A PST file is used by Microsoft Outlook to store email account data, including all messages, contacts, file attachments, and more. You can convert the PST file to save emails in a different format that might be easier to use in other programs.
When you convert a PST file, your emails will exist in a completely different file format, which can then be used to view emails without Outlook. If you are no longer interested in Outlook or want to be sure that you can always store your email, no matter which email client you use in the future, you need to convert the PST file.
Following are several ways to work with a PST file, such as converting it directly or extracting e-mail messages from it.
Make your PST file first
The first step in converting PST to another format is to export all your emails to PST format.
- Select File> Open & Export> Import / Export.
- Select Export To File.
- Click Next.
- Select Outlook Data File (.pst).
- Click Next.
- Select the top-most folder above your Inbox to ensure that your entire email account is backed up, including all subfolders. If Include Subfolders is not selected, check the box before continuing.
- Select Next.
- Use the Browse button to select the folder on your computer where the PST file should be. saved.
- Click Finish.
- Optionally protect your PST file with a password and then click OK to export Outlook emails to PST format.
Tip: did you accidentally delete something? Learn how to recover deleted emails from PST file.
Select the format you want
It would be unwise to save the PST file in a different format if you don’t even know what to do next. You can end up with a bunch of weird formats that are incompatible with what you want to use emails for.
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- Your ultimate goal is to save the PST file to your Gmail / Yahoo / etc. account, merged with all your other email letters and forever saved on the network?
- Want your emails to exist in PDF format so that you have easy access to all emails?
- Are there multiple messages from the PST file that you want to save?
- Do you have a really old PST file that you want to receive emails from, but you don’t have Outlook installed so you can read them?
Once you decide how you want to use the converted PST file, select the appropriate guide below.
Merge PST emails with your existing email account
Follow these steps if you want emails from the PST file to be merged with your existing email account in Yahoo, Outlook.com, Gmail, etc.
Basically, this will upload the PST file to this service, so that all emails from the PST file and your other email account will exist in one place across all your synced devices.
- Add your email account (like Gmail, Outlook.com, etc.) to Outlook so that you can see all your emails in Outlook. Let it sync completely with your computer.
- In Outlook, select File> Open & Export> Import / Export.
- Select Import from Another Program or File.
- Select Next.
- Select an Outlook Data File (.pst).
- Click Next.
- Use the Browse button to browse for the PST backup.
- Select one of the duplicate options, such as Replace Duplicates with Imported Items or Do Not Import Duplicates.
- Click Next.
- Select a folder from the PST file. which you want to convert to your existing email account. For example, if you select the Inbox folder, all emails in the Inbox folder will be converted.
- Check Include Subfolders if you want to convert these emails as well.
- Select Import Items To The Same Folder. , and then select the folder you want to convert emails to.
- Select Finish.
- Wait for emails to sync to save PST messages to your Gmail account (or any other account). you convert them to).
Convert PST to PDF, JPG and other formats
Unfortunately, there are not many free PST to PDF converters that work well. One option is to use a PDF printer like CutePDF Install it on your computer, select the emails you want to save as PDF and then select this printer instead of the real one. This method will put all selected emails from the PST file into one long PDF.
Some other options include Kernel for Outlook to PDF, CubexSoft Outlook Export (limited to 20 free at once), PST to PDF Wizard (only the first 25 are free), PST Viewer Pro (the first 50 are free), SysTools Outlook PST to PDF (25 free conversions)
Open View Pro Email is another example that comes free for the first 30 days, but it watermarks the document and also forces you to merge all selected emails into one large PDF.
This same program can convert email to image format in bulk, which is really handy, but again, the watermark remains if you don’t pay for it. Supported formats include JPG, GIF, PNG, EMF and a few others.
Another option is to convert the PST file to a set of EML files. This is another message file format, but it is compatible with many email clients, not just Outlook. The program linked above can do this for you.
Although this method takes a little time, there is a way to convert your PST file to PDFs, where each email is a separate PDF file. To do this, create MSG files from PST by drag and drop from Outlook or using Email Open View Pro (it does not leave watermarks on MSG files).
Then download all MSG files to PDFpen to save them as PDF. Five group conversions can be converted for free with this tool. You can also buy a license to manage more conversions at the same time.
If you have Mac, Stellar Converter for PST can save PST file to MBOX so that you can open emails with Apple Mail.
Save individual emails from a PST file
If you only have a few emails to keep, you don’t need to convert the entire PST file. Select the messages you want to convert from PST and then do any of the following methods:
- Drag the email from Outlook to the folder. When you do this, the email turns into an MSG file that you can open online or with offline tools like FreeViewer MSG Viewer, Email Open View Pro, and Free Opener
- Open the email you want to send. save and use the File> Save As menu to save it in TXT, MHT or HTML, three Outlook independent formats.
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