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Stage 1: Export mailboxes from Apple Mail
- Open Apple Mail and select the mailboxes you want in the sidebar (Cmd-click to pick several).
- Choose Mailbox > Export Mailbox.
- Pick a folder, for example a new folder called
Mail Export on the desktop, and click Choose.
Each mailbox becomes a folder named like Inbox.mbox. On the Mac it looks like a single file, but it's a package with a file called mbox inside, plus an Info.plist.
IMAP accountsFor iCloud, Gmail or other IMAP accounts, Apple Mail may only hold headers for older messages. Select the mailbox and use Mailbox > Synchronize first, so the export contains full messages and attachments.
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Stage 2: Copy the export to the Windows PC
- USB drive: format it as exFAT in Disk Utility. Both macOS and Windows can read and write exFAT, and it has no 4 GB file limit.
- Cloud drive: OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox work, but zip the export folder first so the package structure survives.
- Network share: fine for copying, but move the files to a local disk before converting.
On Windows each Inbox.mbox shows up as an ordinary folder. Open it and you'll see the mbox file with no extension. That file is the mail.
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Stage 3: Convert the MBOX to PST
Magic Soft MBOX Converter reads Apple Mail MBOX files, including the extension-less mbox file inside each package, because it checks the file signature instead of the name.
01Load the export
Choose Folder tree under Source Mode and select the whole Mail Export folder, so every mailbox loads at once.
02Preview
Check a few folders and emails, including some with attachments.
03Choose PST
Click Export, pick Outlook PST (PST), and set a destination.
04Export and open
Click Start Export, then in Outlook use File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data File.
No email client has to be installed for the conversion. The trial converts the first 10 emails of each MBOX file so you can check the result in Outlook first.
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What about Outlook for Mac?
Outlook for Mac can import Apple Mail data, but it saves archives as .olm files. Outlook for Windows can't open OLM. If the goal is Outlook on a Windows PC, the MBOX to PST route above is the direct one.
Summary
Export on the Mac, copy via an exFAT drive, convert the MBOX to PST on Windows and open it in Outlook. For Thunderbird or Gmail archives, see the general MBOX to PST guide and the Google Takeout guide.
