How to Export Office 365 to MBOX: A Complete Guide

Office 365 is a popular suite of cloud-based services. It is widely used for business and personal communications. Outlook is also known for its integrated email service. However, users sometimes want to export their Office 365 mailbox data to other email clients, like Mozilla Thunderbird, which uses the MBOX format.

Unfortunately, Office 365 doesn’t provide a direct way to export Office 365 to MBOX, but there are several manual and automatic methods to do this. In this comprehensive blog, we’ll cover how to export Office 365 mailbox data in MBOX format using a manual and reliable Office 365 migration tool without any issues. First, we will know the reasons, and then we will navigate to the distinct methods to accomplish the task.

Why Do We Need to Export Office 365 to MBOX?

There are various reasons why users may need to export their Office 365 mailboxes to MBOX format. Here, we mention some of them to understand the export process in a better way:

• Thunderbird and other email clients like Apple Mail or Eudora use MBOX files.
• If you are moving away from Outlook or Office 365, exporting to MBOX allows you to access your emails in many email clients.
• Having your email data in MBOX format can serve as a reliable backup.
• MBOX files offer flexibility, allowing you to switch between platforms and email clients.
• Organizations may need to archive emails in MBOX format for compliance or legal reasons.

The pointers mentioned above are the main reasons why one wants to export emails from Office 365 to MBOX. Let’s proceed with the next section to learn about the methods.

How to Export Office 365 to MBOX 

There are no native options to export Office 365 mailboxes directly to MBOX format. However, we can use a combination of different methods to achieve this. The most common methods are either manually or with the help of a professional solution. We will describe each method in detail in the next section. 

Method 01: Manual Method to  Export Emails from Office 365 to MBOX

One of the frequently used manual ways to export Office 365 mailboxes to MBOX format is by setting up your Office 365 account in Thunderbird. Once your emails are synced in Thunderbird, you can simply drag and drop the emails into local folders, and they will be saved in MBOX format.

Here’s how to export your Office 365 emails to MBOX format using Thunderbird:

1. First of all, install and Open Thunderbird on your Windows PC.
2. After that, navigate to the Tools and pick the Account Settings.
3. In the Account Settings tab, click on the Add Mail Account.
4. Next, you should input your Office 365 login details>>Continue.
5. Now, Thunderbird will try to automatically set up your Microsoft 365 account.
6. Here, right-click on your email account name in the folder list in Thunderbird.
7. Choose New Folder from the menu that appears >> name the folder and click Create Folder.
8. Now, move to the folder of your Office 365 email account where the emails are stored.
9. To select the emails you want to export, press Ctrl+A to highlight all emails.
10. Click and drag the selected emails into the Local Folder you just created.
11. Next, right-click on the Local Folder in the Thunderbird folder list and Choose Export… from the menu.
12. Select a location on your computer to save the exported MBOX file >> Name the MBOX file and click Save.

Limitations of the Manual Method

When you export data from Office 365 to MBOX format, it comes with  several limitations: 

• The process must be repeated for each mailbox one by one separately. 
• Users must have a good understanding of email clients and formats.
• There’s a chance of missing emails or corrupting data during the process.
• It does not support exporting all items (like contacts and calendars).
• Along with that, this method is very lengthy and time-consuming. 

For these reasons, many users opt for professional tool for a more reliable and user-friendly experience.

Method 02: Reliable Way to Export Office 365 Mailbox to MBOX

The MigrateEmails Office 365 migration Tool helps users export Office 365 to MBOX within a few clicks. In addition to MBOX, it allows users to save O365 data in PST, EML, MSG, and others. Also, it can restore data to Office 365 or download it to a local system. Moreover, it supports the migration of multiple Office 365 accounts simultaneously. Along with that, it includes a preview option to allow users to view the emails before the migration process. Users can also utilize additional features like Date range, selective migration, removing duplicate features, etc. With its many features and easy-to-use design, it works with all early and major versions of the Windows OS. 

Let’s move to the steps to simplify the migration process: 

Simple Steps to Export Office 365 Folder to MBOX

1. Launch and Open the Office 365 Migration Tool on your screen.
2. Now, click on the ‘Backup’ or ‘Restore’ button to begin the process.
3. Enter your Office 365 credentials (email address and password) to Sign in.
4. After logging in, the tool will display all your Office 365 mailboxes.
5. Next, select the Office 365 mailbox or specific folder(s) you want to export.
6. Now, select MBOX as the output format and specify the location to save the exported MBOX file on your local system.
7. You may have options to customize the export settings (like date range, etc.).
8. Click on the Convert button to begin the migration process of Office 365 to MBOX.

This tool simplifies the migration of Office 365 data to MBOX and makes sure that your data is securely and efficiently transferred.

Read More: How to Save Office 365 Email Attachments to OneDrive for Business?

Conclusion

After going through the complete blog, you get the verified solutions to export Office 365 to MBOX. Both manual and professional solutions are working; you can pick any of them according to your O365 data. The manual method needs tech expertise and is suitable for small-scale migration processes. In contrast, given software is easy to use and performs large-scale migrations. With this software, you can convert and manage your Office 365 emails in the MBOX format. It makes it simple to handle your emails now and in the future. If you run into any problems, don’t hesitate and ask for help from our tech support team.

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