attempt involved importing from Outlook to Outlook Express on the PC, then to Eudora on the PC, then to Entourage on the Mac. This method worked but it removed all the attachments, which was not ideal.

With the right procedure, it is very easy to get your mail from Outlook to Entourage (i.e. from the PC to a Mac), and keep all the attachments intact. The directions below apply to Windows 2000 on the PC and OSX 10.3 (Panther) on the Mac.

1. On the PC, install Mozilla and make sure the email option is installed as well (i.e. not browser only).

2. In Mozilla Mail, select Tools, Import, and then select the Mail radio button. Select Outlook from the next dialog box and your Outlook email will be imported (email will remain within the correct folders).

3. In Windows 2000, your mail folders will be created as files located in Documents and Settings/username/Application Data/Mozilla/Profiles folder somewhere (there may be a few more levels under this). The files we want have no extension. Add a .mbox extension to these.

4. Copy the .mbox files to the desktop of your Mac (using a network is easier, although burning them on to a CD will work too). For easier management, add them to a desktop folder called 'Imported mail' or something similar. Files with a .mbox extension will be shown with a mailbox icon.

5. On the Mac, drag each .mbox icon (i.e. each folder you used in Outlook) from the desktop to Entourage or its icon in the Dock, and click Import on the dialog box that appears.

6. Repeat step 5 for each .mbox file you want to import into Entourage.

This procedure will successfully move your email from Outlook to Entourage on the Mac. To move calendars, tasks and contacts I used a Palm m515 to sync the information with the Mac—I have no experience with doing this without a Palm, but I'm sure a method would exist somewhere.

Good luck!