Export Exchange Online Mailbox to PST – Backup Office 365 Data

Microsoft Exchange Online or Office 365 is the popular web-based email client that stores its all data in the cloud. It allows users to access data from anywhere at anytime. Exchange Online has some additional features such as file sharing, working with mobile phones, cloud services etc. But, still, some users want to export Exchange Online mailbox to PST. Because the problem with Exchange Online is that, it works only when the internet is available. If the Exchange Online data gets deleted or corrupted due to different reasons like masquerading, corruption, hacking, virus attack, etc, then it is not possible to retrieve it back. So, to overcome all such situations, a user needs to make a backup of Exchange Online data. For backup, all Exchange Export data should be saved in the desktop-based email client i.e MS Outlook. Therefore, it is required to export Office 365 mailbox to PST file format. There are some solutions to such migration discussed in this post.

Common Reasons for Export Exchange Online Mailbox to PST Format

There are many reasons behind the migration of Office 365 or Exchange Online mailbox to PST. Some of the causes are discussed here:

• If the data gets corrupted or deleted, then normally it cannot be recovered. In this situations, data can be retrieved back if the user has a backup of Exchange Online mailbox in PST format. Many organizations which do not keep backup of data, stuck in serious problems at the time of disaster.
• Export mailbox to PST from exchange online is required if the data stored in the cloud is hacked, and the hacker made some irrelevant changes. In this case, your data will be safe in the backup files.
• If the user has accidentally deleted some important data, then the deleted data can be retrieved if the backup of the data is available in the PST format.

Export Exchange Online Mailbox to PST Using eDiscovery PST Export Tool

An eDiscovery PST Export Tool is an inbuilt facility of Microsoft. It is used to export Exchange Online to PST file. It creates the backup of Exchange data such as emails, contacts, and calendars to an Outlook PST format. To use this facility, some special privileges are needed and it must be granted by an admin account holder. So, perform these steps to acquire the permission to access the tool.

• Step 1: First of all, log in your Exchange Online or Office 365 account with administrator credentials
• Step 2: After that, go to the Admin option >> Exchange option
• Step 3: Next, click on Permissions from the left pane. Then, go to the Admin Roles >> Discovery Management
• Step 4: Now, from the Discovery Management, click on the plus (+) sign to add Roles then click on the Mailbox Import Export option. Then, under the Members, click on the plus (+) sign again & click on the name of the user. After that, click on Save option
• Step 5: This step will allow access to the eDiscovery Export tool. The member with the mentioned username has been assigned the permission to start the backup process. So, there is step by step process mentioned below to archive and backup Exchange Online mailbox to PST file format:
  • To start this process, go to the Exchange Admin Center i.e EAC
  • After that, click on the Compliance Management from the left pane
  • Then, click on In-Place eDiscovery and Hold
  • Now, choose the mailbox items from the list-view that are to be exported as a result by using In-place eDiscovery
  • In this step, click on the Download icon to start Export Exchange Online mailbox to PST file
  • Finally, perform the following steps mentioned below in the eDiscovery PST Export Tool & create Exchange Export Backup file:

          1. First of all, click on the Browse button to set the folder path where the exported PST file will be saved.
          2. After that, check the Enable deduplication checkbox to remove any duplicate emails. If the same message exists in more than one folder, then only one instance is saved in the PST file.
          3. Now, users can also check the Include unsearchable items check box. This will add mailbox items that can not be reached by Exchange Online Search. These items include email files with attachments that cannot be indexed during a search and saved in a separate PST file.
          4. Finally, click on Export button to start the migration process to backup Exchange Online mailbox to PST file.

An Expert Solution to Export Exchange Online Mailbox to PST

The manual method has some demerits like it is very lengthy and time-consuming process, administrative credentials are required for granting privileges, technical skills are needed etc. Therefore, it is suggested to use Office 365 Exporter. It is used to archive and export Exchange Online mailbox to PST file without any data corruption or data loss. This automatic solution is simple and efficient for all users. However, according to the experts, it is the best trouble-free solution to get backup of data in PST format and retrieve the lost data.

Final Words

Exchange Online stores their data in the cloud and it is very difficult to retrieve the data from the cloud in the case of data deletion or corruption. That is why it is really important to take backup of Exchange Online mailbox to PST. For this, both manual and third-party solutions are there. In the manual procedure, users have to perform all the steps and it has some limitations. Now, in order to have a simple, easy and effortless solution Office 365 Exporter tool is suggested above. It is the easiest approach to export Exchange Online mailbox to PST file. Both the solutions are equally good. A user can choose anyone according to the need.