The Exchange Server has impressed millions of users with its new Outlook on emails, calendars, and tasks. They are simple, reliable, secure, and easily fit into daily routines.
Moreover, they provide several tools and utilities, often considered makers are providing a unified experience to all users.
You could need to export the Exchange mailbox to a PST file and import it to Office 365 or another email service.
In this article, we will discuss how to export the Exchange mailbox to PST & import it to Office 365 by exporting the Exchange mailbox to the PST file and finally import the mailbox to Office 365 by using the manual and a professional method.
But before that, why not let us consider the needs when it requires exporting the mailboxes from the Exchange server to PST and later on importing PST to Office 365?
Why Need to Export Exchange Mailbox to Office 365?
Migration from Exchange to Office 365 usually happens at the organizational level, with Exchange administrators playing a crucial role. But there are times when end users need to export their Exchange mailbox to Office 365. Interestingly, end users can export their mailboxes without help from administrators. Here’s a simple way to migrate an Exchange mailbox to Office 365.
How to Export Exchange Mailbox to Office 365?
To complete this mailbox export process from Exchanger server to Office can perform separately using the manual or free method. Firstly, you have to export the Exchange mailbox to the PST file and import the downloaded PST file to Office. To perform the same export process, follow the below write-ups carefully.
Manual or Free Method:-
1. Export Exchange Mailbox to PST using Outlook
Using the feature Import/Export of Outlook, one can export data from Exchange to a PST file. The feature is available in the desktop versions of Outlook, and the process may slightly differ in a few versions of Outlook. Follow the below steps as same listed below; if your Outlook version is 2013, 2016, or 2019.
- Open your Outlook desktop application.
- After that, click on the File tab from the upper-left side of the Outlook wizard.
- Now, click on the Open & Export option and Select Import/Export.
- In the next step, you will find a list of options. From the displayed options, choose Export to a file. Click Next.
- In the following export to a file wizard, select the Outlook Data file (.pst) option and tap Next.
- Now, drag the pointer and choose your Exchange mailbox folder that you need to export into a PST file. Additionally, check the option Include subfolders. After that, click Next.
- Click the Browse button to select the saving path. Also, check the required options-
- Replace duplicates with items exported
- Allow the duplicate items to be created
- Do not export duplicate email
- After choosing the options given above, click on the Finish button to start the process.
After a few moments, you can find the PST file of your Exchange mailbox folders, including the subfolder at your chosen saving directory. Thus, you have completed the first stage of the process; now, let’s proceed with the second process- Import PST to Office 365.
Import PST File to Office 365 Using Outlook
To export the exchange mailbox downloaded PST file to Office 365, you must need an Outlook application associated with your Microsoft Office 365 account. In simple terms, you must configure your Outlook application with the Office 365 account before moving toward the steps. If you have an associated Office 365 Outlook application, then proceed with the below steps-
Note: Configure Outlook with Office 365 account.
- Launch the Outlook program.
- Now, navigate and click the File option to open the other features.
- Choose Open & Export from the left pane and click on Import/Export.
- Here, the Import/Export wizard options will appear again. Choose the option Import from another program or file and click Next.
- A new wizard will come up to Import a file. Select the second option, Outlook data file (.pst), and tap next.
- Now, tap on the Browse button and navigate to the downloaded PST file of the Exchange mailbox folder from the above steps of Importing the PST file from Exchange. Select the PST file and choose the below option if required;
- Replace duplicates with items imported
- Allow duplicate items to be created
- Do not import duplicate items
- After that, tap the Next button to proceed further.
- Choose the folder in which the PST file will be imported by entering the Office 365 account email address. Later, click the Finish button.
Within a few moments, the import process of the PST file to Office 365 will gets completed. After compilation of the import process, one can check the Office 365 account for the Exchange mailbox folders that Outlook imports. However, as we know, each coin has a double face; thus, the manual method consists of a few limitations that you must know.
Limitation of Above Method-
- Exporting the Exchange mailbox folder to PST and importing PST to Office 365 is time-taken.
- Requires technical expertise to configure Outlook with Office 365.
- There is a chance of data loss while processing the steps to accomplish the export and import task.
By these limitations of the manual methods, most organizations take a deep analysis while preferring the methods to export. As it involves data loss while attempting the method but relax! There is a solution available to avoid such limitations.
Professional Exchange Backup & Restore Tool
Most of the IT and Exchange Server experts suggest this Exchange Backup and Restore tool to efficiently export the mailboxes from the exchange. It is a straightforward method to complete the entire process by exporting the Exchange mailbox folder to PST or importing PST to Office 365. It is considered as one of the best, safe, and most reliable to export the Exchange mailbox folder to PST and also import PST to Office 365.
The Bottom Line
We have seen lots of organizations using Microsoft Exchange for email management. Exchange server is one of the best email server software in the world. But, if you are moving your organization to the cloud, it’s necessary to export the exchange mailbox to the PST file. You can move your Exchange emails to the cloud like Office 365 and Outlook 365. For this, you first need to export the Exchange mailbox to the PST file and then import the PST file to Office 365. If you are looking for a solution to export the Exchange mailbox to PST, try our Exchange Backup and Restore Tool. It’s a reliable tool to export Exchange mailbox to PST. The Tool is helpful for both small and large organizations. It’s straightforward to use.
