Import PST to Gmail: step by step

If a manual import is too time-consuming for you or you’re not familiar with the technical terms of both email clients or don’t have Outlook installed anymore, you can add PST archive files to Gmail. All you need is the Google migration tool. So you don't need to rely on third-party software for the migration.

Google Workspace Migration for Outlook lets you import all the files you need from a PST to Gmail in just a few steps. You can either import all the files in an archive or selected files or groups, for example, only emails.

Step 1: Download the Google Workspace Migration tool. Before downloading, verify the version of Outlook you used to save the PST archive – 32-bit or 64-bit. The Google Workspace Migration must match the Outlook version. But don’t worry if you install the wrong version since the Import Wizard will alert you the first time you run it, so you can install the correct version again afterwards.

Step 2: Once you’ve downloaded Workspace Migration, open the application. Specify the email address of the Google account to which you want to import the PST archive.

Step 3: A new window will open in the browser with a login window for the ‘Google Workspace Migration for Microsoft Outlook’. The appropriate account should already be pre-listed. If you selected a wrong email address in the previous step, you can now change the address of the account. Confirm use of the Google account by clicking on the appropriate account.

Step 4: Confirm usage of Google in the next step. This gives Google Workspace Migration for Microsoft Outlook permission to read, write, send, and finally delete Gmail emails. Allow this by clicking on ‘Allow’. You can then select which archive to import

Step 5: You’ll be taken back to the import wizard. Select ‘From PST File(s)...’ in the menu. A window opens in which you can search for and select the desired PST folder. The selected file will then be listed under the choice of the two options. Confirm with ‘Next’.

Step 6: Now, you can choose to import all files or, for example, only emails or contacts from the PST into Gmail. You can change this by placing ticks in the tick boxes or removing them. When you have made the appropriate selection, confirm your selection with ‘Migrate’. The transfer process will begin. You will then see the current status of the migration in a processing window.

Note: Depending on the size of the archive, you may want to let this process run overnight so that your Gmail inbox is not constantly resynced and reloaded with additional data while you work.

Step 7: After the migration is complete, switch to your Gmail account in a browser or in the Gmail app. If the previously selected PST folder is listed, you have successfully imported a PST file into Gmail.

During the process, a link is established between the two email clients that lets them access one another. By saving an Outlook PST file, you can first add it to Outlook as a complete archive and then move it to the area that accesses Gmail within Outlook. In doing so, you can think of the process as creating a subfolder called Gmail in the directory called Outlook, and then dragging and dropping data into it as you see fit. This is how the desired PST is inserted into Gmail. Find out how this works step-by-step below.

Step 1: Launch your Gmail client and click on the small cogwheel in the toolbar on the right. This opens the quick settings, from where you can make minor changes. Select ‘See all settings’.

Step 2: In advanced settings you can customise Gmail and adjust various settings. First, you need to enable Outlook access to your Gmail profile. To do this, select the ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ option.

Step 3: From the bottom section ‘IMAP access’ switch to ‘Enable IMAP’ and click ‘Save settings’. Now, when you open the forwarding settings, IMAP will say ‘Status: IMAP is enabled’ as shown in the screenshot.

Step 4: After you have prepared the Gmail account for forwarding to Outlook, establish the connection from Outlook to Google. Switch to Outlook and select the first item ‘File’ in the status bar and click on ‘Add Account’.

Step 5: Enter the email address belonging to the account and click ‘Connect’. Type the Gmail password and click ‘Connect’ again. In the last dialogue box, confirm the process. This completes the setup. Outlook and Gmail are now connected.

This means that emails arriving in Gmail will be auto-displayed in Outlook. At the same time, you can now move data from Outlook to Gmail. When you open the Gmail app on your smartphone, for example, you will see that the moved emails or folders show up in the Gmail app in the same place where you moved them in Outlook. We will take advantage of this effect for PST-Gmail migration.

Step 6: For mirroring of the data to take place, you must first define which data should be archived and saved by Outlook. To do this, create a PST archive. Go to ‘File’ > ‘Open & Export’ > ‘Import/Export’ to start the wizard.

Step 7: In the wizard, first select ‘Export to a file’ and then ‘Outlook data file (.pst)’. Confirm the actions with ‘Next >‘ in each case.

Step 8: Outlook now queries which emails, folders, and other information will become part of the PST archive and where they should be stored. When you have made all the selections and chosen a suitable location, complete the export.

Step 9: To transfer the data to Google, import the folder we just saved as an archive into Outlook. To do this, return to the wizard as described, so that you are in the Import/Export wizard. Now select the top item ‘Import from another program or files’. Check out other ways to import a PST file to Outlook in our dedicated article on the topic.

Step 10: In the next dialogue, you will be asked again what kind of file you want to import. Once again, select ‘Outlook data file (.pst)’ and the folder you saved.

Step 11: Here’s the decisive step: you can select the email account where the PST file should be imported to via a drop-down arrow. Select the Gmail account and confirm the import with ‘Finish’.

Done! The Gmail section of Outlook now shows the data you previously saved in the PST archive.

By linking Gmail and Outlook, the PST folder you just imported will be automatically synced as a new folder in your Gmail app or browser, and you will have direct access to all the content you just imported.