Now that I have a Pocket PC, there is a strong case for me to move back to Outlook as my primary email. At the moment I am using Bloomba which is blindingly fast on searching. The transfer from Outlook to Bloomba was simple. File..Import..you know the rest. Going the other way is not so easy.

  1. Export email to an .mbox file
  2. Download and install Netscape 7.2
  3. Find it can’t read the .mbox file
  4. Search in vain for Netscape 4.x
  5. Finally find it on downloads.com
  6. Download and install Netscape 4.79
  7. Open Messenger and let it read the .mbox file—the first successful step!
  8. Open Outlook and try importing. Get nowhere as Outlook cannot read the file
  9. Search the web for help. Found some instructions for Netscape to Outlook 2002.
  10. Start Outlook Express as per instructions
  11. Import from Outlook Express to Outlook
  12. Converted 2500 messages successfully—almost! All my sent emails were dated today
  13. Begin again to export the sent folder individually.
This was a trial to see if I could migrate back to Outlook. And given the results, it’s amazing the confidence hit that Bloomba has just taken. Once I get an anti-spam solution sorted the move ‘home’ to Outlook will occur.