Outlook-The Bat migration and mail transfer using Outlook Export Wizard

This article describes the process for MS Outlook migration to The Bat when it is not possible to use the standard The Bat import wizard.

To ease the process of MS Outlook migration, as well as migration from Thunderbird, Eudora and other mail programs, The Bat has a built-in wizard for importing e-mails and contacts. The import wizard is a fine solution for those wishing to transfer emails to The Bat on a single computer. But what should you do when you are migrating between two unconnected computers, for example, an office PC with corporate Outlook and a home computer with The Bat installed? In this instance you can transfer emails in the Outlook-The Bat direction by first performing an Outlook export of your messages followed by a The Bat import of these files.

How to extract emails from MS Outlook

The first step is to extract emails from Outlook. This format is not supported by Microsoft’s built-in wizard for Outlook export, so we will use the Outlook Export Wizard utility instead.

1. Launch Outlook Export Wizard and on the first page of the wizard choose the .pst file from which you wish to extract emails, and indicate the directory in which you want the generated files to be placed.
2. Set the “Output Format” option to “EML – Outlook Express (RFC822)” mode. Although The Bat supports the import of .msg messages, we recommend using the standard, tried and true .eml format.
   

   As alternative – you can select the “MSG – Outlook Message” output format and enable the special option “Export MSG files as RFC 822 text eml format“. This will save extracted messages to files of eml format with msg extension.

3. Wait while the program scans the structure of the .pst file and launch the process to begin to extract emails.
4. Check the result: the specified directory should now contain a group of folders corresponding to the Outlook folder structure, and which contain .eml files. Files with the .eml extension but which are not e-mails (contacts, calendar and agenda entries) can be deleted.

The exported e-mails should be written to a removable disk and transferred to a PC that has The Bat installed on it.

How to have The Bat import .eml messages

Now your messages will be added to the database of The Bat email messages. To do so launch The Bat and do the following:

1. Go to the directory to which you want to transfer emails (by default, the directory tree is on the left side of the workspace). This may be one of the pre-installed directories (“Inbox,” “Outbox”) or any user folder.
2. In the “Tools” menu → “Import Messages” → “Message files (.MSG/.EML)” use the dialog window to select the e-mails for The Bat import.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 in sequence for each directory to which you wish to transfer emails.

After importing the messages you need, you can verify how they look in your new mail program and thus finish your Outlook-The Bat migration.