How to migrate emails and contacts from Entourage to Outlook
I know that one would never ever dream of migrating from a Mac to Windows, but recently I was asked to help someone move all emails and contacts in Entourage on Mac OS X to Outlook on Windows XP. I didn't think it would be too hard a job! I mean, they are both Microsoft products, right?! Click export here, click import there! Nope! Let me first explain what happens when you do it the obvious way, and then I'll give the not so obvious way that works. So, if you go to
Entourage File > Export, you'll be given the option to export whatever you wish: Notes, Contacts, Emails... . Once you go through the steps, you'll be given the option to save the file somewhere and you'll be presented with a .rge file (most likely with the default name of Main Identity.rge).
The problem is that Outlook won't understand this file! So much for the obvious way! So you reach this stage, you'll probably search the Internet and you'll find a couple of solutions which you have to pay for. You have to pay to migrate your emails between two Microsoft products?! Pfuf!
Thankfully, I found the solution at macosxhints.com, which I will entail here:-
To make things easier in transferring the files between the two computers, create a folder called, say, master email folder on your Desktop. Now depending on the hierarchy of your email folders in Entourage create folders with the same name. So, if you have an Inbox email folder in Entourage and there are three sub-folders inside, create the same hierachy in the master email folder.
Once you've created folders for all the email folders in Entourage, it's time to add your emails to them. Go to each email folder and select the emails (Command+A to select all). Then drag and drop them over the folder with the same name, i.e. drag and drop Inbox emails over the folder named Inbox, etc. One point to remember is that if you have lots of emails, and you try and select all of them and drag+drop them, it could give you bad results (missing emails is what happened to me!). So do it in batches if there are lots of emails in a folder. The folders will contain files which are named "email subject".eml. Once you've done this for all of the email folders it's time to export your contacts.
Now to export the contacts. Go to File > Export and select Local contacts to a list (tab delimited text). It's then ask for a place and name to save the file and you'll end up with a .txt file. Simple!
Now comes the slightly tricky part! The import is done in two stages. Once you transfer the master email folder folder to your PC, you will need to import into Outlook Express first. Outlook Express come with Windows XP, so you should be able to find it in your Start menu. Open Outlook Express (if you don't use it, it'll ask that you create an account - cancel it). Also open the master email folder. Now create the same hierarchy as your Entourage (same as your master email folder) on Outlook Express, i.e. folders, sub-folders etc. Then drag+drop emails from folders on the master email folder on the folders in Outlook Express.
Once you're done have a check to see if all is there. You should be seeing something very similar to your old mailbox, though the formatting of the text will look weird. I would mention that using the Import option in Outlook Express didn't work for me (gave errors!), hence the drag+drop method. Now for the second stage, go to File > Export in Outlook Express and follow the menu. It will tell you that your settings will be exported to MS-Outlook, and they will! In my case, the formatting returned to "normal" once the export was done, though I'm not sure if it will work in all cases.
Finally, you will need to import your contacts, which you can do from Outlook's Import menu. Choose a CSV option for importing and you'll have your contacts imported as well. I think there will be an option for you to map your imported contact details to the fields you think are correct in Outlook. Again, I was using basic information, so didn't need to do that.
And that's it... a bit tedious, but it's done. It's silly to think that all this had to be done to migrate from one Microsoft email product to another! Hopefully this will be fixed in Office 2007 and the version for Mac that will be out next year. Was there an easier way? Did I miss something? Please leave a comment and say how you've achieved the same thing! Thanks to this thread where the migration method was explained.
Comments
[...] Maybe blogging will help Jump to Comments I know that one would never ever dream of migrating from a Mac to Windows, but recently I was asked to help someone [src] [...]
Sorry, I wasn't trying to be mean and I apologise if you feel I was personally attacking you.
When I said "Are you guys for real?" I was not referring to you, I was talking to the people that made your post a hot one. I was saying: "Look at this post, it's about porting mail to Outlook... of all the 700,000+ blogs on WordPress, this one is hot?! Isn't their something more important than this?"
I wasn't knocking you, I completely understand your blog and I get blogs like yours and I know it's hard work and I know it's guys like who actually get off their ass and contribute your time to create real content (unlike mine which is just bullshit).
Thinking about it I should have picked something less useful, but it seemed once I hit the line "Do you really think that adding to the Entourage HOWTO is gonna help?" I felt I was onto something.
If you want me to remove my post I will. I can find someone else to pick on.
The only issue with this is that if there are any special characters in the subject line the files won't transfer so easily over to a PC. Nice work around though.
Mac Tech, thanks for the tip!
I guess I was lucky that I didn't get any special characters when I was doing the migration!
Hi,
Thanks for the help - however, I'm not able to duplicate your drag&dropping of entourage messages into the Folder. It does it, but ends up with a bunch of 0kb blank messages. I even saw it through the import from Windows Mail (outlook express vista version), to outlook, but still blanks..
Great instructions. Just followed for switching from Entourage 2008 to Outlook 2007 on Windows Vista Business. Same exact deal except that Vista has "Windows Mail" rather than "Outlook Express". No import still from Entourage directly to Outlook! Just don't ask why I made this switch.......
Well, I am one of those who migrated from Windows to Mac and back to Windows. Reason: It is not impossible but damn what a pain in the rear it is to try to make a Mac machine work in a Windows environment. My employer does not have an official support group for Macs so fixing even the smallest thing takes forever. I know Windows in and out so I am coming back to what I know how to fix when it breaks. Don't get me wrong, Macs are great computers and at some point I even considered getting one for home (which in the end never happened and ended up building my own rig).
@Polks
Did you drag+drop a whole folder? That could cause the 0Kb emails. As suggested in the article, try to drag+drap in smaller batches and that should be fine.
I remember I had the same problem, dragging the contents of a folder (+400 emails) in one go, and it didn't work well. So I then did it in smaller batches. Hope that helps!
In Outlook there is an option to import tab separated values. Will that not work?
Thanks for this. I had to move stuff over to the PC as I'm recently been asked to use a client's laptop while working for them. I had two slight difficulties/differences. a) My version of Entourage wouldn't export emails, but I just copied and pasted. b) I used Outlook [ie not the Express] and then moved upwards to Windows Mail; in this case, I had to import from Outlook, rather than export from Outlook.
Big thanks again. I didn't want to have to pay to do this.
Hey, that is really helpful...
thanks
It's not a matter of religion - Mac's are often just the right tool.
My Mac gets me home at the end of the day 3 hours earlier.
I am able to match skill with the power PC users on those tools as well. Have 2 in active use at my house - both within 3 feet of me.
I even run a virtual window on my Mac so I can access a few programs that run best on the Windows plane of existence.
The question on this thread was a very good one - and I will be trying it out - as I am going to give my corporate laptop upgrade a try (might be a mistake - will know quickly).
Seems like religion gets in the way of debate and there needs to be new GODWIN rule. As soon as the word "CRAP" is used, end the debate because it's over anyway.
Ok, I have to do this at work. So I googled "how to transfer email files from Entourage to Outlook" thinking I was insane and that I'd never find anything telling me how it could be done. Lo and behold! There you are! Thank you! I feel like such an idiot at work when it comes to stuff like this, so if I can pull it off by following your instructions I will pray blessings on you & yours for as long as you live!
I want to move my emails from Outlook 2007 to entourage 2008 on my Mac. Cause I have finally figured out that MAC's rule. But everyone i have looked for help with moving from outlook to entourage, nothing seems to work. Didn't know if you had any tips on how to do this. Thanks so much for any help you can give.
Thanks a bunch!
Exporting the contacts as tab-delimited values doesn't support unicode text.
I also too am migrating from Entourage to Microsoft Outlook thanks to the graces of Windows7. My wife's Emac (2002 purchase) was a piece of crap and would tend to agree the comment regarding Webster's comment to paying double the price for hardware that isn't comparable to similarly priced PCs. Apples "agility" in brainwashing the granola cruncher desktop computer crowd into thinking being part of the "in crowd" is the best thing since sliced bread is like comparing them to Jim Jone's Church of God or a Hari Chrisna sect. Fun clothes, interesting musical sounds, a pretty interesting product look at for a bit, but just takes a while to adjust to the reality that you've been scammed into buying into the hype of drinking the KoolAid.
I'll nerd my way back into Windows7 and kiss any Apple desktop/laptop computer back to OpenOffice/Windows7/Mozilla/Firefox/Google's Picasa and a smile.
hi guys. To all of you wants to move all your mails from Entourage to ms outlook, i have found a rather simple way of doing... it will keep it by date, including contacts, attachments etc...
from Entourage, copy/ drag-drop the mail folder to mac desktop >> copy the file to win xp/vista desktop. open outlook EXPRESS and copy the items to inbox, sent etc... now that your mails on EXPRESS open microsof outlook and import from EXPRESS
goodluck,
Mike
Fixing that formatting...
Thanks for the post. It was certainy helpful, although the loss of formatting was a big issue for me so I discovered another way of transfering the emails (rather than the folder on the desktop > outlook express > outlook method).
It's really simple. All you do is start a new email in Entourage, drag a bunch of emails from a folder onto the new message as attachments, then send it to yourself (or an address on the PC). I suggest doing them in batches that do not exceed your maximum email size...
When you recieve the email in Outlook on the PC, you can drag all the attachment emails directly into a subfolder in your inbox. It keeps ALL the original formatting including time and date.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the tip Noah!
Seems very easy, I'll have to try it the next time I have to do a migration.
Thanks for sharing! : )
Outlook 2007 does nothing to address this. Poor planning.
@Chris
Shame! Maybe we have to wait till Office 2008 on Mac! (False hope?!)
Thanks for this. I am going to have to give up my mac *sob* when I change jobs at the end of the year and I just panicked wondering how I was going to keep all my emails etc when I go back to just using my PC laptop.
Thanks for the method, Hyperreality. I don't have access to the Mac where my Entourage files were archived from. Now all I have is the archive CD-rom. I think I'm stuffed if I can't get hold of a friend's Mac.
Just got Office 2008 Mac, and guess what: no export/import to Outlook.
Microsoft - wake up! Or do you attend moron class each morning!
Your help was really, really helpful, I was going to do exactly what you said in the beginning...export here, import there.
Thanks for your help!!
The only part that didn't work with your tips was to import the contacts, so I used this one that I found in this link:
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/cross_platform/mac_win.html#crossplatform
To copy contacts, follow these steps.
1. In Entourage, select File > Export. The Export screen prompts "What would you like to export?" Select "Local contacts to a list (tab-delimted text)." Save the file.
2. In Excel, select File > Open. The file opening window presents an Enable menu to filter file types. Choose "Text Files", and open the exported text file.
3. The Text Import Wizard appears.
1. For step 1, choose "Delimited" for file type. Click "Next".
2. For step 2, click the "Tab" checkbox for Delimiters. Click "Next".
3. For step 3, you can remove columns from the table. I did not bother to do this. Empty columns are skipped. Click "Finish".
4. Save the Excel file in "CSV (Windows)" format. Excel will complain about incompatible features, asking you if you want to save without those features. Click "Yes".
5. Now you need to get the csv file into Outlook. In Outlook select File > Import and Export. The Import/Export Wizard appears. From the list of actions, select "Import from another program or file". Click "Next".
6. From the list of file types to import from, select "Comma Separated Values (Windows)". Click "Next".
7. Locate the file to import. For destination folder, choose Personal Folders\Contacts
8. When the "Import a File" screen appears, click the button "Map custom fields." This is the trickiest part of the procedure. You need to compare the field names in the Entourage and Outlook address books. Some are the same, and these are already mapped for you. Others are different, and you need to manually set the mappings. Follow the instructions on the screen. Recheck both sides, and when you are satisifed that you have the correct mappings, click "OK'.
9. Click "Finish".
Your Quote: "I know that one would never ever dream of migrating from a Mac to Windows, but recently I was asked to help someone move all emails and contacts in Entourage on Mac OS X to Outlook on Windows XP."
This is no surprise and I am sure a heck of a lot more people migrate to Windows PCs than the Apple Hack media is ever going to report. The REASON is very easy to understand - Macs are crap. I am one of those that is fed up with Apple products that break and die a lot earlier that any major brand PC I ever owned!
I have had, in just the last 10 years, a G3 PowerBook Wallstreet become unuseable because of broken hinges and a dead AC/DC changer board; a G3 600Mhz 14" iBook that Apple had to fix FOUR TIMES in two years before the FTC FORCED 3 year warranty expired (it's DEAD now); a G4 Dual 733Mhz Power Mac that the AGP slot DIED 1 month after the 1 yr warranty ended (Apple CS said "too bad, should have bought Apple Care"); a G4 1.2Ghz 12" iBook that Apple's fixed 3 TIMES in the first 9 month and a $2500 G4 PowerBook that died at an aged of 26 months old! (LCD cable - which CAN'T be replaced unless you buy a WHOLE NEW LCD - $599).
Macs are CRAP and Apple over charges you TWICE their value. I have a 7 YEAR OLD HP P-III 1.2GHz OmniBook (Win XP) that still runs like new! And, I just bought a new 15.4" HP Pavillion DV6400 series media notebook w/ 4GB of DDR RAM and a 250GB HDD and paid HALF of what a piece-of-shit MacBook Pro would cost and the HP is TWICE the notebook in quality and features!
I am proud to say I am a FORMER Mac users and I will NEVER buy another Mac or Apple piece-of-shit ever again ..... and I talk people out of Macs every day. (I'm in Educational IT management)