Here are some options that allow you to move email from your UI email account to an alternate email account (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.)

 

You can use Outlook to move emails from your Office 365 account to an alternative email provider (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) In order to move your emails, you first must have both accounts configured in Outlook.

Configuring Outlook to Access Your Office 365 Account

  1. Once you have your accounts configured in Outlook go to your Office 365 Inbox to view your emails. NOTE: contact your email provider support (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) for help configuring your account if you aren't sure how to do it 
  2. To select your whole Inbox, press Ctrl + A. To select specific emails, hold Ctrl and click to highlight the emails you wish to move/copy. 
  3. Once you have the emails you wish to move/copy selected, right-click and a drop down menu will appear, select Move
  4. "Move" will give you some options as to how you can move/copy your emails: 
  • ​"Other Folder" will move the emails you selected to a new folder and then will remove the emails from your Office 365 mailbox
  • "Copy to folder" will send a copy of the emails you selected to a folder of your choosing. This option will leave a copy of the emails in your Office 365 mailbox.
  1. Once you select "Other Folder..." or "Copy to Folder.." a new window will open displaying email folders. Select the folder you wish to copy/move the emails to and click OK when finished. 

You can use Outlook to move emails from your Office 365 account to an alternative email provider (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) In order to move your emails you first must have both accounts configured in Outlook (Mac). 

Configuring Outlook (Mac) for Microsoft Office 365

  1. Configure your personal account in Outlook  NOTE: contact your email provider support (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) for help configuring your account if you aren't sure how to do it 
  2. Once you have your accounts configured in Outlook, you will need to create a new folder to store the emails you wish to transfer. To do this go to the upper left of the screen and click the New icon. After this a dropdown window will appear, from this window select Folder to create a new folder.
  3. After you create the folder, select your Office 365 Inbox. From there you will select which emails you wish to copy/move.
  4. To select the whole Inbox press Command + A or to select specific emails hold down command and click to highlight the emails you wish to copy or move to another inbox. Once you have the emails you wish to move selected you can right-click or hold "control and left-click" to bring up a dropdown menu.
  5. Once this menu appears, click Move. This will give you two options:
  • "Choose Folder" -- this option will move the emails you selected to a new folder. This option will remove your emails from your Office 365 Inbox and place them in the folder you selected.
  • "Copy to Folder" -- this option will copy the emails you selected to a new folder. This option will leave a copy of the emails in your Office 365 Inbox, and place copies of the emails in the folder you selected.
  1. Once you click either "Choose Folder" or "Copy to Folder" a new window will appear asking you what folder you wish to move/copy your emails to. Type the name of the folder you created earlier, or the name of an already existing Outlook folder to transfer the emails. Once you find the folder, select Move.

 

You can use Mac Mail to move emails from your Office 365 account to a different email account such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. In order to transfer emails between two different email providers, you first must have the email accounts configured in Mac Mail. 

Configuring Mac Mail to Access Your Office 365 Account. See Apple's website regarding configuring email accounts with Mac Mail.

  1. Once you have your email accounts configured in Mac Mail, go to your Office 365 Inbox to view your emails.
  2. To move all your mail to another email account press Command + A to select all the emails (if you wish to select specific emails you can hold down command and click to highlight the emails you wish to move or copy). Once you have the emails you wish to move selected, right-click or hold down Control and Left-click and select Copy to.. if you want to leave a copy of the emails in your Office 365 Inbox. If you want to move all your emails from your Office 365 Inbox and have them be deleted from your Office 365 Inbox click Move to..
  3. Once you move your mouse over either "Copy to.." or "Move to.." you will see a menu giving you options to where you can send the emails. Select your folder of choice and click to move the emails.

You must have a Microsoft Office/Outlook license to do this method. 

Outlook for Windows

  1. Open Outlook
  2. Click File | Open and Export
  3. Click Import/Export
  4. Click Export to a File and click Next
  5. Select Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next
  6. Select the top level folder for items to export (e.g., jane-doe@uiowa.edu) and make sure "include subfolders" is checked
  7. Click Next
  8. Name the file and location and choose the desired option for duplicates
  9. Click Finish

Outlook for Mac  (must be using Outlook "old" - see https://its.uiowa.edu/support/article/119996

  1. Select File | Export
  2. Choose the files types you wish to export (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes)
  3. Click Continue
  4. Type a name for the exported file and location where to save it and click Save.

 

Next, make sure that you have configured Outlook to open your personal email account only. 

Outlook (Windows)

  1. Open Outlook
  2. Choose File | Open & Export.
  3. Choose Import/Export.
  4. Select “Import from another program or file” and click Next.
  5. Select “Outlook Data File (.pst)” and click Next.
  6. Browse to your .pst file, select it, and click Open.
  7. Choose whether you want to allow, replace, or not allow duplicate items. Then click Next.
  8. If you want to import the entire .pst file, select the main folder containing all subfolders. Then select the checkbox labeled “Include subfolders” OR if you only want to choose certain folders, expand the Outlook Data File until you see a specific folder you want to import. Select that folder.  Then select the checkbox labeled “Include subfolders”
  9. Finally, select the option labeled “Import items into the current folder” and click Finish

The emails and folders will appear in your currently selected folder. If you need to make any final adjustments, simply drag and drop the emails and folders to the correct location.

Outlook (Mac)

  1. Open Outlook 
  2. Select File | Import
  3. Select the file type to import - Outlook for Windows archive file (.pst) or Outlook for Mac archive file (.olm)
  4. Browse to locate the file on your computer and choose Import
  5. Click Finish when complete.  The imported items appear under On My Computer.  
  6. You can then drag the folder(s) to your Office 365 account so they will be stored on the O365 servers and can be accessed from anywhere.

 

Article number: 
102567
Last updated: 
July 18, 2023