How to Import MBOX to Office 365 Account? Complete Guide

  Rollins Duke
Rollins Duke   
Published: May 12th, 2025 • 8 Min Read

Nowadays numerous business professionals are looking for the easiest and most reliable ways to import MBOX to Office 365 cloud-based email account. Today most businesses and corporates frequently shift from on-premises servers and email clients. This is because in the past few years, there has been a decent surge in the usage of cloud solutions as with it one can access their information from any place.

Also, cloud services offer updates automatically, decrease security hazards, provide more versatility, and limit information loss. Many on-premises email clients utilize the MBOX file format to store email messages such as Thunderbird, Apple Mail, etc. Hence, several users prefer to import MBOX to Office 365 account.

Note: Office 365 is a cloud-powered productivity platform. If you are using a desktop edition of Outlook client that is a part of MS Office Suite, then refer to this article to import MBOX files to Outlook to avoid confusion.

Why Users Want to Perform MBOX to Office 365 Migration?

  • Growing Phase: When an individual working professional or business is in the growing phase then they wish to upgrade to Microsoft 365 trending productivity suite.
  • Access Anywhere: Microsoft 365 can be easily accessed from anywhere, anytime using any device; however, internet connectivity is mandatory.
  • Security: Office 365 offers best-in-class security features, which are enough compared to any MBOX-supported desktop clients.
  • Email Management: Users import MBOX to Office 365 to access all the current and old mailboxes under one specific account.
  • Use Across Devices: You can access your Office 365 account using any web browser, or you can download the Microsoft 365 App on Windows, Mac OS, Android, and iOS devices.
  • Efficient Workflow: Microsoft 365 is a productivity suite application which not only used for emails but also offers bundle of online applications.
  • Scalability: It is the most important feature of the Microsoft 365 platform, so you can quickly upgrade and downgrade its subscription plan.

How to Import MBOX to Office 365 Quickly?

  • Step 1: Start the MBOX to Office 365 migration tool.
  • Step 2: Select “Files/Folders” to add data files.
  • Step 3: Choose any MBOX folder to import.
  • Step 4: Select the “O365” from saving option.
  • Step 5: Enter the login details of your O365.
  • Step 6: Hit the “Convert” icon to start live process.

These are the short working steps to upload your mailbox files to your Microsoft 365 account.

How to Migrate MBOX Files to Office 365 Manually?

Being a technical expert, I would like to suggest you use any MBOX-supported freeware email clients i.e. Thunderbird and Apple Mail. After that, you can configure your Office 365 account with mentioned email clients using IMAP email settings. Then, import MBOX file into supported email clients and then synch the MBOX file to get emails in the Office 365 account.

Let’s read the upcoming sections to import MBOX to Office 365 account on Windows and Mac. We are using Thunderbird and Apple Mail clients to do this task because these email clients are available free of cost.

Additional Tips Before Starting the Process:

  • Don’t forget to enable IMAP while configuring the Office 365 account in Thunderbird.
  • Also, add the ImportExportTools NG plugin in your Thunderbird to make the import option visible.

#1: How to Import MBOX to Office 365 Using Thunderbird

As we said, firstly, we will configure the accounts by providing the account details, and we will import and move MBOX data files. Follow all the steps carefully with the upcoming paragraph:

  1. First, download and then install Thunderbird.
  2. Start Thunderbird and choose the “Account Settings” button.

    account settings

  3. Then, select “Account Actions” >> “Add Mail Account” option.

    account actions

  4. Put your Office 365 credentials and press the “Continue” icon.

    Office 365 credentials

  5. Enable “IMAP” from the available configurations and click “Done”.

    import mbox to office 365

Step 2: Upload Your MBOX Files to Thunderbird

  1. Choose “Local Folders” from Thunderbird and right-click.
  2. Then, select “ImportExportTools NG” >> “Import MBOX Files” option.
  3. Choose the “Individual MBOX Files” option and browse the MBOX file.

    Import MBOX to Outlook 365

  4. After that, select the MBOX file and tap the “Open” button.

    Select MBOX file

  5. MBOX file imported under Thunderbird local folders.

    Local Folders

  6. Right-click on “Imported MBOX” and choose “Move To”.

    Move To

  7. Select the configured Office 365 account >> “Specific Folder”.
  8. Migrating the MBOX file to Office 365, please wait to finish.

#2: How to Import MBOX to Office 365 for Mac OS

  1. Launch the Apple Mail client on your MacBook.
  2. After that, choose the “Mail” >> “Add Account” option.

    Add Account

  3. Select a Mail account provider and press the “Continue” button.

    Mail account provider

  4. Type your Office 365 credentials and choose “Sign In”.

    Put Microsoft 365 credentials

  5. Put Office 365 IMAP server details and hit “Sign In”.

    Office 365 IMAP server details

  6. Enable the “Mail” app and click “Done” to finish the setup.

    Done

Step 2: Import MBOX to Apple Mail and Sync

  1. Run the Apple Mail client on your Mac.
  2. Next, select “File” >> “Import Mailboxes” option.

    import mailboxes

  3. Enable the “Files in MBOX Format” option and click “Continue”.

    files in mbox format

  4. Select MBOX files from your MacBook and tap “Continue”.

    select mbox

  5. See imported MBOX under the “On My Mac” Import folder.

    import mbox to office 365 Mac

  6. Then, right-click on the imported MBOX and choose “Move To” to import MBOX to Office 365.

    move data

  7. Select the recently configured Office 365 account folder and move.
  8. Wait for synchronization and log in to Office 365 to see the imported data.

Why Experts Don’t Go for the Manual Methods?

  • Requires installing additional add-ons and MBOX-supported email clients.
  • Manual mistakes coming with this solution can lead to data loss issues.
  • Permits to migrate MBOX files in Office 365 one by one, so not fit for business use.
  • Technical knowledge is mandatory to perform the MBOX to Office 365 migration process.

Which Method is Best to Import MBOX to Office 365 Account?

The BitRecover MBOX File Conversion Software is the best method for MBOX to Office 365 migration without losing any data and information. It can directly import MBOX to Office 365 account along with attachments.

The tool has Select Files & Select Folders options to add single/ multiple MBOX files. With this tool, users can migrate MBOX to Office 365 web-based account in batch without size limitations. Now, let’s discuss the working process of the software.

You can use this tool to upload your MBOX data files into all types of Outlooks, like online, desktop, and Mac. Check out the working steps:

How Does the MBOX to Office 365 Migration Tool Work?

  1. Launch the MBOX to Office 365 migration tool on your computer and add the MBOX files.

    Add MBOX files

  2. After that, mark the check option on the required checkbox to select the required folders, then click on Next.

    Select MBOX files

  3. Thereafter, select the Office 365 saving option from the given drop-down list.

    Choose Office 365

  4. Now, enter the Office 365 account login credentials – login ID & Password.

    Import MBOX to Office 365

  5. Click on the Convert button to start importing MBOX files to Microsoft 365.

    Migrate MBOX to Office 365

  6. Now, users can view the resultant data in their Office 365 accounts.

    Login to Outlook 365

MBOX to Office 365 Migration Tool Features & Capabilities

  • This tool has power to upload all MBOX data files generated by any compatible applications like Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Google Takeout, Entourage etc.
  • No requirements to perform extra importing or exporting process, the MBOX to Office 365 migration tool can directly upload data.
  • The software is capable to maintains and holds the original emails elements including header and body details and folder structure during the live process.
  • It provides multiple different options like you can move MBOX file data to archive or in-Place folders according to your choice.
  • MBOX to Office 365 migration tool gives advanced settings to import MBOX to Office 365 selectively by Date Range, To, From, Subject etc.
Ending lines

Here, we have discussed how to import MBOX to Office 365 account. We have explained in detail both professional and manual methods. You can choose any of these solutions as per your need. But as said above manual method is time-consuming and there is a fear of data loss in this method. So, it’s better to use automated software.

Top Asked Questions and Answers
  1. Ques: Is MBOX compatible with Outlook?

    Ans: Neither Outlook nor Office 365 supports MBOX files.

  2. Ques: How to import MBOX to Office 365 Mac?
    1. Set up an Office 365 account in Apple Mail using IMAP.
    2. Then, import MBOX mailboxes into the Apple Mail client.
    3. Right-click on the imported MBOX and choose the “Move To”
    4. Select the “Office 365” account folder to import MBOX file.
  3. Ques: Does the MBOX to Office 365 migration tool support Mac OS?

    Ans: Yes, the MBOX to Office 365 migration tool supports all Mac as well as Windows OS versions.

  4. Ques: Can I use manual ways to open a MBOX file in Office 365?

    Ans: Yes, above we have discussed two manual 2 methods to import MBOX to Office 365 for Windows and Mac OS users, choose accordingly.

download mbox toolkit