How to Export Office 365 Mailbox to PST File – Complete Guide

Introdution: As the Office 365 mailbox storage approaches its limit, new emails will not be received. This happens often in business environments with heavy communications. Instead of deleting important emails, it is better to export Office 365 mailbox to PST. In this detailed blog, we have demonstrated multiple approaches to exporting emails to PST. Both the DIY method and the expert-recommended method using MacSonik Office 365 Backup Tool are explained. Continue to read this blog, where a step-by-step approach is outlined for both methods.

Potential Reasons to Archive Office 365 Mailbox to PST

• Many people export their Office 365 mailboxes to PST to store a personal backup.
• To keep the mailbox manageable, users offload older emails into a PST file. It helps to free up storage space.
• Businesses export mailboxes to PST to preserve evidence when required by legal teams.
• PST export makes sure that the important emails are archived before deleting the account.
• IT teams use PST export to safely analyze and preserve important email data.

Different Ways of Exporting Office 365 Mailbox to PST

To export Office 365 to PST, there are different approaches that the users can choose from. Each approach has its own limitations. Choose the suitable approach according to the business requirements.

Method 01: Using MS Outlook

In this method, we use Outlook’s Import/Export feature to export PST from Office 365. It is the most common manual method and is suitable for very small exports only.

Follow the steps to begin exporting the mailbox

1. Open MS Outlook and sign in to your Office 365 account.
2. Now, navigate to File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
3. Then, choose Export to a file and select Outlook Data File (.pst).
4. Next, pick the mailbox or the desired folders to export to PST.
5. At last, select the location to save the file and hit Finish.

Method 02: Export Office 365 Mailbox to PST Using eDiscovery

The Microsoft Purview Compliance Centre offers a built-in eDiscovery export. It allows admins to export Office 365 emails to a PST file. Moreover, this process supports exporting large mailboxes, too. To continue, users need to have administrative permissions.

These are the following steps to be performed

1. First, visit the Compliance centre and log in with your admin account.
2. Now, go to Permissions > Roles and assign yourself to Compliance Centre and eDiscovery Manager.
3. Then, click Content Search. Under Solutions, go to Content Search > New Search and name it. 
4. After that, in Choose locations, select Export Mailboxes, apply filters, and tap Start Search.
5. Once the search is completed, press Actions > Export Results and choose the export settings. Then, click Start Export.
6. Now, head to the Export tab, select your export job, and click on Download Results.
7. The eDiscovery Export Tool will be downloaded. Now, copy the Export Key and paste it into the tool.
8. Set the destination folder, and PST will get downloaded. 

Method 03: Office 365 Export Mailbox to PST PowerShell Method

In Office 365, we cannot run a direct PowerShell command to export the Office 365 inbox to PST format. It only prepares the eDiscovery export. The command only works on Exchange Server (On-Premises), not in Exchange Online.

The following are the instructions to begin the procedure:

1. Run this command to connect to Exchange Online PowerShell:

   Connect-ExchangeOnline

2. Now, to search the mailbox that needs to be exported to PST, run the following command:

   New-ComplianceSearch -Name "ExportUserMailbox" -ExchangeLocation "user@domain.com" -ContentMatchQuery ""

3. Then, start the search by running this command:

   Start-ComplianceSearch -Identity "ExportUserMailbox"

4. Next, prepare the mailbox to export to PST using this command:

   New-ComplianceSearchAction -SearchName "ExportUserMailbox" -Export

5. After this, follow the steps mentioned in Method 02 to download the PST file.

An Expert-Recommended Solution to Export Office 365 Mailbox to PST

Experience a smooth and simple Office 365 management with MacSonik Office 365 Backup Tool. It is engineered to manage Office 365 mail backup, recover data, and migrate Office 365 to Amazon WorkMail and other email services. This tool makes everything effortless while maintaining data integrity and ensuring the original folder structure. With multi-format export options, this tool is equipped with premium features like bulk backups and smart filters. 

Quick and simple steps to backup Office 365 mailbox to PST

1. Download and install the MacSonik’s Office 365 Backup Tool.
2. Now, open the tool and navigate to Backup > Continue.
3. Then, from the Mail list, choose the folders.
4. After that, browse through the folder tree, select the required folders, and click Next.
5. Next, pick PST from the File Formats drop-down list.
6. Apply the filters and set the destination as preferred.
7. At the end, click on Convert to start the export process.

Conclusion

Many users struggle to find effective methods to export Office 365 mailbox to PST. Hence, through this blog, we have provided the methods that are tried and tested. The manual methods are a bit complicated and require technical knowledge. Therefore, they are not suitable for beginners or a non-technical audience. For a quick approach, users opt for the MacSonik Office 365 Backup Tool

Also Read: Export Exchange Online Mailbox to PST

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