HOWTO: Export Microsoft Outlook Notes to Bitwarden Import CSV

I’ve written a Microsoft Outlook vbscript MACRO that can export all notes that reside in a Microsoft Outlook “notes” folder into a .CSV format that Bitwarden can import as multiple Secure Notes.

The vbscript macro is an easy read and, as always, you should inspect the code before executing it. I’ve used this macro on version between Outlook 2007 thru Outlook 2016.

The macro code, and other Outlook macros, can be found at:

I’ve not written detailed instructions, but in essance you will:

  • Enable Macro support in Outlook. Hint: type “macros” in the Outlook search bar. Enable macro support if prompted, search again, and select macro editor.
  • Create a new macro and copy/paste the macro code in
  • Execute the macro. Hint: select green arrow in editor or select macro name from search results.
  • It will create a folder exported into c:\OutlookNotesExport
  • Select the “notes” folder to export
  • It will create a single .CSV file that can be imported into Bitwarden.
  • It will truncate Outlook Notes content to a maximum of 1000 characters which is the maximum that Bitwarden allows. A pop-up at export conclusion will list all notes that were truncated.

Each time you import a Bitwarden .CSV, Bitwarden will create a new “Outlook Notes” secure notes folder. Before importing, you should propably re-name a folder with the same name as: “Outlook Notes PREV”, perform the import, validate, and then optionally delete the “PREV” folder and it’s secure note contents.

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Thank you! Great work :sunglasses:

Excellent, thanks! German umlauts do not show up properly in Bitwarden - not an issue really.

I have updated my Bitwarden macro to support 2 new capabilities:

  1. Outlook Notes that exceed 1000 characters (which is the Bitwarden import limit) will be split into multiple 1000 byte “pages”. Each page will be saved as a unique Bitwarden Secure Note. The name of the note will include a “Page Number” appended.

  2. Per @shoster feedback, I’ve include a simple method that will: ReplaceAccentCharacters(). It appears that Bitwarden does not support accented characters during import. I’m not sure this will resolve his specific issue, but it’s a next step. If this is not correct, it’s a 1-line fix to comment the function out.

I still use this method every couple of months to mirror my outlook notes into Bitwarden. Now if I could only get me wife not so dependent on Outlook… That’s another long-term project!

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