Free Manual Method to Export Office 365 Mailboxes to PST

Updated On - November 27, 2024 by Henry Bray | Reading Time: 10 minutes

In this blog, we will thoroughly check out users’ needs to export Office 365 mailbox to PST, and we will explain both manual methods plus third-party tool to achieve this task efficiently. After reading this blog, you will be able to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST files in an easy and hassle-free way.

As we know, Office 365 is a cloud-based software service product from Microsoft that is very advanced in every way. Office 365 includes features like OneNote, Publisher, Skype for Business, Access, etc., making it famous within a short period.

On the other hand, Outlook is an email client part of the Microsoft Office suite and is widely used for sending emails, managing a calendar, contact, note, journal, etc. Outlook stores information and data in two file formats, which are popularly known as OST and PST.

Most Common Reasons to Export Office 365 Mailbox to PST

The following are some circumstances under which the user needs to export the Office 365 mailbox to PST:

Since Office 365 doesn’t have a built-in option to export the Office 365 mailbox to a PST file, the user is looking for the DIY option to do the same task

• Archive Office 365 mailbox on local hard drive: After exporting Office 365 mailboxes to PST format, it will become easy for you to Backup Office 365 archive mailbox on a local hard drive and work accordingly.
• To reduce the size of your Microsoft 365 mailbox: Your Office 365 mailbox data can be reduced if you backup the Office 365 mailbox in the PST file format.

How to Export Office 365 Mailboxes to PST file

This section will tell you about the 3 methods to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST file format. Here is the complete explanation of the process which will assist you in efficiently converting Office 365 to PST.

• 1st Method: By using Microsoft’s eDiscovery
• 2nd Method: By using PowerShell cmdlets
• 3rd Method: By using Professional tool like (Regain Office 365 to PST Converter)

1st Method: Export Office 365 mailbox to PST by using Microsoft eDiscovery

• First of all, login to your Office Account online using the Administrator credentials
• After that, move to Admin and then Exchange
• In the left pane, click Permissions. Go to Administrator Roles > Discovery Management
• In the Discovery Administration, click the plus sign (+) to add roles.
• Now click under the functions on “Mailbox-Import / Export.”
• Under Members, click the plus (+)sign again and click the user’s name once
• After completing the required steps, click Save
• Go to Compliance Management>> In-Place eDiscovery & Hold and click New (+).
• In the “In-Place eDiscovery & Hold” dialogue box, enter the name and click the “Next” button
• Then select all mailboxes by clicking on “Search all mailboxes” or the selected mailboxes with the option “Specify mailboxes to search” and add the “+.”
• Set the filters and click the “Next” button on the following “Search Query” screen.
• The following dialogue is “In-Place Hold Settings” in which you can specify the number of days that the items should be kept before they are deleted from the server
• Then click on “Finish“.
• At last, click the “Close” button after the confirmation message is displayed
• Now, all generated searches are finally listed. After the process is complete, you can now click the down arrow to export the PST files.

How do you fix the most common mistake in the eDiscovery Method?

Recently, people who use the eDiscovery Export tool to export their Office 365 mailbox to PST are getting errors because the tool keeps crashing.

So, the question is how to fix these errors so the eDiscovery tool works effectively and without any glitches. To do this, you have to figure out WHY this is happening. Here are some of the things that could cause this error and how to fix them.

• You’re using an old version of Windows, which means you should switch to Windows 10 or Windows 11.
• The Click Once add-on has not been installed on the third-party browser. (Get the Click Once add-on)
• Not using Internet Explorer 9.0 or later and not using Microsoft.NET Framework 4.5 or later. (Install Microsoft.NET Framework version 4.5 or later.)

Fix eDiscovery errors to export Microsoft 365 mailboxes to PST

If you are using an Outgoing proxy server, and your outgoing proxy server connection is taking too long. Follow the steps listed below:

• Click the Windows key and the R key at the same time to open the command prompt.
• Type: netshwinhttp show proxy and hit Enter.
• Netshwinhttp set proxy proxyservername:8080 is the next command. (Substitute yourservername.com for proxyservername.)

In Internet Explorer, you have set up the wrong local intranet zone. Follow the steps below to set it up correctly:

• Open Internet Explorer and go to the Tool menu. Click Internet Options.
• Click on the Security tab and choose “Local Intranet.”
• Now, click Site and then click Advanced.
• Check the list to see if https://outlook.com is there. If not, add it yourself.
• Click Close to finish.

Why Don’t Professionals Like the eDiscovery Method?

• The eDiscovery process to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST is long and takes a lot of time.
• It can’t export certain kinds of data, like emails, calendars, and contacts, all at once.
• There is no way to filter the items to export with this method, and there is a chance that data will be lost and mistakes will be made.
• If you want to export your Office 365 mailbox to PST manually, you need to know how to do it. So, people who aren’t tech-savvy may find it hard to use.

2nd Method: Export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using PowerShell cmdlets

Before starting the Office 365 mailbox export using the PowerShell commands, you have to create a search using the New-Compliance search option.

• I look for all of my Office 365 mailboxes in the command below.

New-ComplianceSearch “your_descriptive_name” -ExchangeLocation all | Start-ComplianceSearch

• Then, use the following command to export the search results:

New-ComplianceSearchAction “your description” -Export -Format Fxstream

• Wait until the exporting process gets finished. After that, use the below cmdlet to get the URL of converted data.

Get-ComplianceSearchAction “your description export” -IncludeCredential | FL

• The Container URL and the SAS token are in the Results, so the output file can be downloaded. They come together to make a URL.

Now, we will use the PowerShell commands to export Office 365 Mailbox to PST. I’ve broken it up into different parts so you can understand it better. First, start EMS, and then do the following.

(I can’t answer your question about data filtration or any other specific need, but I hope you’ll get an idea of how this works.)

Phase 1: Connect with the Exchange Server:

• To get started, we must first make a connection. To do this, run the PowerShell command

“$UserCredential = Get-Credential.

• Enter the credentials of Office 365 users in the command above.
• Run the following command:

“$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential” $UserCredential – Basic Authentication – AllowRedirection”

• Then use the “Import-PSSession $Session” command.

Phase2: Give the administrator the right to access:

• Here, I’m giving full access to support@regainsoftware.com to sales@regainsoftware.com.

“Add-MailboxPermission – User sales@regainsoftware.com –Identity support@regainsoftware.com -AccessRights FullAccess -InheritanceType All”.

Phase 3: Make an Outlook profile for a manager:

• Now you have to make the user’s Outlook profile for the person you gave access rights to earlier. It’s support@regainsoftware.com for me.
• Once you’ve created an Outlook profile, ensure the other user is also listed on Outlook. You may have to wait a few minutes for the access rights to take effect. Also, make sure your Cache Exchange mode is enabled.

Phase 4: Use Outlook import/export to export your Office 365 mailbox to PST.

• Go to the File option from the ribbon bar and click on the Open & Export option.
• Now, click on the Import/Export option and select Export to a file.
• Choose Outlook Data File.pst as a file format and choose a mailbox you want to export.
• Choose where to save the Office 365 PST file and choose a way to filter out duplicates.

Using PowerShell, this is the end of the process to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST. Now, I know that a lot of you have given up on this method because it has a lot of steps and commands. But besides this, there are a few other reasons why you shouldn’t use this method.

• It could cause data loss, and I’ve read feedback from users whose mailboxes became corrupted or didn’t show up in their Outlook profiles.
• Only one mailbox can be exported at a time. You can only export one mailbox at a time, no matter how small it is or how many items it has.
• Only the administrator can utilize this method to export the Office mailbox to PST. Also, they need full access to other mailboxes.

Drawbacks of the Manual Method

• The manual process to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST is tedious and time-consuming
• Using the manual method, selective data such as emails, calendars, and contacts cannot be completely exported
• No filter items have been provided for exporting Office 365 mailbox items
• The manual process to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST needs technical knowledge. Hence, it can be difficult for non-technical users to work with.

3rd Method: Use Professional tool to Export Office 365 Mailbox to PST

Suppose you find the above process tricky and time-consuming. In that case, you can go for an automated solution like Regain Office 365 to PST Converter, which is very knowledgeable and easy to convert Office 365 mailboxes to PST files.

Free Download100% Secure Buy NowPrice: $89

The software has a variety of features that allow you to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST files and other file formats such as PST, EML, EMLX, MBOX, MSG, and vCard formats. The user does not need any technical expertise during the entire conversion process.

5 Steps to Export Office 365 mailboxes to PST effortlessly

• Step1: Install and open the free Office 365 Backup tool in your system.
• Step2: Now, provide Office 365 administrator credentials.
• Step3: Select mailboxes and folders from the left pane and click the Export button.
• Step4: Choose file formats and other required options as per need.
• Step5: At last, click on the next button, and all your mailboxes will be exported into PST format.

So, this is the process of the Office 365 export into PST format. Now, as you can see, the process is simple, and anyone can use it without any hassle and technical assistance.

Final Words

Rather than going through a multi-step, risky manual process to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST format, choosing the most secure tool, Regain Office 365 to PST converter, is the right way to export Office 365 mailboxes PST files in approx. 4-5 simple and direct steps.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ques1. Why is Office 365 popular, and how is it related to Outlook?
Ans. Microsoft offers Office 365 as a cloud-based software service with advanced features. Users widely use Outlook, part of the Microsoft Office suite, to manage emails, calendars, contacts, and notes.

Ques2. What is the significance of exporting Office 365 mailboxes to PST?
Ans. Exporting Office 365 mailboxes to PST, is essential for tasks such as creating backups, archiving on local hard drives, and reducing the size of your Microsoft 365 mailbox.

Ques3. What are the reasons the manual method is not suggested for professionals?
Ans. The drawbacks are that it’s slow, complicated, risks data loss, lacks advanced filters, and needs technical skills. It may also change your data’s folder structure.

Ques4. Why is the Regain Office 365 to PST Converter recommended to export the Office 365 mailbox to PST?
Ans. Regain Office 365 to PST Converter is recommended for its ease of use, variety of features, and ability to export Office 365 mailboxes to multiple file formats securely.

Ques5. Can I export Office 365 mailboxes to PST manually?
Ans. Yes, you can use the eDiscovery tool in the Microsoft Security & Compliance Center to manually export mailboxes to PST files.

Ques6. Do I need admin rights for manual export?
Ans. Yes, admin permissions are necessary, and you need to assign the eDiscovery Manager role to perform the export.

Ques7. Is it necessary to Install MS Outlook for Office 365 Mailbox to PST Conversion?
Ans. No, It is not require, but you’ll need it to view the PST file later.

Ques8. How long does the manual export take?
Ans. It depends on mailbox size and your internet speed. Small mailboxes are faster, while larger ones might take hours.

Ques9. Can I export multiple mailboxes at once?
Ans. Yes, the eDiscovery tool allows selecting multiple mailboxes for export during the setup.

Ques10. Are there size restrictions for exporting mailboxes?
Ans. There isn’t a strict limit, but exporting large mailboxes can take longer and might need splitting into smaller files.

Ques11. Does manual export delete data in Office 365?
Ans. No, exporting mailboxes only creates a copy in PST format and doesn’t affect the original data in Office 365.

Ques12. What if the export tool fails to work?
Ans. Check your permissions, internet connection, and settings. If issues persist, use tool like Regain Office 365 to PST Converter for reliable results.