Transfer Outlook Folders to New Computer with Top 2 Ways

Wanna know how to transfer Outlook folders to new computer? This article will offer you 2 simple ways to finish that task. Read carefully below to learn more details.

By @Clytze Last Updated October 29, 2024

Need to transfer Outlook to new computer on Windows 11

When you want to migrate Outlook messages, contacts, calendar items, tasks and notes from one computer to another or restore a backup of Outlook data, you are able to achieve the task without effort.

Luckily, this page will provides 2 simple ways for you. You can use the Outlook Import and Export feature, or switch to a third-party backup software to make this task automatic. Just moving on to learn more details.

Reasons for why move Outlook 365 to new computer 

There are many situations where you may want to move Outlook data, such as emails, contacts, attachments, notes, calendar items, tasks, etc., to another computer. This includes, but is not limited to, the following situations.

๐Ÿšฉ Moving from an old PC to a new one. You are planning to replace a new computer and transfer all your outlook data to this one.

๐Ÿšฉ Moving from one email account to another. You want to transfer your exchange, Gmail mailbox data to another Outlook, Exchange or Office 365 account.

๐Ÿšฉ Transfer from Windows to Mac. You want to move outlook data from Outlook for Windows to Outlook for Mac.

๐Ÿšฉ As a backup solution. Creating Outlook data backup and saving it on another computer can effectively protect the data from accidental deletion, hard disk failure, virus attack, etc. that can cause loss.

The next part will explain how to move Outlook 365 to new computer with illustrated steps.

Transfer PST file to new computer via Import and Export

Step 1: Export Outlook folders to PST files to cloud or external hard drives:

Firstly, you can follow the tutorial to backup Outlook folders to PST files, and save them in the cloud account you are currently using or to an external hard drive.

Step 2: Restore or import your data into Outlook on the new PC:

1. On the new computer, open Outlook desktop app. Select the File tab. In the Open & Export category, select Import/Export.

2. In the Import and Export Wizard, select Import from another program or file, and then select Next.

3. Select Outlook Data File (.pst), and then select Next.

4. Click Browse and select the file that was copied from the source computer to the target computer and is ready to be imported. Select Next.

Note: Under Options, we recommended that you select Do not import duplicates, unless you want the imported information to replace or duplicate items that are already in Outlook.

5. If a password is assigned to the Outlook Data File (.pst), you will be prompted to enter the password and click OK.

6. The top folder (usually Personal Folders, Outlook Data File, or your email address) is selected automatically. Include subfolders is selected by default. All folders under the folder selected will be imported.

7. Select Finish. Once you're satisfied that all your information has been successfully transferred, you can delete the original files or keep them as backups.

Move Outlook 365 to new computer with AOMEI Backupper

Compared with using Outlook's built-in feature to backup the folders inside, there is a simpler and more flexible way to help you backup outlook emails, contacts, calendars, attachments, etc. easily, that is the best backup software AOMEI Backupper Professional.

As you can see, the Outlook Import and Export feature does not support transferring multiple folders at the same time and can only backup a single folder to PST file, which will consume loads of time. However, with AOMEI Backupper, there will be no such limitations and it has many outstanding features listed below.

โœจ It provides you with the Outlook backup function to backup any data including emails, attachments, calendars, contacts, etc. other locations such as internal and external disks, USB drives, NAS devices, network locations, SD cards, cloud services, etc. โœจ You are allowed to backup your Outlook data automatically using the Schedule Backup feature, and set scheduled backup tasks at daily, weekly, monthly and event triggers intervals as you like. โœจ You can run incremental backup or differential backup to reduce backup time and the backup image size, thus improve your backup efficiency.

Step 1: Backup Outlook folders with AOMEI Backuper:

Now you can download and install this professional backup software, and then start Outlook backup according to the on screen instructions. If you are a Windows Server user, you can choose the AOMEI Backupper Server edition.

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Tip: It is suggested to backup Outlook data to cloud or external hard drive, thus you can access the data on the new computer easily by logging in the cloud account or inserting the hard drive. Then import or restore Outlook image on the new computer.

Step 2: Restore the Outlook backup image on the new PC:

Once you have a Outlook backup image in hand, you can use it to restore the folders to the target new computer.

1. On the new computer, open AOMEI Backupper, click Restore and then click Select Task. 

2. Select a backup point based on the created time and backup type and click the "Next" button.

3. Please select the Outlook folders you want to restore and click the "Next" button.

4. Choose "Restore to a new location" to select the target storage path to store the folders. Select "Start Restore" to begin the restore. Click "Finish" once the process has completed.

Step 3: Import MSG files to Outlook using copy and paste:

This recovery process is not over yet, now the Outlook folder is saved in MSG format, so you need to manually import it into Outlook specific folder. 

1. First, go to the MSG files folder and copy all the MSG files.

2. Then open Outlook and paste them into desired Outlook folder. Now the whole process to restore Outlook files on a new computer is finally done.

Final thoughts

Now you know how to transfer Outlook folders to new computer after reading this full tutorial. Outlook offers you Import and Export feature to make this task convenient, but it has some limitations. Thus, you can still try the best backup software AOMEI Backupper to transfer Outlook data to new PC easily. It is also powerful disk cloning software which enables you to finish Dell Inspiron 15 replace hard drive with SSD without boot issues.