Top Free Methods to Export Data From Lotus Notes to Thunderbird

Summary: IBM Notes aka Lotus Notes is highly complex email client application. In this post we will learn about the top free methods to export Lotus Notes to Thunderbird. So, keep reading post and enjoy your hassle-free journey from Lotus Notes email to Mozilla Thunderbird.

With the advance evolution of science and technology, there is substantial change in the email communication pattern. The flow of email communication is moving from complex infrastructure to easy to use and scalable technologies. Undoubtedly, Lotus Notes is one of the secure email client application but despite this fact most of Lotus Notes user are interested in moving to other desktop and cloud based application such as Thunderbird, Outlook, Office 365 etc. The accurate reason for this type of behaviour is under scrutiny of data experts. But at the first glance, there are so many reason for the same. However, in this post we will discuss the mechanism to get access of Lotus Notes mailbox data into Thunderbird.

Unseen Reasons Due to Which User Migrate From Lotus Notes to Thunderbird

Below are the some foremost reasons due to which user willing to migrate from IBM notes email to Thunderbird. There is possibility that facts mentioned below may be distorted for someone.

1. Proprietary Database: Lotus Notes does not allow to access the NSF file format in any other application. One can only view or read file exclusively in Lotus Notes application.
2. High Maintenance Cost: This could be another major driving force to select Thunderbird over Lotus Notes.
3. Restriction Limitation: Lotus Notes does not allows the access of mailbox data without associated user.id file of that user.

So, these are the reasons due to which Lotus Notes user elect to go with Mozilla Thunderbird on Windows 10 operating system.

Ways to Export Data From Lotus Notes to Thunderbird

Technically, there is manual solution available to access Lotus Notes Mailbox in Thunderbird. But the manual solution is not easy to implement without any error. The user must have sound technical knowledge on the subject matter. For caution please save the backup of Lotus Notes mailbox data at safer location in Windows 10. Then after follow the below mentioned steps

Manual Method 1

1. Open IBM Notes Application
2. Select the email messages which you want to export from Lotus Notes
3. Click on them and select save as option
4. Enter file name and the hit on save button.

Manual Method 2

1.  Open Lotus Notes application and Go to home page
2. Click on File and then preferences
3. Select basis Lotus Notes configuration
4. Go to Additional options and then select Drag & Drop and choose Save as .EML option.

Now you are able to directly import Lotus Notes mailbox items in .eml format on your desired location.

Once you have done with the process of saving Lotus Notes mailbox in the EML format then onwards you need to import the same into Thunderbird with the help of Import/Export plug-in. Without thus plug-in, you can’t able to import EML file into Thunderbird.
After installing Plug-in in Thunderbird, follow the below mentioned steps

1. Click on Tools given in the top navigation bar
2. Then select ImportExport Tools >> Import Message File
3. Select the message file and then click on Open

So in this way, you can export Lotus Notes mailbox email to Thunderbird. But this manual solution is not mend for exporting bulk NSF files.

Limitation of Manual Solution to Export Lotus Notes Email to Thunderbird

1. The manual solution is only limited to export single NSF emails to EML file format at time. If you have bulk NSF files having thousands of emails. Then this manual solution is feasible. As it will consumes time and also create the possibility of data loss.
2. With the manual solution, you cannot export Notes mailbox items such as contacts, tasks, calendars, notes, journals to Thunderbird.

So it is better to deploy the expert recommend software for the conversion of Lotus Notes mailbox items to Outlook PST.

Expert Recommended Solution to Export Lotus Notes to Thunderbird

To avoid the limitations of manual solution, it is recommended to use Lotus Notes NSF to Thunderbird Conversion Wizard. It is one of the most preferable software to export Lotus Notes mailbox data to Thunderbird. Lets discuss some of the highlighted feature of software.

1. Allows to Bulk Export Lotus Notes Mailbox data to Thunderbird
2. Supports to Export Lotus Notes Domino Mailbox to Mozilla Thunderbird
3. Translate Canonical Values to SMTP format
4. Remove encryption from Lotus Notes mailbox file
5. Maintain Internet Header of Lotus Notes emails
6. Offers Folder to folder mapping of Lotus Notes Folder to Thunderbird
7. No file size limitation associated.

The Last Few Words to Conclude

There is no doubt that Lotus Notes is secure email client and provides better feature than any other email client application of similar category. However, it’s user choice to move from Lotus Notes NSF to Thunderbird. The user can take either manual way to move from IBM notes to Mozilla Thunderbird or the professional solution to export mailbox data from Lotus Notes to Thunderbird without any data loss.