This is the fourth part of a larger series that I will be publishing in the coming weeks covering my switch from Outlook to Google’s online services. The intent of this series is to help others who have found themselves wanting more out of their email and calendar applications. This guide specifically covers how to transfer all of your Outlook messages to Gmail. A lot of us find ourselves switching to Google and wishing we could access all our saved messages from Outlook or other email applications online.
Unless you are an individual with access to Google Apps via your company or school, you will need to follow the steps below to transfer your messages from Outlook to Gmail. This method is kind of a work around which I have confirmed to work (I trasferred over 600MB of messages with attachments). It is a great alternative that keeps me from having Outlook around just for old messages. If you have any tips to share, please post them below.
Note: I used Outlook 2007 and a standard Gmail account to write this article. If you use Google Apps you can use this free tool to transfer your emails.
To view the how-to describing the process for transferring appointments from Outlook to Google Calendar, follow this link.
PLEASE NOTE before proceeding make sure you enable IMAP in Gmail by following these instructions.
Configuring Outlook
1. With Outlook open, click on Tools > Account Settings…
2. Click on the E-mail tab and click on the New… button.
Editing Task Details
3. When the Add New E-mail Account wizard opens, add a check mark to Manually configure server settings… Click Next to proceed.
4. Select the first option, Internet E-mail, click Next.
Enable Your Tasks List in Gmail
5. Fill out the form and make sure to select IMAP from the Account Type drop-down. Click on More Settings when form is complete.
Note: When filling out the form make sure that you use the following information;
- Incoming mail server: imap.gmail.com
- Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.gmail.com
6. When the Internet E-mail Settings window opens, click on the Advanced tab. Set the following port numbers and settings, then proceed to the next step.
- Incoming server (IMAP): 993 – use SSL for the encrypted connection type
- Outgoing server (SMTP): 25 – use TLS for the encrypted connection type
7. Click on the Outgoing Server tab and add a check mark to My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication. Make sure that Use same settings… is selected. Click OK to close the Window. Click Next on the Wizard screen.
8. Congratulations you have set up the Gmail account in Outlook. Click Finish to exit the wizard.
9. Wait a couple of seconds as Outlook fetches the Gmail folder list and starts making emails available within Outlook. The screen shot above shows how the Gmail account is listed.
10. Once the folders in Outlook match those in Gmail we can start moving emails over to the Gmail folders. Click on the folder containing emails from your Outlook file, select the emails within the folder (or the entire folder) and drag it over to the yourid@gmail.com folder list. This will start the transfer of e-mails from your Outlook files to Gmail’s servers.
11. In some instances you may see the dialog box above. Depending on the size of your Outlook folders transfers could take seconds to hours.
Once the file transfers are completed you will have access to all of your e-mail from Outlook on Gmail.
Tips
- Make sure your folder names do not use slashes (/) you will receive an error, there are other characters that I have not confirmed.
- Unless you specify that your are copying the items over, the operation will move the files from your computer (the original.pst file) to Google’s servers and they will no longer be accessible from the ‘original’ .pst file. They will be accessible via Outlook but through the Gmail folder list.
- It may seem that Outlook has locked up at times during the transfer, this is normal, it will happen if you have a lot of emails and/or large attachments, or your connection is slow.
Article posted on 06 28th, 2009
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This is one of those situations when I truly do not believe in the cloud. For me it is vital to have emails saved on my backup server – my customers’ privacy is very important. Yes, PCs can be hacked, data stolen, but not when they are offline. Google is more exposed to potential harm than a private PC. Although I don’t use Outlook (I use Thunderbird) I would not transfer emails to gmail, I would rather transfer gmail emails to Thunderbird (if these were customer emails, however I never use gmail for company communique).
Of course, Gil, your post has nothing to do with my personal preferences. It’s very useful for those who do want to make the switch – to be honest this is actually the first compelling tutorial of the kind I read in a while.
You are absolutely right Mihaela, that is why I urge users and make it a common practice to use as many safeguards as possible when using the cloud. With Gmail I make sure that I alsways use trusted computers to access my account, otherwise I don’t use it. When I sign on to Gmail I specify that I want to use HTTPS (secure) connection, which unfortunately is not enabled by default, and I make it a habit to change my passwords every so often and of course when I use passwords I make sure that they are strong.
I thank you for your insight and your concerns and it is something that we all have to contend with in today’s digital world.
Is there a way to do the same thing for a personal folders.pst file from Outlook 2001 (for Mac). I have tried the MS \Pst Import tool\ and it doesn’t work to import my (personal) .pst mail folder to Entourage 2004. I have sent up a gmail account and enabled IMAP, as you suggested. In Outlook 2001, under tools/services, I can only add an Exchange Server account and not some other e-mail account as you’ve described above. I have a G4 PPC PowerBook running OA 10.4.11. I plan to get a new laptop that will come with OS 10.5, which does not support Outlook 2001 (requires Classic). I also have Windows XP Pro and Outlook on my Mac, but the Outlook XP tool for importing a .pst file also does not work for me, even after running the \Scanpst.exe\ on the personal folders file I dragged from my Mac desktop to my XP desktop to generate a (repaired)Personal Folders.pst file. Any suggestions?
Thank you.
dhg
@David: Thanks for your question. Unfortunately I do not own a Mac and cannot attempt to duplicate your issue. I’m working on getting a Mac later this year so that I can help folks like you with Mac issues. You’re not the first to ask. Have you tried looking through Mac forums or Microsoft’s site for help? Good luck!
Take a look at this article;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311129
[...] Transfer Your Outlook Emails to Gmail [...]
As somewhat of a novice using certain protocols and certain computer language, I found your instructions, lucid and easy to follow—up to a point. I have been using Outlook 2003 and some of the choices shown in your importing to gmail procedures just do not seem to exist in that program. Thus, I’m kind of stuck. I’m reluctant to make my own \comparable\ choices, for fear of destroying the messages I still have in my Outlook account. Is there any way that I can translate your instructions, apparently made in relation to Outlook 2007, to my Outlook 2003? Thanks.
@Neal M Hoffman: I don’t have Outlook 2003 installed as my default client, but I can install it on one of my Virtual PC’s and try the same instructions. Once I’ve got it figure out, I’ll post the instructions here. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi: I’ve been using Outlook 2003 and can only go a short distance into your explanation and instructions regarding exporting email messages to gmail. I’m reluctant to guess at similar choices, for fear of losing my email messages completely. Is there any way I can substitute certain choices in Outlook 2003 for your choices, which seem to be coming from Outlook 2007? Thanks
Thanks Gil.
The reason I sent two messages is because the first one seemed to disappear from my monitor screen. I eagerly await your response.
Neal
@Neal M Hoffman: The article to help you transfer your Outlook 2003 emails to Gmail is live. Thanks for the feedback, I hope you find the article easy to use and helpful.
http://www.gilsmethod.com/transfer-your-outlook-2003-emails-to-gmail
Gil,
This method works well but I have a problem – many of my emails show as “unknown sender” in gmail after transfer. I’ve read elsewhere that others also have this problem – how can this be corrected?
Thanks,
Dennis
@Dennis Palmer: Interesting I didn’t encounter that issue when I transferred the emails over. It looks like it is an Exchange to Gmail issue, is this what you are using? Exchange?
Doesn’t look like there is a solution as of yet. I’ll keep you posted via this comment thread should anything come up. Please do the same. Thank you.
I’d urge you to Star this issue so that Google can hopefully take notice;
http://code.google.com/p/google-email-uploader/issues/detail?id=40
Might want to subscribe to this thread to see if someone posts a solution;
http://groups.google.com/group/Gmail-Help-POP-and-IMAP-en/browse_thread/thread/6c6801dd433de1f0
Yes, the pst I added was from Exchange. Hopefully Google will fix it in an update.
@Gil
“When I sign on to Gmail I specify that I want to use HTTPS (secure) connection, which unfortunately is not enabled by default”
You can force gmail to always use https so that you don’t have to type it in the URL bar every time…
It’s under gmail > settings > browser connection > always use https
(Not sure if that’s what you meant, but I hope it helps other readers…)
@Mang: That is what I meant and I should have included those instructions. Thank you for the feedback.
BTW I had covered this tip in the following article – http://www.gilsmethod.com/8-ways-to-secure-your-privacy-online
Hi, Gil:
I’m gradually learning how to use gmail. It’s quite different from Outlook, etc. The first problem I need to solve, however is one of email content. I’m using the new version of gmail, but in many of the messages I get I find them truncated or missing text or pictures or both. When I switch to the older version, All the information comes up. Would it be better just to stay with the older version, or is there something I can tweak a little to get all the messages into the new version?
Thanks.
Neal
@Neal Hoffman: Glad to see you are back, sorry for the delayed response – vacation! This problem can usually be solved by refreshing the Gmail window in your browser or restarting the browser altogether. If the issue is still not resolved you might want to make sure that if you have any Labs features enabled, that you disable them. If none of these options work, then I would revert to the old version and wait a couple of days to try the new version. Hope this helps and good luck.
I’ve been playing with this a lot lately. Here’s what I’ve figure out on my own.
1. The easiest way to transfer your mail if you use the Google Apps Standard edition is to use the free trial of Apps Premier. You get access to the tools for moving mail. This is useful for small organizations who are moving from exchange to Google. Cancel the trial before the 30 days are up.
2. Thunderbird moves the messages over much nicer than Outlook. By nicer, I mean you can queue up more folders while it is transferring and you get better feedback about what’s moving.
3. Unknown Sender Syndrome. This is an Exchange to G Apps issue. Easy fix is to create empty mailboxes in Exchange of the users/email addresses you are missing, then upload the email. If you are transferring from an archive folder, copy it back into Exchange then upload it.
In regards to online security of the “cloud”; your email server is probably just as easily compromised as Google’s (if not easier). Strong security practices will minimize your risk. Google is a bigger target and because of such, they work much harder to secure their servers and online services.
Hi Gil,
When I am transferring my mails to Gmail, the received items are all fine, but the sent items shows To:me it does not show the names/email to whom I have sent. Do you get the same thing?
Omg man I love in the face right now. I’m friggin running around my house going hysterical. I used this to switch from my AOL shitty email to a Gmail account. Gmail is so much more versatile and stable, emails don’t get lost here. Now i can still scavenge all my old mail and it even imports mail from my old email in case some subscriptions didn’t get the memo. I love Google and I am so happy to have found this tutorial. It was simple, short, easy, and detailed. Best tutorial for this on the net and I went through lots and lots of hassle.
@Jehanlos Roman – I’m very glad you like Gmail, I do too. I’m also very glad that you found the how-to guide useful. Thanks for passing by.
I went through a hassle with other tutorials and I almost tried YippieMove. White costs money! You can do anything on the internet, and I thank you for helping me. Sorry for the uber weirdness in the last comment. Was…well….hysterical!!! :]
@Jeahnlos Roman – Not a problem, I appreciate your enthusiasm, again thanks for the positive feedback. Wish to have you back soon.
Help!
i dragged a couple of folders from outlook to the newly created gmail account as instructed.
the folders have dissapeared from outlook but did not show up in gmail.
where are they????
thanks
@nilitos – Your emails should be in Outlook…were you pressing a key on your keyboard while dragging? Did you copy and paste or cut and paste? Please let me know so that I can help you. There’s no reason why your emails would be gone from Outlook you are simply copying the files from Outlook to Gmail.