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One of the hardest things to do when switching from IBM Lotus Notes to Microsoft Outlook is moving your emails, contacts, calendars, and other mailbox objects. Lotus Notes saves its data in NSF (Notes Storage Facility) files, whereas Outlook saves its data in PST (Personal Storage Table) files. Sadly, these two formats don't work with each other directly.

In this blog post, we'll show you a detailed, step-by-step way to convert NSF to PST. You don't need any third-party software to use this method, and it's free.

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Why do Users convert NSF to PST?

Let's first talk about why someone would desire to convert NSF to PST:

• Switching from Lotus Notes to MS Outlook
• The Lotus Notes software is either outdated or no longer supported.
• Outlook is simpler to use and costs less.
• PST is utilized more often in both personal and corporate settings.

How to convert NSF to PST manually?

You can manually convert NSF to PST files by using two functions that come with Lotus Notes and Outlook:

• Export NSF data to a CSV file
• Import CSV into Outlook

Let's go over each step in detail.

Step 1: Get the NSF file off of Lotus Notes

• To begin, you must install Lotus Notes on your computer.
• Open Lotus Notes and log in with your username and password.
• Click on "File," then "Open," and finally "Lotus Notes Application."
• Click on the NSF file you want to change.
• Once you've opened the NSF file, click on File > Export.
• In the Export window:
• Pick a place to save the file.
• Give the file a name.
• Select Comma-Separated Value (CSV) as the file type.
• Press Export.
• You might see several choices for how much data you wish to send. You can either choose "All documents" or pick individual ones.
• Click "OK," and your information will be saved in a CSV file.

This method will only send emails and contacts, so keep that in mind. Calendar entries and other things might not be saved completely.

Step 2: Open MS Outlook and import the CSV

It's time to put your data into Outlook now that it's in CSV format.

• Start Microsoft Outlook on your computer.
• Select Import/Export from the File menu.
• Choose "Import from another program or file" in the Import and Export Wizard and then click Next.
• Click Next after choosing Comma-Separated Values.
• Locate and select the CSV file that was exported from Lotus Notes.
• Choose what Outlook should do with duplicate items: replace them, let them in, or do not import them.
• Choose the location where you want the data to go. This is usually the Inbox or Contacts folder.
• Click the "Finish" button.

Outlook will now start bringing in the data from the CSV file. Depending on how big the file is, this could take a while.

Limitations of Converting Data Manually

This approach does work; however, it has certain problems:

• Can only send and receive small amounts of data, such as emails and contacts
• Attachments might not be there.
• The folder hierarchy is not maintained
• Takes a long time and isn't good for big mailboxes
• You must have both Lotus Notes and Outlook on your computer.

The manual method might not be the ideal choice if you need to convert a lot of NSF files or a whole mailbox, including emails, calendars, tasks, attachments, and organizational structure.

If you want to convert NSF to PST format quickly and safely without losing any data, you can also try a professional program like Mailvita Converter for NSF. This program makes the whole thing simple. It keeps all of the data in your mailbox, including emails, contacts, calendars, and attachments. This software not only converts data into PST but also supports MSG, EML, EMLX, HTML, and other formats. It keeps the folder structure, and it comes with a user-friendly interface.

If you want to convert from Lotus Notes to Outlook fast and safely, this software is an excellent alternative.

Last Thoughts

It doesn't have to be hard to go from Lotus Notes to Outlook. If you don't have a lot of data and have time to spare, the manual way works. Using a tool like this is a clever and quick way to convert whole NSF files to PST without any mistakes.