Show HN: Export Mail for Microsoft Outlook for Mac

lancer|4 years ago

I put this macOS app together to help me archive 250,000+ emails from Microsoft Outlook to local storage. (In a format that would outlast an OLM file.) It started as a simple AppleScript script and multiplied by asking myself, "I wonder if I could make it do X..." a hundred times over. The project was ready to share four years ago but a spontaneous cross-country move left it to languish. A recent HN "share your half-baked project" post motivated me to open Xcode and polish it up for 2021. As a former SaaS CTO and Win32 developer in a former life, it has been quite a journey down the rabbit hole of macOS app development. Unfortunately, the "New Outlook" doesn't support AppleScript to the extent the "Classic" version does [1], so its shelf-life is unknown. It's free to run in either a limited Trial mode or you can request a beta license key to remove the export message count limit. No doubt this targets a niche market, and it would be great if there is enough interest to support continued development.

[1] https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/924856-the-new-outlook-...

tyingq|4 years ago

Curious if corporate Exchange admins can thwart this with domain policy, etc.

lancer|4 years ago

One might think so, but a quick search didn't turn up any results. Outlook for Mac has had AppleScript automation for at least a decade, so you'd think there would be some mention of it if there was.

colinhines|4 years ago

This looks nice! I've also had great luck with Email Alchemy to export over 1 million messages from over a decade of mail.

petecooper|4 years ago

+1. I’m a paid up user of Email Alchemy, it’s one of those sub-50USD apps that pay for themselves with one job / client, especially where Outlook is ancient and inexplicably still working.

colinhines|4 years ago

(and I paid for it after paying two consultants to help me, so although it is a niche market, it could be bigger than you think)

lancer|4 years ago

Emailchemy looks like a pretty useful tool. I'll take a look!

throwaway088|4 years ago

Why not use imap ?

lancer|4 years ago

I imagine IMAP would provide access to most cloud-based email services, and I bet there are some IMAP-based export tools. However, in my experience, Microsoft Exchange email accounts are only accessible through the Exchange Server protocol, whatever that might be. Outlook is the perfect intermediary.

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