What is an Olm File, and How to Convert it to Pst?

If a user is moving to a different email client from Mac Outlook, or wants to keep the data as a backup, the first question that comes up is – what is an Olm file?

Every program that deals with data has to have a particular file where it can store the data and the meta-data. For Mac Outlook, the primary one is Olm file.

So the short answer to 'what is Mac Olm file' is that it is a file which stores email messages and other data saved by the Outlook application from an exchange server in Mac environment.

It doesn't automatically archive everything into an Olm file, but you can always use the 'export' feature and do it manually. As an alternative, you can use Mac time machine to set it up to archive automatically.

The Purposes for Mac Olm file

The purpose of a Mac Olm file is stated above – to store content. But from a user's perspective, there are few specific purposes that an Olm file format serves.

Backup – If anything ever to happen to your emails in Mac Outlook, you can use your backed-up copy of an Olm file to restore the data. Simply use the 'import' feature and upload the backup of Olm file, which you should keep somewhere safe in your hard drive or cloud service. It's a better method than trying to recover the damaged files using some third party applications.

Share – If someone wants a copy of your emails, you can always use the traditional 'forward' feature and forward and your emails. But it's not too effective when the data is required in bulk format, or when contacts need to be shared. What you can do, however, is share your Olm file directly. You can choose what content you want to archive to an Olm file, so don't fret if you are not willing to give the complete look of your Mac Outlook data to another person. The other person receiving the file should have Mac Outlook to open an Olm file.

Transfer – If you are moving away from a company to another, and you have some of your personal data inside Outlook in office's Mac computer, you can archive all of that to Olm file and take it with you. You can also transfer data to another Mac system directly and quickly by simply transferring the Olm file and importing it on to the new system.

Conversion – One of the complicated purposes Olm file serves is the conversion of the format itself. This is required in cases where Olm file is shared with someone who doesn't have Mac or Mac Outlook. Olm is compatible – and only with – Mac Outlook. To view the content using a different app, you need to convert Olm file to the format that's supported by that app.

How to Convert Olm to Pst?

One conversion of Olm file that's most typical and convoluted is conversion to Pst.

Pst, an acronym for 'Personal Storage Table', is a file format similar to Olm, but it's for Windows Outlook. The need for Olm to Pst conversion arises because of the fact stated above – Olm isn't compatible with any other app than Mac Outlook.

If you also constantly receive an Olm file from others, and you want to view it on your Windows Outlook, or you are completely switching email clients from Mac to Windows outlook, you would need to convert Mac Olm format to Pst.

“Olm to Pst Converter Pro” does it well. It's an easy to use app, available in both Mac and Windows version. It delivers the sharply accurate Pst files with no content changed or modified, which is usually the case when one converts Olm to Pst. It also features some advanced functionalities that may or may not come in use every-time, but offers high control and flexibility to users, nevertheless. The smart graphical user-interface makes room for those advanced features in a way that doesn't complicated the basic job of converting the files.

If you are interested, find the “download now” graphic link below. It's for trial edition allowing you to convert 10 items per folder.