
Why would anyone want to migrate Apple Mail to Outlook for Mac? Maybe because the company wants you to. Or maybe you recently purchased the Office 2019 for Mac and wish to use Outlook now. Whatever the case, if you do not know the basic steps to take, you can never perform successful email migration. And that’s exactly where we come into play.
Email migration is a hot topic in the modern world. With so many email clients to choose from, it is not surprising to see users switching from one to another in such a short time span. Everyone wishes to scale his/her business, work smarter and be productive and a proper email client can easily help you achieve these goals.
One such task is the migration of Apple Mail to Outlook for Mac. Microsoft Outlook provides a simple yet effective email management system. Its advanced security and collaborative features make it a viable choice for Mac users. As business grows, they switch from the free email client such as Apple Mail to Outlook email platform. It adds to the growth of the business by helping it make emails look more professional and work more productive.
In this post, we will answer the following queries:
- Does Outlook support MBOX files of Apple Mail?
- Is there a free way to migrate Apple Mail to Outlook?
- Can I Move Mac Mail to Outlook without losing attributes?
- What are the supported file formats of Apple Mail and Outlook for Mac?
Let us start with the explanation.
Does Outlook Support Apple Mail Mailbox Files?
Outlook email client does not support Apple Mail mailbox files. It uses OLM to store its data and only provides the import option for PST & OLM files. On the other hand, Apple Mail works with MBOX files.
Although Outlook for Mac supports the creation of MBOX file by drag and drop function, it does not support importing the same files. There are no built-in options for that. This used to be easy in the early days, but Outlook has come a long way from its 2011 edition and Apple Mail has made changes in the way it saves MBOX data.
Manual Method to Migrate Apple Mail to Outlook for Mac
The migration can be done manually. Although it’s not the preferred choice, some users still use it as it’s “free”. The suggested sequence of steps for Outlook 2016 & 2019 for Mac are as follows:
- Open Gmail and head to its Settings.
- Choose “Forwarding POP/IMAP”.
- Enable IMAP and Save the changes.
- Select “SysTem Preferences” from the Apple menu.
- Select “Internet Accounts”.
- Choose “Google” and open browser to validate the account.
- Select “Mail” and click “Done”.
- Fire up Apple Mail and create a special folder in Gmail account.
- Copy Apple Mail emails into the special folder.
- Fire up Outlook for Mac.
- Head towards “Outlook” and choose “Preferences”.
- Select “Accounts”, click plus icon and choose “New Account”.
- Enter email and password for the Gmail account and “Allow”.
- Choose “Open Microsoft Outlook popup” and click “Done”.
An Alternative: Something That Doesn’t Endanger Transferred Data
Well, the manual method does works well. But the drawback of converting MBOX file to PST file with manual method is, it will consume much time for the whole migration process to complete. It doesn’t even ensure to maintain the integrity and hierarchy of the MBOX file.
Thus, to avoid all these situations where chances of data loss are often possible, it is recommended to use a professional for the migration process. The tool would not only help with data loss and file integrity but will save a lot of your time with ample functionalities to enhance your overall migration experience.

MBOX to PST Converter for Mac is a tool that specializes in Apple Mail to Outlook for Mac migration. It provides users with a multitude of features to carry out the process in a simplified manner. There are no limitations on the size and number of Apple Mail mailbox files the tool can process. Also, the whole conversion is covered in a short time-span in an automated manner.
Step 1: Launch the Tool and click either “Add File” or “Add Folder”.
Step 2: Browse the Apple mail MBOX files and click “Next”.
Note: If you do not know the location of MBOX files, simply export them from Apple Mail. To do that, select the mailbox folder in Mail.app and right-click to choose “Export Mailbox” option. Continue and save the files in MBOX format.
Step 3: Select “PST” format and apply the advanced settings as per requirements.
Step 4: Hit “Export” and successfully convert Apple Mail mailboxes to PST format.
Now that the files are available in PST format, all you need to do is import them in Outlook for Mac. Follow the final step and migrate Apple Mail to Outlook for Mac without losing attributes:
- Fire up Outlook for Mac.
- Head towards “File” menu and select “Import”.
- Select “Outlook for Windows archive file (.pst)”.
- Browse the file from the system and click “Import”.
- Once the file is imported, click “Finish”.
Conclusion
There are many affordable tools to migrate Apple Mail to Outlook for Mac. One of which is defined in this article. But still, many people to try the manual method first as it is free of cost. Therefore, we also provided a free way to open MBOX file in Outlook Mac. It will take time and may even endanger your data but ultimately, it’s up to you what to choose for Apple Mail to Outlook migration.