Microsoft Outlook is undoubtedly the best email client in the world today. In the last few years, it has come up with many advanced features and enhancements, leading more people to migrate to this tool from other email clients.
In particular, IBM or HCL Notes users migrate to Outlook because of the latter’s advanced features and comprehensive collaboration and communication functionalities. Following are some specific reasons why users migrate from Notes to Outlook.
- Outlook’s pricing is more competitive when compared to HCL Notes.
- Outlook seamlessly connects with other popular Microsoft services, including its cloud offerings.
- Notes restricts users to a single account, while Outlook allows users to have multiple accounts simultaneously.
In all, there’s a greater move towards Outlook; if you’re one such user, this article is for you.
Migration to MS Outlook
IBM or Lotus Notes stores your emails, attachments, contacts, and other information in a file format called Notes Storage Facility, with a .nsf extension. This is a non-relational database file.
On the other hand, Microsoft Outlook stores your content in a format called Personal Storage Table, with a .pst extension. This is an open proprietary file format for storing all Outlook data.
As you can see, NSF and PST are completely different file formats, and hence it’s not possible to simply copy contents from one format to another. You will have to go through an elaborate conversion process to move your existing data from HCL Notes to Microsoft Outlook.
There are two methods to do this conversion: Using the Manual method or third-party tools like Stellar Converter for NSF. Let’s take a brief look into the manual process before heading on to review the best third-party tool, Stellar Converter for NSF, for this purpose.
Manual Process of Migrating From NSF to PST
The manual process is time-consuming and requires expert technical skills. It is broadly divided into two processes: migrating from NSF to an intermediary CSV file and importing the CSV file to Outlook.
Migrating from NSF to CSV
To migrate data from an NSF file to a CSV format, follow the below steps.
- Open Lotus Notes and navigate to File > Export.
- This opens an Export dialog box, and here, provide a file name, its destination location, and the file format as CSV.
Now, your data from NSF gets saved into a CSV format.
Importing Data from CSV to Outlook
Now, it’s time to import this data to your Outlook. To do this,
- Create a profile on Outlook and navigate to File > Open and Export > Import/Export.
- This opens the migration wizard, and in the first window, select “Import from another program or file.”
- In the next window, select CSV format and select the intermediary file created earlier.
- Finally, choose the destination folder and import the contents.
As you can see, the above process is arduous and is not a good option for everyone. More importantly, there’s always a chance for data loss in this format conversion process. In fact, calendar entries don’t get migrated into the CSV format; hence, you’ll lose them. Also, you can migrate only one mailbox at a time, and this can be a nightmare if you’re an IT admin who wants to migrate all users from Lotus Notes to Outlook.
Due to these restrictions, the second option, using a simple and efficient tool like Stellar Converter for NSF, is highly recommended. Let’s now talk about this tool and how it can ease the conversion process.
How does Stellar Converter for NSF work?
The Stellar Converter for NSF is a highly advanced tool for converting your emails from Lotus Notes NSF format to Outlook’s PST format. It comes loaded with many features to provide the flexibility you need for conversion. Above everything, Stellar Converter for NSF comes with an intuitive user interface that hides the complexities of conversion, so all that you see is the progress and the estimated conversion time. Let’s analyze some of these features in detail.
Flexibility for Partial Conversion
Stellar Converter for NSF is a great option if you want to move just a handful of mailboxes or even the partial contents of one mailbox from NSF to PST format. This tool shows a preview of all the items in the NSF folder, so you can select the emails, attachments, and other objects that you want to migrate.
Conversion to Multiple Formats
The Technician version of Stellar Converter for NSF allows you to directly export the selected content to your Microsoft 365 account. Alternatively, you can also choose to convert data from NSF format to other file formats like EML, MSG, PDF, HTML, etc.
Search Feature
The Stellar Converter for NSF provides a search option that will come in handy if you don’t know the exact location of your NSF file. With the “Find” option on the first screen, you can search through the entire device for your specific NSF file.
Log Reports
This tool generates a log report that you can use for further analysis and processing. You can even use it for compliance when needed.
Batch Conversion
With Stellar Converter for NSF, you can convert multiple NSF mailboxes into PST format in one go. This can save a ton of time and effort.
Advanced Filters
Stellar Converter for NSF provides many advanced filters to find specific emails that you want to move to a PST format. In particular, the Date Range filter and the exclude filters are the most popular.
From the above discussion, it’s clear that Stellar Converter for NSF is simple to use and can convert content from NSF to PST format with minimal time and effort. Its simple user interface makes it ideal for all types of users.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, Stellar Converter for NSF is an easy option when you want to migrate NSF to PST file format. Its simple user interface combined with advanced features make it a must-have tool for individuals and IT admins alike.
