How to Convert Pegasus Messages to Outlook

Note: I wrote this in 2003 for the versions of Pegasus Mail and Outlook that were current at the time. I don't use Pegasus mail any more, so I don't know if this procedure still works. However, the page still receives lots of hits so I'll leave it here in case it's useful to anyone.

1. Run Pegasus
2. Select (highlight) the emails that are to be exported. This will have to be done on a folder-by-folder basis if the messages are not in the same folder.
3. Right-click and select "Save Messages to file".
4. Select "Save messages to a single file".
5. Ensure the append box is unchecked.
6. Give the file a suitable name.
7. Click OK.
8. Close Pegasus.
9. Use a text editor to open the file you have just saved.
10. Find the beginning of each message (the start of the From:, To:, Received: etc. headers (the end of each message is indicated by --End--).
11. Add the line From ???@??? Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 1999, above the first line of the message. The ???@???, date and time can be anything, they are just message separators, and are ignored.
12. If the Date: field is actually titled Date Sent:, remove the Sent to leave just Date:.
13. If the message was sent to you (as opposed to from you), most email programs give the message a time stamp indicating when the message was received by your email account. If there is no Received: field, you can add one by adding a line with the text Received: followed by the date and time from the Sent: field.
14. Repeat steps 7 to 10 for all the messages in the file.
15. Save the file with the same filename, but with the extender .MBX.
16. Close the editor.
17. Open the utility E2M.
18. Click the button marked Load Eudora Mailbox, and select the file you have just saved in the editor.
19. The E2M utility will scan through the file and report a list of the subjects of the messages.
20. Ensure that there are as many messages as you expect.
21. If you are satisfied with the list, click Save MSI Mailbox, and specify the filename Inbox for received messages, or Sent Items for sent messages (The utility will automatically add the .MBX extender).
22. Close the E2M utility. If E2M reported an unexpected number of emails, go back to the editor and recheck the file to ensure that the separator line has been added to the beginning of all messages, including the first.
23. Use Windows Explorer to move the Inbox.MBX or Sent Items.MBX file into the directory in which Outlook Express Emails are stored.
24. Ensure that the existing Outlook Express files do not contain messages which must be kept, If they do, make backups in a different directory while the conversion is performed.
25. Delete the .IDX file with the same name as your converted file (i.e. Sent Items.IDX, or Inbox.IDX).
26. Run Outlook Express (must be lower than version 5). Click on the Inbox or Sent Items folder. This forces OE to repair (reindex) the folder, which recovers all the messages.
27. Check that the messages have been recovered, then close OE.
28. Run Outlook, and use the Import Feature for Outlook Express.
29. Repeat steps 1 to 23 for all Pegasus Folders.

If you made backups of the Outlook Express files, you may replace them into their original folder once the conversion is complete.

Content last updated: 2003-09-23