HCL Notes, formerly known as IBM Lotus Notes, is an email and instant messaging application designed for corporate users and businesses. It stores the emails and other mailbox data in an NSF file, also known as the Lotus Notes database.
Like Outlook, Lotus Notes users can archive their emails to clean the mail folders, such as Inbox. The users can create archive criteria to archive their emails in NSF files on their local system for quick access.
This helps save the mailbox server storage and creates more space for new messages without deleting or losing access to the older emails.
Outlook does not support the NSF file format. Thus, you cannot open Lotus Notes archive in Outlook.
However, Outlook does support Comma Separated Values (CSV) and Personal Storage Table (PST) files. You can convert the Lotus Notes archive (NSF) files or messages into either CSV or PST format to open or import them into Outlook.
Below, we have shared the steps to convert Lotus Notes archive into CSV and PST format that will allow you to open the Lotus Notes archive and emails in the Microsoft Outlook client.
Follow these steps to export the mail items to CSV format or convert the Lotus Notes archive into PST format. Then you can import or open the CSV or PST file in Outlook to view the Lotus Notes mails or archive.
Follow these steps to export the main items from your Lotus Notes client to CSV format.
This will export the selected mail items from your Lotus Notes email client to CSV format.
You can now skip to Step 3 to import or open the CSV file in your Outlook profile to access the Lotus Notes emails.
Limitations:
PST is an Outlook-supported file format widely used for backup and migration to another Outlook client on Windows or Mac. Live Exchange Server and Office 365 also support PST. Moreover, the PST file can hold all your emails with attachments and other mail items without any issues.
But unlike CSV, there is no option to convert the Lotus Notes archive into PST in the Lotus Notes client. Thus, you will need an NSF to PST converter software, such as Stellar Converter for NSF, to convert the Lotus Notes (NSF) archive into PST format. You may also use the software to convert the NSF archive into MSG, EML, RTF, PDF, and HTML or export directly to Office 365.
Moreover, it doesn’t require you to access the Lotus Notes client. Instead, you can convert any old Lotus Notes archive into PST format and open it in Outlook.
The steps are as follows:
After converting the Lotus Notes emails into CSV or converting the Lotus Notes archive into PST format, you can use the Outlook Import-Export wizard to import the files into Outlook.
You may also open the converted PST file in Outlook, without importing, to view the Lotus Notes archive in Outlook directly.
The steps are as follows:
To view the converted PST file in Outlook,
To import CSV or PST file into Outlook,
When it comes to opening or importing emails into Outlook, PST is the preferred file format. Although we have shared two different methods to open Lotus Notes archive in Outlook, the CSV-based method isn’t recommended if the mailbox or archive is large and you also want to view the attachments. Moreover, you can’t export mails from Lotus Notes to CSV if you have lost access to the Lotus Notes email client.
Use NSF to PST converter tool to convert the Lotus Notes Archive into Outlook importable PST format. Unlike CSV, all the emails are saved with attachments in the PST file and accessed in Outlook. The folder structure and hierarchy remain intact when you use the software to convert the NSF archive into PST format.
Ravi Singh is a Senior Writer at Stellar®. He is an expert Tech Explainer, IoT enthusiast, and a passionate nerd with over 6 years of experience in technical writing. He writes about Data Recovery, File Repair, Email Migration, Linux, Windows, Mac, and DIY Tech. Ravi spends most of his weekends working with IoT devices and playing games on the Xbox. He is also a solo traveler who loves hiking and exploring new trails.
