Best Practices to Open OLM Files

Read time 4 minutes

With Outlook for Mac version 2011, the OLM file format came into existence as the master container for Mac Outlook data. It can store all kinds of data like Emails, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Notes, and the rest.

OLM itself stands for ‘Outlook for Mac,’ and the file format is not compatible with any other email client for desktop by default, including Outlook for Microsoft Windows. This is because other email clients do not support the OLM format. This is the prime reason behind users not being able to view OLM files without Outlook. However, in this article, we will be discussing all the existing best practices to open OLM files.

How do I Access OLM File in Windows?

If you are using Windows and not an Apple machine, then it is obvious that you would not have access to Mac OS-specific files and applications, including OLM files and Outlook for Mac.

And there’s no direct way or method to say that you can use to open OLM files straight. And speaking of workarounds, there are many, but using these workarounds, you would have to put in extra minutes and would need technical expertise to make that process function. Thus, the only option is to use third-party software which could let you view an OLM file in a jiffy without any difficult steps.

The user does not create the data file while creating the account in Outlook for Mac, but the application creates a file automatically at a dedicated location. You can check the files at following paths-

• Outlook 2019 for Mac: Users/‹username›/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile
• Outlook 2016 for Mac: Users/‹username›/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile
• Outlook 2011 for Mac: /Users/‹username›/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 Identities/Main Identity

Speaking of third-party software, robustness and reliability are the two important factors users look forward to, and Kernel OLM Viewer offers you the best of all. It is made available for free to download and can be installed on any version of Microsoft Windows.

Kernel OLM Viewer comes with smart features integrated within like advance filters, live preview, deep search, support for healthy & corrupt OLM files, etc. With this tool, you can view large OLM files and OLM files of all Outlook versions. But the OLM viewer tool does not allow you to save OLM files. For that, there are some free ways to convert OLM files to PST.

Additionally, with Kernel OLM Viewer, you can generate file analysis reports for analyzing the OLM file to get some meaningful insights.

Follow the steps given below to open the OLM file with ease in OLM Viewer:

1. Download and launch the Kernel OLM Viewer.
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2. Once the software is open, the UI will be the same as below; click Select File.
3. Click Browse to select the OLM file and click Next.
   
   Note: If you wish to open multiple OLM Files at once, you can do that by clicking on the + icon.
4. Read the information given and proceed, click Finish.
5. Once the OLM file is loaded, all data inside will appear as below.
   
   Note: Expand a folder to unveil its items. And to preview items, click on each; the preview will be generated as shown above.
6. As above, you can preview other items present inside folders and subfolders inside the OLM file.

With Kernel OLM Viewer, you can only view OLM files. To save OLM files to various file formats and destinations, you can purchase Kernel for OLM to PST, a popular tool for OLM file conversion and migration.

Wrap

When we weigh the best practices to open OLM files, using a professional tool is the right solution. It is an easy to use and comes with smart features. To open the OLM file, you first need to have the OLM file; read on to know about the OLM file location in Mac Outlook. Then you can use Kernel OLM Viewer to view OLM file data.