How to Convert OLM to PST Format – Manual and Direct Ways

Let’s talk about emails and why they are important to us. Email (or e-mail) is commonly known as an electronic mail message which is sent and received by recipients through an email client. Being active internet users, we all use emails in our day-to-day life. Be it an individual, organization, or any business, email is excessively used for communication purposes. An email user sends and receives hundreds of email messages each and every day. Email is free, fast, and always targeted. These are the most impressive qualities of email. Further, we will utilize a trustworthy utility named Sysinfo OLM Converter to convert OLM to PST. Let’s know more about Mac and windows Outlook.

To send and receive emails, you can use any web mail service provider like AOL, MSN, Gmail, Yahoo, and many others. You can use a desktop application which is commonly known as email client software. There are various email client applications available, such as Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook, Windows Live Mail, Outlook for Mac, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Entourage, etc. The email clients provided by Microsoft are highly popular among Windows users. Also, its Outlook for Mac client is commonly used by Mac users.

Difference Between Mac Outlook and Windows Outlook

Microsoft provides its Outlook email client for both Windows users and Mac users. For Windows users, Outlook is available as a separate application and a part of the Microsoft Office suite. Be it any version of MS Office, i.e. 97 to 2016, Outlook is available for Windows users. In Mac, limited editions are available for users, such as Outlook 2011 for Mac, Office 365, and Outlook for Mac 2016. Though the platforms are different, both email clients share the same functionalities. But the main difference is the files used for storing mailbox data like email messages, contacts, calendars, tasks, notes, and many more. Windows Outlook creates an Outlook data file in PST format (personal storage table) to store the entire mailbox data while Outlook for Mac stores all the mailbox data into an OLM file.

Need to Perform OLM to PST conversion

Sometimes users need to switch from Mac system to Windows due to corporate constraints or personal reasons. Think you were using Outlook 2011 for Mac previously, but now you have switched to the Windows system. You have very crucial email messages and other mailbox data stored in an OLM file. As now you are on the Windows system, you are using any version of MS Outlook. It doesn’t support OLM files, so you can’t import them to Windows Outlook directly. In fact, Microsoft doesn’t provide any utility that can import or export OLM files to Windows Outlook. What to do in such a situation?

Manual Method Convert OLM to PST Format

Luckily there is a manual trick that can be helpful in this situation. Though the manual trick I’m going to share here in this post is easy and safe, I would suggest to you take a backup of your OLM files before you can perform it. The manual procedure for importing OLM files data to Windows Outlook is long enough therefore, I have divided it into multiple parts:

Part 1. Create IMAP Account

You can start this manual procedure by creating an IMAP mail account. The best option you can have is Gmail. Just go to Gmail and create a new email account there. Once the account is successfully created, you can log in to your Gmail account. Generally, a Gmail account has two options: IMAP or POP. You need to enable an IMAP account. For that, follow the steps given below:

1. On your Gmail account, you can see a Gear button on top of the right side. Click it and a list will be scrolled down.
2. You can see the Settings option there in the list. Click it.
3. Now you are in the Settings section of your Gmail account. On the menu bar, you can see the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab. Just click it once.
4. Here you need to check your IMAP status. If it is disabled, check it to enable it and click Save Changes. Or if it is already enabled, leave it and click Cancel to exit.

Part 2. Setup Outlook for Mac to IMAP Account

Once your IMAP account is successfully created, you need to set up your Outlook for Mac with it. For that, follow the steps given below:

1. Launch Outlook for Mac client on your system. On the menu bar, go to Tools > Accounts….
2. Now you are on the Accounts dialog box. Click Email.
3. Enter your account information here, such as your email address, password, and other required information. Click Add Account.
4. The IMAP account you have added just now, is now listed on the Mail tab.

Part 3. Synchronization between Outlook for Mac and IMAP Account

In order to perform synchronization between Outlook for Mac and IMAP accounts, you need to create a Gmail label. For that, follow the steps given below:

1. Log in to your Gmail account again.
2. Again click the Gear button on top at the right side. Click it to scroll down the list.
3. You can see the Settings option there in the list. Click it.
4. Now you are in the Settings section of your Gmail account. On the menu bar, you can see the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab. Just click it once.
5. Click Create new label.
6. Now go to your Outlook for Mac client and update the IMAP mailbox by clicking Send/Receive button.

Note: Make sure the label should be shown and the Show in IMAP box is checked.

Part 4. Move Emails to IMAP Mailbox

Now here comes the main part where your emails and other mailbox data will be moved from the OLM file to the IMAP mailbox folder. For that, follow the steps given below:

On Outlook for Mac clients, click the mailbox folder you want to move to the IMAP mailbox. Then click Move > Copy to Folder.

1. Type the name of your IMAP folder and click Copy.
2. Once you have copied mailbox data to the IMAP mailbox folder, click Send/Receive button to update Outlook for Mac IMAP folder. It can also be updated by refreshing the folder on the Gmail account.
3. All the copied emails or other mailbox data have successfully synchronized to the IMAP mailbox folder.

Part 5. Move Data from IMAP Mailbox to Windows Outlook

This is the last part but the most important part of this process in which you need to move your mailbox data from the IMAP mailbox folder to Windows Outlook. It can simply be done by dragging IMAP mailbox folder data to the Inbox folder of Windows Outlook.

Note: Before performing the manual trick, make sure you have taken the backup of your OLM files.

Automated Method to Convert OLM to PST

The manual procedure is quite time-consuming which is the main drawback. The other major drawback is if your OLM files are corrupt, you cannot use this manual trick. In such a situation, professional software can help you import OLM files to Windows Outlook. using third-party Sysinfo OLM Converter software is programmed for converting OLM files into PST format so that you can easily access your old mailbox data without causing any hassle. The software doesn’t take enough time unlike manual procedure, and it also supports corrupt conversion of OLM files.

The Sysinfo OLM Converter software is available with a demo version which can be freely downloaded for free evaluation purposes. The Demo version works the same as the licensed version of the software. But due to a limitation, you can’t save the converted output into a PST file. In the demo version, you can preview your mailbox data. To save them, you need to purchase the licensed version of the software which will cost you $99.

Conclusion

In this post, we have given a manual and an automated method to convert OLM to PST format. The manual way is quite good, but it has limitations. So, I suggest you utilize the automated solution rather than the manual.

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