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Top 2 Ways to Import PST File to IMAP Mail Account without Outlook

Ritu Roy | how to imap outlook software technology | 5 minutes read | Modified on: 03-01-2025
import pst to imap account

Summary: Are you looking for the best way to import PST file to IMAP account? Then, you have landed on the right blog post. Here we will provide the best solution to import PST to IMAP Mail server account. In this article, we will explain the top 2 ways to export Outlook emails from PST to IMAP account.

Brief Overview: Outlook PST and IMAP Mail Server

PST is a file format used by Microsoft Outlook to store data locally on your computer. It is a type of database used to save emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, and other data from Outlook.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is a standard email protocol that email clients (like Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, etc.) use to access and manage emails stored on a mail server. It allows you to read, organize, and manage your emails while keeping them stored on the server, rather than downloading them to your local device. This means your emails are available from multiple devices and are always in sync. This makes it ideal for modern use cases where access from multiple locations or devices is necessary

Reasons to Import PST to IMAP Mail Server Account

Here are several reasons why someone would want to import a PST file to an IMAP server:

  • It is also possible to utilize IMAP without an internet connection.
  • The IMAP Server shows every email together.
  • It saves the disk space locally.
  • Moving emails between accounts with IMAP enabled is simple.
  • You can easily access and open their emails with the help of an Email Server.

These are main common reason why users want to migrate PST to IMAP account. Now, we will talk about the both manual as well as the professional solutions.

How to Import PST File to IMAP Account Manually?

To import Outlook PST file to IMAP server, follow the instructions below.

  1. Install and open the Microsoft Outlook program.
  2. Next, select the File tab from the menu on the left.
  3. Next, select the “Open & Export” option.
  4. After that, select from the list the Import/Export option.
  5. Press the Next button after selecting the Export to a file option.
  6. Next, click the Next button after choosing the Personal Folder file from your system.
  7. To export contacts and calendars as well, select the Include Sub-folders option under the Export Personal Folders menu.
  8. Click the Finish button after finding the target path to download the freshly produced file.
  9. Finally, the IMAP server receives your PST file. Consequently, IMAP is indicated as the default server.

This is how you manually import PST files into IMAP. Additionally, there are certain drawbacks to the above process.

Drawbacks of Using Manual Method

Here, we listed some drawbacks while using the manual technique:

  • Manual migration includes its laborious and time-consuming process.
  • Its need technical expertise to do this.
  • Even for experienced users, batch conversion can be challenging. In actuality, a manual process cannot convert in large quantities.

Choosing a reliable solution can help you get past all of these difficulties.

Pro Solution – BitData Migration PST to IMAP Migration Tool

BitData Migration PST Converter is the perfect all-in-one solution to directly export Outlook PST file to IMAP account without opening Outlook. It allows you to accomplish the batch migration from Outlook to IMAP server. The user interface of this tool is easy to use. Additionally, you can convert Outlook PST emails with or without attachments. Also, users can download the PST to IMAP migration program with ease on any Mac or Windows operating system, including Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and any earlier versions. Below are a few features and procedures for importing PST files to an IMAP server:

Some Key Features of Outlook to IMAP Migration Tool

  • The PST to IMAP Converter tool allows you to open single or multiple Outlook PST files using Export Single Files and Export Multiple Files.
  • To import PST to Various email clients like Office 365, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, Thunderbird, IMAP, and many more email clients.
  • It also permits users to migrate specific emails from PST files by using the Date Range feature of this tool.
  • The software provides a smart preview feature to check the all the uploaded files and folders before starting the conversion process.
  • PST to IMAP Tool is a totally independent and standalone application, so there is no need to download or install any third-party application for migration process.
  • The software offers various saving output formats like PDF, MBOX, EML, MSG, OLM, DOC, PNG, HTML, and many more.
  • The free demo version allows users to convert the first 25 items from PST to IMAP without any cost.
  • This software supports a large number of accounts that IMAP account’s use. It is capable of switching Outlook data file to each of them. Simply choose the IMAP saving option and provide you login credentials to export your databases.  

Easy Steps to Import PST File to IMAP Account without Outlook

Primary, install and launch the PST to IMAP Migration Tool on your Windows PC and open the tool and start the migration process pf how to import PST to IMAP account:

  1. Go to Add Files option and load the Outlook PST files by using the Export Single Files or Export Multiple Files buttons. Then, tap the OK button to continue further process.
  2. After loading the files, check a complete preview of uploaded files. Now, select and deselect the files which you want to convert or not.
  3. Now, press the Export button to choose the IMAP saving output format from the drop-down menu list.
  4. After that, give the login details of your IMAP Mail Server account like Email Address, Password, and IMAP Host. Then, press the Convert button to start the process.
  5. At the end, you will get a completion conversion message on your screen “Process Complete Successfully”.  Click OK button to finished the process.

You now understand how easy it is to use the PST to IMAP Migration program to convert Outlook PST files to IMAP. After utilizing the sample version, you can see how effective this program is. The benefit of this method is that it allows you to backup Outlook data to an IMAP server without installing Outlook.

The Bottom Line!

This blog post explained all of the main reasons for converting a PST file to an IMAP account. We provided an automatic technique to solve this issue because the manual approach has a few drawbacks. You now need to decide which procedure best suits your needs.