How to Move Your Local Emails to a New Computer

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October 28, 2022

by Alex Shipman

It only takes three steps to transfer your entire local mailboxes to a new computer are: export them on your old PC, move files to the new one, then import. Sounds simple as clicking a button, but in fact many users find themselves struggling to move all local emails to their new home. In this article we describe a way to transfer your Outlook emails from one computer to another. If your local email client on the old computer is not Outlook, or if you migrate from Outlook on your older computer to another email client other than Outlook, you can find a migration recipe in the end of this article too.

The problem

Upgrading a computer once in a while is a routine task in 21st century. Apps gradually require more CPU power and more memory and migrating to a newer machine in order to maintain smooth performance of applications has become a frequent necessity.

One of the tasks arising during migration to a new computer is the need to transfer the entire Outlook mailbox including messages, attachments and contacts. This can be really puzzling, having never faced a task like this before. Indeed, what is the first starting point? Don’t worry, this tutorial will shed the light on the question in a minute.

Typically, every email transfer includes three steps: first, you need to export emails from the email client on the source computer, then you move them to a new computer, and finally you import them to the destination email client. Typically. But in reality, the process often doesn’t go as intended. Messages are lost, formatting breaks, attachments are not opening and so on. Sometimes, problems begin with the very exporting of emails, especially when it comes to older or not so popular email clients.

The solution is near.

The solution

As we’ve said above, there are three steps overall: exporting, moving, importing. Here, we discuss how to export Outlook local emails, how to move them to a new computer, then import them to the destination Outlook – one way is manual, and the other one is automatic.

Step 1: Exporting emails from Outlook on your old computer

The easiest way to extract emails from Outlook is to export them to a PST file. Here is how you can do this.

Click the File menu at the top of your ribbon and select Import and Export.
We need to export our mailbox data to a PST file, so select “Export to a file”. Click Next.
Outlook can export to a number of formats, but we need PST, so select “Outlook Data File”. Click Next.
Select a mailbox folder you want to export to a PST file. Make sure you enabled the “Include subfolders” checkbox. Click Next.
Now, browse for a path where the exported PST file must be saved. Click Finish.

Importantly, you can only export one mailbox account at a time. If you need to transfer emails from multiple email Outlook accounts to another computer, please repeat the above steps for each such account.

Step 2: Moving to a new computer

Now, on your old computer browse for a folder where you just exported your mailbox. Copy the exported PST files to any mobile storage device. Disconnect the device from your old computer, then plug it to the new one. Copy files from the mobile storage to any folder on the new PC.

Step 3: Import your Outlook emails to a new computer

To transfer messages, attachments and contacts from a PST file to Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2019 on your new computer you need to import each PST file by opening it in Outlook. Here is how you can do this:

On your new computer, start Outlook. Create a new account if you didn’t do that before.
In the File menu, select Import and Export.
Now, in the Import/Export Wizard select “Import from another program or file”. Click Next.
Select “Outlook Data File” as the source file type.
Browse for the folder where you copied your PST file from the mobile storage on pt 2.
Select a PST file in that folder and click Open. Click Next.
If the PST file was password protected, enter the correct password.
Now, select a folder in your Outlook account where you want to import your mailbox data from the old computer to. Click Finish.

The importing process will take some time. Note that you will need to import each PST file separately. Repeat the same procedure for every saved PST file. You can also find out how to move ost file to new computer while you’re at it.

Move Outlook Emails Automatically

Exporting an outlook .pst file to create backups entails a lot of repetitive manual steps. It can become tedious when you have multiple computers or accounts to reconfigure. What’s more, it’s easier to make mistakes along the way. So, can you automate the process? Yes, but you need a third-party tool to speed up the workflow.

Here are the steps to expect when using the migration tool from Outlook Transfer, and the steps tend to be similar to other solutions.

Download the email migration tool Outlook Transfer for a given email client. You can also choose the specific tool on the download page here.
Install this tool on your older computer.
Run the tool and follow the instructions to export messages and contacts from your legacy email client to a PST file.

Then, simply follow the above tutorial starting from Step 2.

The data extraction kit for outlook can allow you to effortlessly export Microsoft Outlook objects into other formats. This even allows you to use another email client such as Gmail to open the new outlook data file.

Migrating from another email client to Outlook

Your older computer might be old not only technically, but also morally. For instance, software installed on your old computer may be largely outdated, including the email client. Such discontinued but still widely used email clients are older versions of Windows Mail and Outlook Express, Eudora Mail, The Bat!, IncrediMail and others. Surely, you don’t want to ditch your entire correspondence just because it is stored in an older email client.

In this case, you should use a third-party tool like Outlook Transfer to effortlessly export emails from your outdated email software on the old computer to Outlook on your new one. Regardless of what specific software you use, the steps are nearly the same:

Download the email migration tool Outlook Transfer for a given email client. You can choose the specific tool on the download page here.
Install this tool on your older computer.
Run the tool and follow the instructions to export messages and contacts from your legacy email client to a PST file.

Then, simply follow the above tutorial starting from the Step 2.

Migrating from your old computer to non-Outlook email client

If you want to transfer Outlook emails from your old computer to a new computer, but don’t plan to use Outlook on it, there is a simple way to move your emails to another email client on the new computer. You will need Data Extraction Kit for Outlook to do this.

The step-by-step to transfer Outlook local emails to a new computer and import them to another mail client is:

Download Data Extraction Kit for Outlook here.

Download for FreeFor Windows 32/64-bit Buy from $24.95Unlock all features
* - The unregistered version converts a limited number of messages
Install the tool on your old computer and run it.
The program can automatically convert mailboxes from Outlook or from a PST file to a number of formats including MSG which is supported by many emails clients including Gmail and Thunderbird.
Transfer the exported mailbox files to your new computer and import them to the destination email client using any standard means it provides.

Conclusion

Yes, migrating to a new PC is like moving to a new home. At first you panic, then you assess the immensity of the disaster, then you methodically move things from here to there, and finally you feel comfortable again, at your new place. The same is true for email migration: there a lot of troubles involved. But at least one of them can now be settled. Moving your local emails in Outlook to a new computer can be easy, especially if you apply professional email migration software that greatly simplifies the process.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I transfer my Outlook email account to a new computer?

You only need to transfer outlook data files that are transferable. There are two major ways to do this. You can transfer data manually with the Import and Export wizard. The feature is only available on the desktop app. Because generating the data files takes a lot of time and repetitive tasks, you can use third-party email migration and data extraction software.

How do I transfer Outlook folders from one computer to another?

Use the export wizard to export files and settings. The wizard walks you through the steps. But take note to select “Export to a file” and choose “Outlook Data File (.pst).” The only limitation is that the file format doesn’t offer much flexibility, for instance, using another program to import outlook data. A good alternative is using a third-party tool that can extract and export outlook data into different formats. An extractor tool can even transfer outlook archive to new computer.

How to Transfer Emails From One Computer to Another in Windows 10?

If you’re using Microsoft 365, Exchange.com, Outlook.com, or Live.com accounts that are not accessed by a POP or IMAP, your emails and account settings are backed up online. Offline, you’ll only have an OST file. It’s not necessary to move this file across computers, as it will be recreated on your new devices. Now, for accounts accessed by POP or IMAP, you can generate (.pst) files with the outlook import export wizard.

How to Transfer Email Addresses From One Computer To Another?

You can export contacts in outlook with the import/export wizard. After choosing Export to a file, make sure to select, Comma Separated Values, and specify where you want to store the .csv file. If you’re using the People contact management app, your contact information will be automatically synced between devices. No need to worry, your vCard file will be safe.