How to Import Windows Mail or Outlook Emails Into Gmail

Migrate your emails into Gmail with these simple steps

What to Know

  • Easiest: Right-click the message > select Move > choose a folder from your Gmail account.
  • Next easiest: Select the messages > hold down the Ctrl key and drag the highlighted messages to your Gmail account.

This article explains how to import your emails into Gmail from another email service from within Windows Mail or Outlook for Windows 10.

Import Windows 10 Mail into Gmail

To move messages between accounts in Windows Mail:

  1. Open the email account that has the emails you want to migrate to Gmail.

    Open the email account that has the emails you want to migrate to Gmail in Windows Mail.
  2. Select any messages you want to copy to Gmail.

    Hold down the Shift key as you make your selection to choose multiple messages at once. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A to select all emails in a folder.

    Select any messages you want to copy to Gmail in Windows Mail.
  3. Hold down the Ctrl key, then click-and-drag the highlighted messages on top of your Gmail account in the left pane to reveal a list of folders. Drop the messages into your Gmail folder of choice.

    If you don't hold down Ctrl, the emails will be moved into Gmail instead of copied.

    drag to inbox
  4. Another way to copy emails into Gmail is to right-click the highlighted message and select Move, and then pick a folder from your Gmail account.

    move to folder

If all the messages you've imported into Gmail are marked as unread, you can quickly mark them as read to avoid having them clutter up your Gmail account.

Import Outlook for Windows 10 Mail to Gmail

The process for moving messages between accounts is the same in Outlook, but the interface in a little different:

  1. Open the email account that has the emails you want to migrate to Gmail.

    Open the email account that has the emails you want to migrate to Gmail in Outlook.
  2. Select any messages you want to copy to Gmail.

    Hold down the Shift key as you make your selection to choose multiple messages at once. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A to select all emails in a folder.

    Select any messages you want to copy to Gmail in Outlook.
  3. Hold down the Ctrl key, then click-and-drag the highlighted messages into a folder under your Gmail account in the left pane.

    If you don't hold down Ctrl, the emails will be moved into Gmail instead of copied.

    move messages to folder
  4. Another way to copy emails into Gmail is to right-click the highlighted message and select Move > Copy to Folder, and then pick a folder from your Gmail account.

    copy to folder - context menu

How Does This Work?

To migrate emails from other accounts into Gmail, you must first set up both accounts in the email client of your choice (e.g., Windows Mail or Outlook). Be sure to use the Gmail IMAP settings when setting up that account. You might also want to make a new folder in Gmail specifically for your imported messages.

As long as your Gmail account is set up to communicate with the Gmail IMAP server, anything you do to Gmail on your computer will sync with the online version. As a result, any emails you copy to Gmail from your other accounts will be uploaded to your online version of Gmail. The next time you read your Gmail messages from the Gmail mobile app or website, you'll see those same messages that used to be stored only in Outlook or Windows Mail.

Though not as smooth, an alternative method is to use Thunderbird. To do that, you have to first import the messages from Outlook or Windows Mail into Thunderbird and then copy the Thunderbird messages into Gmail.

Aside from manually copying all new messages into Gmail each time they come in, you can also set up your email client to forward messages to Gmail automatically or configure Gmail to check mail from your other account(s).

If you have messages in Outlook that you want to copy over to Gmail, all you have to do is select them and copy them into your Gmail account.

Was this page helpful?