There is no direct path from Outlook to Google Sheets with Xtractor, because Xtractor reads Gmail only. The workable route is to get the Outlook mail into a Gmail mailbox first, then parse it into rows from inside Google Sheets. This guide covers both ways of filling that Gmail mailbox (forwarding and migration), how to choose between them, and a worked example that ends with a clean sheet of vendor invoices.
Which route fits: forward or migrate?
Forward when you want new mail from a specific Outlook mailbox to keep arriving in Gmail, and migrate when you need the existing mail history there too.
| Forward | Migrate | |
|---|---|---|
| What moves | New mail from the moment the rule starts | Existing folders, then new mail through repeat (delta) runs |
| Who sets it up | The mailbox owner for an inbox rule, or a Microsoft 365 admin for mailbox forwarding | A Google Workspace super admin plus a Microsoft 365 Global Administrator |
| Main blocker | Microsoft 365 blocks external forwarding unless an admin allows it | Needs a Google Workspace account for each mailbox you migrate |
| Best for | One shared flow, such as vendor invoices or order notices | Months of back mail, or a team moving to Gmail for good |
Most operations teams that only want a spreadsheet of one mail type should forward. Teams that need last year’s mail in the same sheet should migrate, or forward from now on and migrate the history once.
Whichever route you pick, use a dedicated Gmail mailbox for the parsed mail where you can. It keeps the import small and keeps Outlook content away from anyone’s personal inbox.
How do you forward Outlook emails to Gmail?
Create an Inbox rule in Outlook that forwards matching messages to your Gmail address, and ask your Microsoft 365 admin to allow external forwarding if the messages bounce.
- In new Outlook, open Settings, then Mail, then Rules, and add a rule. Microsoft’s rules guide explains the name, condition and action fields.
- Set a narrow condition, such as sender, or subject contains “Invoice”. Forwarding the whole inbox sends more data out of your organisation than the spreadsheet needs.
- Choose the forward (or redirect) action and enter the Gmail address.
- Send a test message and check that it lands in Gmail.
Forward and redirect differ. Microsoft describes a forwarded message as one you received and then forwarded, while a redirected message keeps the original sender on the From line. That matters later, because a parser that searches by sender needs to know which address it will see. Test one message and look.
Why external forwarding fails in Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 controls automatic external forwarding with the outbound spam policy, and a blocked message comes back to the sender as a 5.7.520 “Access denied” error.
The policy has three settings: Automatic (system-controlled), On (forwarding is enabled) and Off (forwarding is disabled). Microsoft notes that the automatic setting changed in 2021 and behaves differently by organisation, so it recommends setting On or Off explicitly. Turning forwarding off also disables any Inbox rules and mailbox forwarding that point outside the organisation. The details are in Microsoft’s page on controlling external email forwarding.
For an IT admin, the useful point is that the block is deliberate and you do not have to lift it for everyone. Remote domains and mail flow rules can still block forwarding to specific destinations even when the policy allows it, and when two settings disagree the block typically wins. So you can allow the policy, then use a remote domain to permit only your own Google Workspace domain. Microsoft’s Auto forwarded messages report shows who is forwarding today, which is worth reading before you change anything.
Do not plan on pulling mail from Outlook into Gmail
Gmail is retiring its own “Check mail from other accounts” fetch, so forwarding from the Outlook side is the route to build. Google’s help page on the change says Gmail will stop fetching mail from third-party accounts over POP, that new users are no longer accepted after the first quarter of 2026, and that existing users can keep using it until January 2027. Google suggests automatic forwarding from the other provider as the replacement.
How do you migrate Outlook to Gmail?
Use the data import tool in the Google Admin console to copy Exchange Online mail into each user’s Google Workspace account.
You need a super admin on the Google side and a Global Administrator on the Microsoft 365 side. Google’s steps for importing Exchange Online mail run like this:
- In the Admin console, open Data import and choose Exchange Online, then connect with your Microsoft 365 admin sign-in.
- Map each Exchange mailbox to a Workspace user. For 20 users or fewer the tool suggests matches. Above that you upload a CSV with the headers “Source Exchange Email” and “Target GUser”, up to 1,000 users at a time.
- Pick what to bring over (email, calendar, contacts, tasks), set a start date, and decide whether to include deleted or spam mail and which folders to leave out.
- Start the import and watch progress. When it finishes you get an email with statistics.
- Run a delta import later to copy mail that arrived since, plus anything that failed the first time.
The tool copies and leaves Exchange untouched. Google’s list of what is imported shows that:
- Folders become Gmail labels, with slashes turned into underscores.
- Read and unread status and attachments carry over, though attachments are skipped above 150 MB.
- Flagged and starred status, categories and shared folders do not come over.
- Outlook rules become Gmail filters only with the advanced method.
Set the start date with the spreadsheet in mind. If you only need the last quarter of invoices, do not copy ten years of mail, because every email the parser reads counts against your plan.
How do you turn the Gmail mail into Google Sheets rows?
Once the mail is in Gmail, install Xtractor as a Google Workspace add-on, search for the emails you want inside Google Sheets, and define the fields to extract.
Xtractor is free to install, and new accounts can process 100 emails as a trial, which is enough to test your forwarded messages before paying for anything. It searches by subject, sender, date and content, so build the search around something that survives forwarding. If a test message shows your Outlook address as the sender, search on subject text or on content instead. For background on the setup itself, the step-by-step email parser guide walks through a first import.
Extraction uses custom filters: text-before and text-after rules, or regex filters, that pick out the value you want from each email. If a vendor changes its wording, multiple parsing contexts let one search handle emails whose format varies. Xtractor can also use AI alongside the filters and contexts you define. The extracted values go straight into your sheet as rows and columns, and they stay in your Google Sheet rather than in Xtractor’s own database. If you need Excel or CSV, download it from the sheet.
Two limits are worth knowing before you promise anything to a colleague. Xtractor does not parse attachments, so a PDF invoice attached to the email is not read (custom attachment parsing is available on request). And it exports extracted values, not whole messages or archives such as PST files.
Worked example: vendor invoice notices from an Outlook mailbox
This example turns about 400 vendor invoice notices a month, received in a Microsoft 365 mailbox, into a weekly spend sheet.
The setup: an operations analyst owns an Outlook mailbox that receives invoice notices from a billing portal. Each email states the vendor, an invoice number, an amount and a due date in the body.
- Forward. Create an Inbox rule where the subject contains “Invoice available” and forward matches to a dedicated Gmail address such as a team account. Ask the Microsoft 365 admin to allow forwarding to that domain only.
- Check one email. Open a forwarded notice in Gmail and note the subject and body text. You are looking for stable text just before and after each value, for example “Invoice number:” before the number.
- Lay out the sheet. Use a header row of Vendor, Invoice number, Amount, Due date, one column for each extracted field.
- Define the search. Search by subject for the invoice notice and set the extraction filters for the fields above.
- Run it once, then schedule it. Run a bulk import to catch up on mail already forwarded, then switch on a daily scheduled import.
- Check the amount column. Make sure it holds numbers before you sum it.
Because plans limit fields per search, the plan matters here. Four extracted fields rule out Starter (2 saved searches and 2 fields per search) and fit Pro, which allows 5 and 5. Pro includes 5,000 imports a month and 500 a day, with daily scheduled runs, so 400 notices a month fit comfortably, and a three-month catch-up of about 1,200 emails takes three days of the daily cap. Pro costs $45 a month billed monthly or $10 a month billed annually, per user. If you can reduce the example to two fields, such as invoice number and amount, Starter is $24 monthly or $5 annually for 1,000 imports a month. The free plan allows 10 emails a day, 50 a month and 1 field per search with no scheduling, so it suits testing only. Check the current prices on the Xtractor site before you buy.
Is this safe for company mail?
Forwarding sends a copy of company mail to a Google mailbox, so scope the rule narrowly, confine it to one destination domain, and review it when the process changes.
On the Xtractor side, it is CASA Tier 2 certified, which is the independent security assessment Google requires for apps that access sensitive data, and extracted data stays in your own Google Sheet. The email parser security overview covers permissions in more detail. On the Microsoft side, keep the Auto forwarded messages report and your forwarding rules under review, so a rule created for one project does not keep running unnoticed.
If your team would rather keep all processing inside Microsoft tools, the Outlook and Power Automate parser guide covers that direction. For broader Gmail routing once your mail is there, see using Gmail filters for selective auto-forwarding, and the pillar email to Google Sheets guide puts the whole workflow in context.
FAQ
Can Xtractor connect directly to my Outlook or Microsoft 365 mailbox?
No. Xtractor reads Gmail only, so Outlook, Microsoft 365, Exchange and shared mailboxes need their mail brought into Gmail first, by forwarding or migration.
Why does my forwarding rule send nothing to Gmail?
Most often your organisation blocks external automatic forwarding, and the sender sees a 5.7.520 error. A Microsoft 365 admin has to change the outbound spam policy or allow your Gmail domain.
Does migrating delete anything from Outlook?
No. Google’s data import tool copies Exchange Online data and does not delete or change it in Exchange.
Can I parse PDF invoices attached to forwarded emails?
Not with Xtractor as standard. It does not parse attachments, though custom attachment parsing is available on request.
Can I get the data into Excel?
Yes. The data lands in Google Sheets, and you download CSV or Excel files from there.