How to Convert NSF to PST

Have you ever faced a problem in converting your Lotus Notes NSF files to MS Outlook PST file? Then bear with me, in this technical article I explain to you “How to Convert NSF to PST.” So, Let’s start by knowing more about the Lotus Notes NSF file and MS Outlook PST file.

Both IBM Lotus Notes and MS Outlook are the most popular email clients. But they use different file formats to store mailbox data. Outlook generates a file in PST i.e. Personal Storage Table Format while Lotus notes generate file in NSF i.e. Notes Storage Facility Format. These file formats are different and don’t support each other. Hence, when users want to access their Lotus Notes data in MS Outlook, they have to convert their NSF file to PST file format.

Before moving forward, let’s know some main reasons behind NSF to PST file format conversion.

Reasons to transfer NSF to PST

• Outlook offers better security and data management.
• Less maintenance cost required in Outlook.
• Outlook has a simpler data sharing option than Lotus Notes.
• Microsoft Outlook allows multiple accounts configuration at the same time.
• MS Outlook provides offline accessibility to mailboxes.

Manual Method to Know How to Convert NSF to PST

To migrate NSF to PST, this manual approach is required to keep a backup of the original NSF file beforehand. Because files may become corrupted during the conversion process. This manual method of conversion done by following these two steps:

1. Export IBM Lotus Notes NSF File into CSV files
2. Import the exported file in Microsoft Outlook.

Step-1: Export NSF File to CSV

To export Lotus Notes NSF file, you should follow these set of instructions:

1. Open Lotus Notes.
2. Click on File-> Open-> Lotus Notes.
3. Now, Browse required NSF files and click Open.
4. From the File, menu clicks Export.
5. In the Export Dialogue Box, type file name, location, and file type.
6. Select the CSV file format to save the file.
7. Now, a new CSV Export Dialogue Box Open, Select the required options and click OK.
8. The Exported file saved as CSV file format at the desired location.

Step-2: Import CSV File in MS Outlook

Now, we import this CSV file in Outlook by following these steps:

1. Open Outlook app.
2. Click File Tab and select Open and Export.
3. Now, a new Import and Export Dialogue Box Open. Select Import from another program or file option and click Next to Export NSF to PST.
4. Select the CSV file and type and click Next.
5. Click Browse option and choose a location for the CSV file which was created earlier via Export of Lotus Notes file.
6. Now, Select the Outlook folder where you want to save the exported file and click on the Next option.
7. At last, select the given checkbox of import file wizard and click Finish.

Finally, the CSV file data will successfully be imported into Outlook. Hence, by following these steps, you can easily convert your NSF files into PST file formats.

Limitations of Using Manual Method

The manual method of NSF to PST conversion is useful in some cases. But it has some limitations too which are given below:

• Lengthy and time-consuming process.
• Complicated for nontechnical users.
• Careless conversion may lead to permanent data loss.
• Not good for large amounts of data.

Since there are many limitations in this manual method of conversion. Hence, to make it easier, we can use an automatic approach that is a third party professional software to transfer NSF files into PST.

Automatic Approach to Transfer NSF to PST File

We can use a third-party professional tool for automatic conversion of NSF file to PST file named NSF to PST Converter. It is one such tool that converts NSF files with ease. Users do not require any technical knowledge to use this software. Also, it has a simple and unique GUI that will help any novice user in the conversion process.

Conclusion

In this above blog, we discussed, “How to Convert NSF to PST” by using both manual and third party tool methods. In this article, we observed that the manual method is not as easy as it appears. It is tedious and complicated for users without any technical knowledge. These complexities can be avoided by using professional tools like NSF to PST Converter.