How to Export Emails from SmarterMail to Outlook PST Format ?

You’re running SmarterMail and need your emails in Outlook. Maybe you’re switching clients, maybe your IT team requires PST backups, or maybe you just want offline access to years of messages. Whatever the reason, SmarterMail itself doesn’t give you a native PST export. You need a dedicated export SmarterMail to Outlook tool to get the job done cleanly.

I’ve tested several migration utilities in this space. The one that handles batch exports, preserves folder structure, and doesn’t require Outlook to be installed is the Turgs SmarterMail Migration Tool. It’s the approach I recommend below.

Why Export SmarterMail to PST

SmarterMail is a solid server-side email platform. It’s used by hosting companies and small to mid-size businesses for webmail, calendars, and contact management. But when a company moves to Microsoft 365 or a user switches to Outlook as their primary client, the mailbox data needs to come along.

PST is Microsoft’s universal archive format. Every version of Outlook from 2003 onward can open a PST file. That makes it the safest long-term storage format for email data. Three common reasons people export SmarterMail to PST are: server migration to Exchange or Microsoft 365, local backup of critical business emails, or transitioning a single user from a SmarterMail-hosted account to a desktop Outlook setup.

The challenge is that SmarterMail stores mailbox data in a proprietary format on the server. You can’t just copy a folder and open it in Outlook. The Turgs SmarterMail to PST export tool reads that server-side format directly and converts it to a fully structured PST file.

Quick Steps to Export SmarterMail to Outlook PST

These five steps get you from SmarterMail to PST fast:

1. Run the Turgs SmarterMail export tool on your Windows machine.
2. Select your SmarterMail mailbox using either single-mailbox or multi-mailbox mode.
3. Choose the email folders you want to include in the PST output.
4. Select PST as the output format and set your save path.
5. Click Convert and wait for the completion report.

That’s the short version. The detailed walkthrough with screenshots is below.

Complete Step-by-Step Process

Download the free trial of the SmarterMail to PST export tool and install it on any Windows machine. The installer takes under a minute.

Launch the application and read the startup instructions. The interface is straightforward and walks you through each stage.

Select your SmarterMail mailboxes. The tool offers two load modes: single mailbox selection or batch loading of multiple mailboxes at once. If you’re migrating an entire department, use batch mode to load all user mailboxes in one pass.

The tool displays the complete folder hierarchy from your loaded mailboxes. Check the folders you want to include. You can select just Inbox and Sent, or include Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, and every subfolder.

Choose PST as your output format. The tool supports several output options including EML, MSG, and MBOX, but PST is what you need for Outlook. Set your destination folder path before continuing.

The tool includes a language conversion option that re-encodes email content from one language to another during export. This is useful if your SmarterMail server has mailboxes in Dutch, French, German, Spanish, or Swedish and you need the PST output in a different encoding.

Apply filters if you need a targeted export. The tool supports date range filters, subject keyword filters, and sender or recipient address filters. For a legal hold request or compliance export covering just Q1 2023, the date filter handles that precisely.

Click Convert to start the export. The tool processes the mailbox data and writes the PST file to your chosen location. Progress shows in real time.

When the export finishes, the tool generates a completion report and a detailed log file. The log lists every item processed, any skipped items, and the total count. Keep the log for your records if this is a compliance or audit export.

Once the PST file is in your output folder, open Outlook and go to File > Open and Export > Open Outlook Data File to import it. All your SmarterMail emails, contacts, and calendar entries will appear under a new folder in Outlook’s left panel.

Key Features of the Export Tool

Here’s what makes this tool worth choosing over a manual IMAP-based workaround:

Batch mailbox export: You can load and convert multiple SmarterMail user mailboxes in one session. There’s no artificial limit on the number of mailboxes. An IT admin migrating 50 users can queue them all and walk away.

No Outlook required: The tool runs as a standalone Windows application. You don’t need Outlook installed on the machine running the conversion. This matters when you’re converting on a server or a dedicated migration machine.

Contacts and calendar included: The PST output includes SmarterMail contacts and calendar entries, not just emails. Everything migrates in a single pass. According to Microsoft’s PST file documentation, a PST file can store messages, contacts, calendar items, notes, and tasks, which is exactly what you get here.

All Outlook versions supported: The output PST works with Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Microsoft 365. Whichever Outlook version your users are on, the PST file will open without any compatibility errors.

Filter-based selective export: Date range, subject, and address filters let you export only what you need. This cuts down on PST file size and export time when you don’t need the full mailbox history.

Merge multiple mailboxes into one PST: You can load two or more SmarterMail user accounts and the tool will combine them into a single PST file. That’s useful when consolidating accounts during a company restructure. Most manual methods can’t do this without extra tools.

Limitations to Know

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I export SmarterMail emails to Outlook 2016?

Yes. The tool supports all Outlook versions from 2007 through Microsoft 365. The PST file it generates opens in Outlook 2016 without any compatibility issues.

Do I need Outlook installed to run the export tool?

No. The tool is standalone and does not require Outlook on the same machine. You can run it on any Windows PC or Windows Server machine regardless of whether Outlook is installed.

Does the software support Windows Server 2016?

Yes. The tool runs on all Windows desktop and server editions including Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019.

What are the minimum system requirements?

The tool runs on modest hardware. You need a 1GHz processor, 128MB of RAM, and 100MB of free disk space. The output PST file will also need storage space equal to your mailbox data size.

Can I export contacts and calendar entries, not just emails?

Yes. The tool exports SmarterMail emails, contacts, and calendar items to PST in one pass. You select which folders to include before the conversion starts, so you have full control over what ends up in the output file.

How many SmarterMail mailboxes can I migrate at once?

The full licensed version supports unlimited mailboxes in a single session. You load them all via the batch mode option, and the tool processes each one sequentially and saves the output to your chosen folder.