How to Import Microsoft Outlook.com Emails to Thunderbird? (2022 Solution)

  author
Written By Mohit Jha
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On October 11th, 2022
Reading Time 5 Minutes Reading

Do you have an Outlook account? Are you using it through the webmail platform? Do you need to access your emails in Outlook online from any free desktop application? If you need to, read this article to get the facility to import Outlook.com emails to Thunderbird application. This will help you open and access your Outlook emails offline made and work with it accordingly.

Why Thunderbird and Not Microsoft Outlook?

Mozilla Thunderbird is a free desktop email client that has the compatibility to work on cross platforms. It is really easy and free to download from the internet and use on your system. Whereas MS Outlook is not free at all. We need to license the application. The Thunderbird application offers the facility to keep a copy of emails on hard drive in system in MBOX format. It is the default email format of Thunderbird. Plus, you can drag each email to the desktop to create an EML file for that email.

Both Thunderbird and Outlook offer the same set of functionalities for email servicing and the emails exported from Thunderbird can be used on multiple email clients like Zoho Mail, Apple Mail, Entourage, Eudora, The Bat, etc.  While emails exported by MS Outlook are usually supported by Outlook itself.

These are some of the reasons why you should start using Thunderbird instead of Outlook. Now, we move to the process to import Outlook web emails to Thunderbird.

Read More: How to Move Contacts, Calendars, Tasks & Emails from Outlook to Outlook.com?

Methods to Import Outlook.com Emails to Thunderbird

In case you are to forward your emails from the Outlook online account to Mozilla Thunderbird, you can succeed in it by these two options. They are efficient as well as easy to execute. You just need to know the technicality in yourself and the efficiency to execute the process to avoid any sort of data loss.

  1. Backup Outlook.com emails and import to Thunderbird
  2. Configure Outlook webmail in Thunderbird

The first procedure is easy and assures to provide secure transmission of data and import of Outlook.com emails to thunderbird without data loss. As in the case of the second process, you need to perform a configuration process. It may take time if you fail in setting the correct server configuration. We are giving away both options in the upcoming sections. Go through each option to find the easiest you prefer.

Export Outlook.com Emails in Thunderbird Format

To accomplish this task you need to install a simple application on your system. It is called the SysTools Outlook.com Backup Tool. This utility will fulfill all your needs by export Outlook.com emails to USB, Hard Drive in Thunderbird format. Thereafter, you can easily import the file into Thunderbird using the Thunderbird Import Wizard. You need to perform the below process to succeed to get the assured results.

Steps to Import Outlook.com Emails to Thunderbird File

Step-1: Run the Tool and login with Outlook.com account

Login to Import Outlook.com to Thunderbird

Step-2: Select Thunderbird MBOX format

Select MBOX Format

Step-3: Browse a Location to save the Thunderbird file

Location to Import Outlook.com Emails to Thunderbird

Step-4: Click on Start to import Outlook.com emails to Thunderbird.

Start Process

Now reach the destination to view the file. To open the file in Thunderbird, open Thunderbird application and perform the import MBOX file process using the Import wizard. It is really safe and no data loss has occurred to date. Now we move to the alternative solution that is a little complex as compared to the above process.

Also Read: How to Export Outlook.com Contacts to iCloud?

Configure Outlook.com Account to Thunderbird

In this process, you will be adding the Outlook webmail account to the Thunderbird application. Here be sure with the server settings you will enter for the Outlook online account. If any setting gets wrong the process will fail. Also, you need to check for the two-step verification for your account. If it is on, you need an app password to configure your Outlook account in thunderbird and import Outlook.com emails. When you are all set to configure your Outlook account, perform the below process in the Thunderbird application.

  1. Open Thunderbird application
  2. Click on tools, then Account Security
  3. Click on Account Actions and then select Add New Mail Account option
  4. Enter your name, Outlook webmail account, and password. Click on Continue
  5. Go to Manual Configuration and provide the correct server settings
  6. IMAP: outlook.office365.com, SMTP: smtp.office365.com
  7. Check for SSL encryption and select normal password options
  8. Click on the Re-test option and then select the Done option.

This will add the Outlook account in Thunderbird. Restart the Thunderbird application to import Outlook.com emails into Thunderbird and you can find the Outlook account in the mailbox panel.

Final Words

The Outlook users can try using their mailbox from the desktop itself by adding the Outlook.com account in the Thunderbird application. You can find two prominent solutions that will help you efficiently import Outlook.com emails to Thunderbird and use it in Offline mode.

 

FAQ

Ques: How to use the tool to import Outlook.com emails to Thunderbird?
Ans:
Follow the below steps to download all Outlook.com web app emails:

Step-1: Download and execute the tool on your computer
Step-2: Log in to your account in the software
Step-3: Select MBOX file format to import Outlook.com emails to Thunderbird
Step-4: Browse location and click Start button to begin process.

  author

By Mohit Jha

Mohit is a Microsoft-certified expert who has assisted thousands of clients with Outlook & Microsoft Office 365 issues. He enjoys writing on email clients as well as data migration. He is always excited about giving troubled readers the most up-to-date knowledge, explanation, and refinements.

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