Written by Jennifer Walsh. Reviewed for technical accuracy by Shubham Dixit, Independent Expert in Email Forensics and Data File Conversion. Updated 18 September 2026.
Shubham is an independent external reviewer and not an employee of PCDOTS.
Quick answer. Google Takeout exports your Gmail as MBOX inside a .zip or .tgz, with contacts as vCard and calendar as ICS. Office 365 imports from PST, not MBOX, so you extract the archive, convert the MBOX to PST, then import it into Outlook, which uploads to your 365 account. Contacts and calendar import straight from the vCard and ICS. A tool does the mail in bulk.
On this page
- What’s inside a Google Takeout, and why won’t it import?
- How do you download and extract the Takeout?
- How do you import the Takeout mail into Office 365?
- How do you bring the contacts and calendar across?
- How do you import Google Takeout to Office 365 in bulk?
- Which method should you use?
- Frequently asked questions
What’s inside a Google Takeout, and why won’t it import?
Google Takeout is Google’s data export, and it’s the usual first step when you move from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365. For Gmail it hands you an MBOX file of your mail, a vCard of your contacts and an ICS of your calendar, all zipped into a .zip or .tgz archive.
Office 365, and Outlook with it, imports mailboxes from a PST file, not from MBOX. So the mail can’t go straight in. You extract the archive, convert the MBOX to PST, then import that. Contacts and calendar are easier, since Outlook reads the vCard and ICS directly.
So a Takeout reaches Office 365 in two lanes. The mail goes as a PST, and the contacts and calendar as their own files. The steps below cover both.
Mail goes in as a PST, contacts and calendar go in as vCard and ICS.
“The part people overthink is the mail. Office 365 won’t read an MBOX, so you turn it into a PST and import that in classic Outlook, and it syncs up to the cloud. The good news is the contacts and calendar don’t need converting, Outlook imports the vCard and the ICS from the Takeout as they are. One gotcha, only classic Outlook imports a PST, the new and web versions don’t. For a lot of mailboxes I skip the desktop and either run the Microsoft 365 import service or a tool that pushes straight to the account.” Shubham Dixit, Email Migration reviewer (draft, pending approval)
How do you download and extract the Takeout?
You download the Takeout from Google, then extract the archive to get the files. Choose the .zip format, since Windows opens a zip on its own, while a .tgz needs 7-Zip.
Here are the four steps.
- Open Google Takeout, deselect all, then select Mail, plus Contacts and Calendar if you want them.
- Choose the .zip format and a size, then create the export.
- Download the archive when Google emails the link. Large accounts take a while.
- Extract it, and you get the .mbox, plus the .vcf and .ics if you chose them.
I always choose the .zip over the .tgz, since Windows opens a zip on its own. The mail sits in a Mail folder as one .mbox file, with your Gmail labels kept as folders inside it.
How do you import the Takeout mail into Office 365?
You import the Takeout mail into Office 365 by turning the MBOX into a PST, then importing that PST in Outlook. With Outlook signed in to your 365 account, the mail uploads to the cloud.
Here are the four steps.
- Convert the .mbox to a PST with a converter, since Windows has no free MBOX to PST.
- In classic Outlook, signed in to your 365 account, click File, then Open & Export, then Import/Export.
- Choose Import from another program or file, then Outlook Data File (.pst), and browse to the PST.
- Finish, and Outlook syncs the mail up to Office 365.
Only classic Outlook imports a PST, the new and web versions don’t, so use classic here. If you’re on the new Outlook, toggle it off in the top corner to drop back to classic for the import. A very large Takeout can pass the 50 GB PST limit, so split it or convert in parts. If you’d rather stay free, a Thunderbird bridge works too, add the 365 account as IMAP and copy the imported MBOX folder into it. For many mailboxes, an admin uses the Microsoft 365 import service, uploading the PST to Azure with AzCopy and running an import job.
Extract the MBOX, convert to PST and import in classic Outlook to sync it to 365.
How do you bring the contacts and calendar across?
You bring the contacts and calendar across straight from the Takeout, with no conversion. Outlook reads a vCard and an ICS on its own.
In classic Outlook, click File, Open & Export, Import/Export, then Import a VCARD file (.vcf) and choose the Takeout contacts file. For the calendar, choose Import an iCalendar (.ics) file instead, and select the Takeout calendar file. Both land in your 365 account.
How do you import Google Takeout to Office 365 in bulk?
You import Google Takeout to Office 365 in bulk with a converter that reads the Takeout and uploads to the account. It skips the PST step and the desktop, which helps for many mailboxes or an entire team.
PCDOTS Google Takeout Converter loads the extracted Takeout MBOX and exports it to Office 365 over IMAP, or to PST for an Outlook import. It keeps the folders and attachments, runs on Windows and filters by date or sender. For Office 365, sign in with an app password, since basic auth is off. The free trial exports a sample first. Follow these four steps.
- Install and run PCDOTS Google Takeout Converter, then Open your Takeout files.
- Select the loaded MBOX and preview the mail.
- Open Export and select Office 365.
- Enter your Office 365 account and app password, then start the upload.
The tool route, a Takeout uploaded straight to Office 365.
Here are the first steps with the screens.
Step 1. Install and run PCDOTS Google Takeout Converter.
Step 2. Open and select your Google Takeout files.
Step 3. Open Export and select Office 365.
Related reading, our guides to import MBOX to Exchange and import Google Takeout to Thunderbird. To read a file first, the free MBOX viewer opens the Takeout mail without a client.
Only the mail needs a PST, the contacts and calendar go in as they are.
Which method should you use?
Use Outlook for one mailbox, the 365 import service for a team and a tool to skip the PST step.
| Method | Best for | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| MBOX to PST, Outlook | One mailbox | Classic Outlook, uploads to 365 |
| Microsoft 365 import service | A team of users | Admin, network upload of PST |
| Takeout Converter | Skipping the PST step | Windows, uploads over IMAP |
Key takeaways
- Google Takeout gives Gmail as MBOX in a .zip or .tgz, plus vCard and ICS.
- Office 365 takes PST for mail, so convert the MBOX to PST, then import it in classic Outlook.
- Contacts and calendar import straight from the vCard and ICS, no conversion.
- For a team, an admin uses the Microsoft 365 import service, or a tool uploads over IMAP.
Frequently asked questions
Can Office 365 import a Google Takeout directly?
No. Office 365 imports from PST, not MBOX. Extract the Takeout, convert the MBOX to PST, then import it in classic Outlook, which uploads to your 365 account.
Should I choose the .zip or the .tgz in Takeout?
Choose the .zip, since Windows opens it on its own. A .tgz needs a tool like 7-Zip to extract first.
How do I import my Google contacts and calendar?
In Outlook, use Import a VCARD file (.vcf) for the contacts and Import an iCalendar (.ics) file for the calendar. Both come straight from the Takeout.
Why won’t the new Outlook import my PST?
Only classic Outlook imports a PST. The new Outlook and Outlook on the web don’t, so run the import from classic Outlook.
How do I move many mailboxes to Office 365?
An admin converts the MBOX files to PST, then uses the Microsoft 365 import service to network-upload them, or a converter that uploads over IMAP.
Does the folder structure stay the same?
Yes. A PST import and a converter both keep the folder hierarchy and the attachments from the Takeout mail.
So how is your Google Takeout reaching Office 365?
A Google Takeout reaches Office 365 in two lanes. The mail becomes a PST that classic Outlook imports and syncs to the cloud, and the contacts and calendar go in straight from the vCard and ICS. For a team, the Microsoft 365 import service or a converter moves the mail in bulk. So how is your Google Takeout reaching Office 365, one mailbox through Outlook, or a batch through a tool?
