How to Open OLM File on Windows Outlook Without Mac?

Summary: Learn how to open OLM File on Windows system. MS Outlook is compatible with both Windows and Mac environments. And because of the different operating systems, the Outlook files created are also dissimilar. Both the platform stores the database files in unique file formats. On Mac, the Outlook data files are stored in OLM file format while on Windows, it stores data in PST (Personal Storage Table) file format.

Note: The difficulty comes in the picture when a user wants to open OLM file on Windows. There is no direct approach to read OLM file’s emails, contacts, calendars, etc with Windows OS. And to do so the user may need to convert Mac OLM file to PST. This is because of the fact that Outlook for windows only supports PST file format. Any other format (say OLM) will not be accessible and will generate errors.

The blog will cover other possible solutions along with the reasons behind each approach. Firstly, let’s take a look at a scenario to understand why the user wants to open OLM file on Windows.

User Scenario 

Consider a user in an organization using Outlook in a Mac environment. Hence, all mailbox data like inbox, calendar, contacts, etc are stored in OLM file format. But recently in some circumstances, the user has to change the work environment to Windows. And obviously, the Outlook OLM Data files also need to be accessed in windows to resume the work. This is where the user may face problems when you view OLM  files on Windows platform.

Method to Open OLM File on Windows

The only way to view Mac Outlook Olm files in Windows Outlook is by exporting them in supported file format. This can be performed using the inbuilt Export utility in MS Outlook. The stepwise manual procedure will do the work for you.

Step 1: To begin with, you need to physically locate the OLM files and create a backup for security reasons. By default the system location of these files can be:

Documents\Microsoft User Data\Office 2011 Identities\Main Identity\Databases

OR,

Documents\Microsoft User Data\ MS Office 2011 Identities\Main Identity\Data-Records\Message

But there is a possibility that you won’t be able to locate the files at the mentioned location. Therefore, now you need to save the mailboxes gain on OLM file format. To do so you need to:

• Open File > Export option.
• Select the entire data display list.
• Enable the Do not want to delete items option while exporting.
• Choose the Save As after selecting the destination location of OLM files.

Step 2: Now in case you don’t have a Gmail account, create one to proceed further.

Step 3: Configure the user Gmail account with  Mac Outlook application by entering the right configuration details like Incoming and Outgoing server details, Port numbers. If your connectivity is successful then you will get a green signal button on the left side panel of the screen.

Note:

If you want to convert the respective files on Mac OS, then use:

Step 4:  Now migrate the Mac OLM mailbox files to Gmail. You can perform the same via:

• Copy the mailbox folder that you want to migrate
• Now choose a destination location in Gmail account to load the files
• Watch the bottom of the screen to see the status of the upload
• After successful upload, refresh your Gmail account

Now your Mac Outlook OLM files are securely saved in the same Gmail account. And in the next main step, you can easily open OLM file on Windows.

Step 5: With the same Gmail account, you need to configure it to the Windows Outlook application. While in the Advanced tab set the incoming port as 993 and outgoing server port as 465.

At the end of this procedure, you are able to view OLM file on Windows without any interference and issues.

Conclusion

The discussed manual solution to open OLM file on Windows is quite a lengthy fix and the user might feel confused during the process. Secondly, data integrity is also at risk. Hence, it is more suggested to use a direct method in order to view OLM file on Windows platform. You can refer to the professional conversion method which is mentioned in the beginning section of the blog.