RE: [WinMac] Win Outlook to Mac Outlook Express 4.5 Conversion

John Santora(bbstenor[at]home.com)
Tue, 4 May 1999 15:43:29 -0500

David Manley wrote on Tuesday, May 04, 1999 3:03 PM
>
> My new boss is leaving a Windows environment where they use Outlook. She
> has about 300 Contacts that she has exported from Outlook that she wants
> me to import into Outlook Express 4.5 on her Mac. I have tried to import
> the Contacts but it doesn't work.
>
> Is there a utility to assist with this or does anyone have any
> tips???????

This question gets asked like clockwork every couple of weeks, either here,
in the newsgroups, on the Mac e-mail web site, or various MacOE mailing
lists. Hopefully, SOMEONE at MS is listening and will make a converter.

The only thing that seems to work for now is a tough slog.

1. Export the Win Outlook contacts into a flat file or Excel spreadsheet,
and then open that up in Excel. Use Data -> Text to Columns... if necessary.
Note the field (column) order and names, including *Reserved*.

2. Stuff a new record in Mac Outlook Express with info in every visible
field, then export that to a flat file. Import that into Excel (Mac or Win),
again noting the field order and *Reserved* field locations.

3. Go to the Win Excel file, and re-arrange and re-name the columns as
needed to mirror the Mac export info. There are some minor, but critical,
differences which I can't recall.

4. Save the Win spreadsheet as a plain text, comma- or tab-delimited, *.txt
file.

5. Import the *.txt file into Mac Outlook Express.

This worked for me using Win Outlook 98 and Mac Outlook Express v4.0
sometime last year.

Good luck!

John Santora
Toronto, Canada

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