Explore The Ways to Export Lotus Notes Address Book Contacts to Outlook

Do you want to move names.nsf file to PST file format? Are you looking for a solution to export Lotus Notes Address Book contacts to Outlook profile? In this article, we will discuss the best and reliable solutions to import contacts from Lotus Notes to Outlook 2010.

NSF and PST Files - A Brief Intro

Lotus Notes, an application from IBM, stores the database in the format of NSF (Notes Storage Facility) file. The database contains the necessary information of IBM Notes user account including email, contacts, user data, to-do lists, and much more.

Notes storage facility of Lotus Notes is hosted by Domino Server and is easily downloaded in offline mode by the users. Master database present in Domino Server syncs the change done by the user which may include modifying, editing of text, etc. A Personal Folders file (.pst) is an MS Outlook data file. It stores messages and other items of an Outlook account on the system. It is widely used file by home users or in small organizations. The ISP provides one or more than one email account. The common types of accounts used are - POP3 and IMAP. HTTP is another type of web-based account that works same as that of IMAP email account. PST file is used in almost all the accounts.

Why Users wants to Export Contacts from Lotus Notes to Outlook 2010

There are several situations where a user needs to access the contacts of Lotus Notes address book in Outlook account. MS Outlook stores files in a Personal folder (.pst) whereas IBM Notes supports NSF file to save the data. So, to import Lotus Notes contacts to Outlook 2010, one need to transfer names.nsf contacts file to MS Outlook. There are many methods with the help of which one can migrate contacts from lotus notes to outlook 2010. One can either stick to a manual method or give a try to an expert solution for the same.

Manual Method to Move Contacts form Lotus Notes Address Book to Outlook

Let's begin with a manual process to export Lotus Notes Address Book contacts to Outlook. Few of the steps are jotted below. One should go through the steps and transfer Lotus Notes contacts to Outlook. Before starting the process, keep this in mind that you have copied all contacts to a .csv file. Once done with everything, then perform the following steps:

1. Go to the file, click on export contacts option.
2. Mark the file one needs to convert and save that file as .csv.
3. Select the contacts for the process of import.
4. Hit the export option.

Now, one will be able to preview the saved .csv file. Open the file, go to Outlook and press import. One can even migrate the contacts using OWA (Outlook Web Access). Follow the following steps to perform the conversion. All the steps are mentioned below:

1. Go to File, click open.
2. Click on Browse and then import the file.
3. Select a .csv file.
4. Browse the exported .csv file, click next.
5. Switch to mailbox and search contacts, click on Next.
6. Click Finish.

The entire process will migrate the address book successfully.

Move Lotus Notes Contacts via OWA

1. Go to mail file, and select contacts.
2. Click on Import button.
3. Select the file to export.
4. Hit on Next and import contacts.

Demerits of Manual Method to Transfer IBM Notes to Microsoft Outlook

One can convert contacts of Lotus Notes address book easily using steps mentioned above. But, manual method has few limitations. The file can even get corrupted in between if it is not properly migrated. Moreover, if contacts are exported in bulk, file size reduces. For instance, if a user wants to import a folder of contacts that comprises of 60 contacts file but the size of file reduces and only 40 contacts will be moved. The user is not allowed to perform bulk conversion of contacts present in NSF file manually. NSF file creates one single profile for each contact, so one gets restricted to perform batch conversion.

Expert Solution to Export Contacts from Lotus Notes to Outlook

From the above stanza, users must be clear with drawbacks of the manual methods. So, it is suggested to go for a third-party software NSF to PST converter to migrate Lotus Notes personal address book to Outlook. This utility easily exports contacts from IBM Notes names.nsf to PST format. The tool has following features that make it worth trying: The utility serves one with moving emails with attachment. One can easily export contacts and emails into a single PST. Users can convert IBM Notes contacts to PST with all metadata kept intact. Using the tool one can easily perform the bulk migration to live Exchange. The software preserves the internal folder structure as that of the source file. One can easily preview the complete status report using the utility. The software renders all the version of Lotus Notes be it 9.0 or below editions.

Final Words

In the above write-up, we explored how to Export Lotus Notes Address Book Contacts to Outlook. Some other things also discussed like introduction about .pst and .nsf, why the Lotus Notes users want to migrate names.nsf contacts to Outlook profile. We have also learned the manual methods to perform the conversion and an expert solution to import contacts of Lotus Notes to Outlook with the benefits of the tool. So, we recommend users to make use of utility to serve their purpose.