Exporting and Importing Data in Outlook on Macintosh You can export an email account's messages, attachments, folders, contacts, calendar and appointments, tasks, and notes in Outlook as an ".olm" file as a way to save everything if the account is being disabled, or you simply want to "archive" or store the data on a computer's hard drive instead of in the account space on the mail server.
The .olm file can then be imported to Outlook to view, and, if desired, move the information to different set of folders, including any that are part of another email account (as long as the account is set up in Outlook and has enough available space).
Selecting Items to Export Outlook on Mac will either export everything - all account/folder headings in your Outlook list, including any existing On My Computer folders - or items flagged with a Category. If you are exporting to save an account that is being disabled (vs. everything in your Outlook list), you will want to label the account items with a Category first:
Click the
Categorize button in the top middle toolbar, then:
Outlook 2011 - select
Add New from the drop down menu that appears
Outlook 2016 - select
Edit Categories, then the
+ (plus) sign near the bottom center
Type in a unique name to describe the export, such as "Archive CUMC". You will only want to use this for the mail, contacts etc. that you'd like to export, and can remove the category when no longer needed.
Mark the items you want to export with the category just created:
To export everything under an account/folder heading you will need to go in to each folder and select all items in it:
While in the folder click
Edit from the top menu in Outlook, then
Select All from the drop down menu (or
command and
a keys on your keyboard at the same time). Everything in the folder will be highlighted/selected.
Click the
Categorize button and the category name to apply to all of the items.
For a smaller range of messages you can press the
control key on your keyboard while selecting two messages; everything between the two will be highlighted. To add non-adjacent messages you can press the
command key while clicking.
If there are contacts, tasks or other account items you want to include in the export, you will have to label these with the category as well.
Categorized items will be marked with the color of the category label and are ready for export.
Exporting Select
File in the upper left of the Outlook, the
Export from the drop down menu.
Choose your Export options:
Outlook 2011 - check the
Outlook for Mac (olm) data file option, then:
If you applied categories to items for export, check the
Items that are in the categoryoption and use the drop down menu to select the category.
To export
everything in Outlook (all account/folder headings in your Outlook list, including any existing On My Computer folders) you can choose
Items of the following types:and check which types of items (Mail, Contacts, Calendar, etc.) to include.
Click the right arrow at the bottom of the window to continue.
Select your desired option in the
Delete After Exporting? window, click the right arrow at the bottom, then move to step 3 below.
Outlook 2016 If you applied categories to items for export, check the
Items that are in the category option and use the drop down menu to select the category.
To export
everything in Outlook (all account/folder headings in your Outlook list, including any existing On My Computer folders) you can choose
Items of these types: and check which types of items (Mail, Calendar, Contacts etc.) to include.
Click
Continue when ready.
Outlook will prompt to choose a location to save the export file; be sure to keep it in a location you will remember. You can also re-name the file using the
Save As field.
Outlook will begin exporting. It may take a while if a lot of items were selected.
An
Export Complete message will appear, click
Finish or
Done to exit.
The .olm (export) file will be in the location selected in step 4. The messages, contacts, etc. in it can only be viewed again after importing into Outlook.
Importing Importing an .olm or .pst (Outlook on Windows) export file will store items as a sub-folder of the
On My Computer heading in Outlook.
With Outlook open, click
File from the upper left menu, then
Import.
An
Import window will appear:
Outlook 2011 Leave
Outlook Data File (.pst or .olm) selected and click the right arrow
Select
Outlook for Mac Data File (.olm) to use data exported from a Macintosh, or
Outlook for Windows Data File (.pst) to use data exported from a Windows computer.
Click the right arrow to continue.
Outlook 2016 Select
Outlook for Mac Data File (.olm) to use data exported from a Macintosh, or
Outlook for Windows Data File (.pst) to use data exported from a Windows computer, then click
Continue.
The
Outlook 2011 data on this computer option should only be used if you have not set up an account in Outlook 2016 yet, please refer to the Microsoft's tutorial if desired.
If there are a lot of items it may take a little while, eventually an
Import Complete message will appear. Click
Finish or
Done to exit.
The items will appear under the
On My Computer folder list in the left.
Imported Contacts or other items can be seen when selecting the Contacts, Tasks etc. view in the lower left of Outlook and expanding any On My Computer folder in the left.
Keep in mind that items under
On My Computer can only be seen from that computer. At any point you can move messages between folders on Outlook by dragging or copying.
Disconnecting Folders If you were importing to keep items from an email account that is being disabled, be sure to disconnect it from Outlook when done. If not you may see error messages once the account space is removed and Outlook continues to attempt connecting to it.
Note that disconnecting will not delete messages or data still stored in your account on the mail server before the account is disabled only removes the account from Outlook on the computer.
With Outlook open select
Tools from its top menu, then
Accounts from the drop-down menu.
Click on the account you want to disconnect from the left column to select it.
Select the
- (minus) sign in the bottom left.
When prompted select
Delete.
Outlook may take a few moments to disconnect from the account. When finished, select the red button in the upper left corner to close the Accounts window and return to Outlook.
The account folders will no longer appear in the leftmost list within Outlook.
Adrian Gates
Sr. Cloud Expert - Apps4Rent.