MozBackup to Outlook – Convert PCV to PST for Outlook
Summary: The article provides a step by step guide to convert MozBackup to Outlook in a seamless manner. It states how to prepare the MozBackup PCV files and finally convert PCV to PST for use in Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007 & 2003 email clients.
MozBackup is a free application associated with all Mozilla email clients. It helps a user backup and restore profiles of several apps:
- Thunderbird,
- Netscape,
- Postbox,
- SeaMonkey,
- Spicebird.
This is because all these email clients have a similar database structure. MozBackup makes it easy for the users to switch between any of these aforementioned email apps with its full backup and restore functionality.
But, not all users are bound by these email apps.
There are many who have PCV files that MozBackup creates when backing up the email profiles. And, they wish to import them in Outlook email client. The following user query defines one such situation:
Why MozBackup to Outlook Conversion is Cumbersome?
MozBackup stores all the back up data in a compressed file having .pcv format. This PCV file contains several mailbox items such as contacts, calendars, configuration files, index files and mailboxes.
MS Outlook does not support the PCV file format and hence no option is provided in it for importing PCV file to Outlook.
Going by logic, it is impossible for any brand to keep track of every email format and provide compatibility features for them all. It makes no sense that one application such as Outlook or MozBackup has to provide every possible feature to ensure compatibility with other programs. Thus, we can conclude that the possibility to have a direct import option in Outlook for PCV file is nonexistent right now.
And this is exactly what makes the whole process cumbersome.
How to Import MozBackup PCV to Outlook?
Although there is no manual method for MozBackup to Outlook conversion, it is still possible by using these 2 steps:
- Extract Mailbox files from PCV
- Convert Mailbox files to Outlook
#1 Extract Mailbox Files from MozBackup PCV
- Right click on the PCV file and choose Properties
- Remove the .pcv extension and replace it with .zip, then click OK
- Click Yes to authorize this change in PCV file
- Now, extract all the contents of ZIP file (which was previously PCV file)
Open the extracted folder and look for multiple files in subfolders namely Mail/ImapMail. The MBOX files stored in here would be without extension with names similar to the original mailbox folder such as Inbox, Sent, etc.
You can choose to copy all such MBOX files into a separate directory along with the associated SBD folders(if any). Then, move to the next step.
#2 Convert Extracted Data of PCV to Outlook
Once all the files are extracted from the PCV file, now it is time to import MBOX file into Outlook. To do this without losing any data, follow the steps given below:
- Download and run DataHelp MBOX to PST Converter on the Windows system.
- Click Select Files > Select Folder from the home screen.
- Now, browse and select the folder that contains all the MBOX files extracted from MozBackup PCV file.
- Now, click on Convert button.
- Select the target location that will save the converted Outlook files and click Ok.
- This PCV to PST converter tool will easily convert all the selected MozBackup files into Outlook PST format.
Access the Converted Data in Outlook!
Once all the files are exported in PST format, you can easily import them in Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007 & 2003. To do this, follow the steps to import PST in Outlook.
Observational Verdict
It is clear from the article that neither MozBackup nor Outlook provides any method to import PCV to Outlook. However, with a simple trick, this cumbersome process becomes easy to handle. Use the steps given in this article and convert MozBackup to Outlook PST without any risks of data loss.
