How to export and import mailboxes in Exchange server?

To store mailbox data in a PST file, you need to export all mailbox contents to a PST file and save it to a shared location. When you need to retrieve the data, you can import the PST file into MS Outlook or Microsoft 365 to access the mailbox information.

You can use Exchange Admin Center, PowerShell cmdlets or MS Outlook to perform the export or import process.

You need to export mailboxes to PST files in the following scenarios:

• When the organization is upgrading to a new email system or server, you can export mailboxes to PST files and import them to the new server. This is also applicable when the organization is migrating from an on premise server to Microsoft 365.
• When the organization needs to store and retain mailboxes and email records of old users. You can export these old mailboxes to a PST file and import them when you need to access them.
• When there is old data on the server, you can back it up in the form of a PST file and delete it from the server to free up space.

There are many other cases where you may need to export mailboxes to PST. Let us explore the various methods that you can use to export mailboxes to PST and import PST in Outlook.

Prerequisites to perform the export and import process

Before you start with the export or import process, you need to ensure that you have fulfilled the below mentioned prerequisites.

Permissions required to perform the export or import process.

To export mailboxes to PST by using the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) or via PowerShell cmdlets in the EMS, you need to assign the Mailbox Import/Export role to your user account. By default, even the admin does not have this permission.

To assign the required permissions using the EAC, follow these steps:

1. Open the Exchange Admin Center (EAC).
2. After login, navigate to Permissions > Admin roles.

3. Click on the add (+) button to create a new role.
4. Assign the Mailbox Import/Export role to the new role and add the user to whom you want to assign this permission.

Alternatively, you can also assign the Mailbox Import Export Role to the user account with the Exchange Management Shell (EMS). For this, run EMS as an administrator and run the below cmdlet:

New-ManagementRoleAssignment –Role “Mailbox Import Export” –User “<Username>”

Set up UNC File Path to Save the Exported PST Files

You cannot export data directly to a folder on the server (for example, C:\PSTExports). To save the exported mailboxes to PST files, you need to create a UNC file path or a shared folder location where you will store the PST file.

You also need to share the created folder with Exchange Trusted Subsystem and assign permissions to Read/Write permissions. To do this:

• Create a folder at any location on the Exchange Server.
• Then, right-click on the newly created folder and select Give access to > Specific People.

• Select Everyone (not recommended) or your username (recommended) from the dropdown.
• Click Add.

• Select Read/Write permission from the Permission Level dropdown and click Share.

• Copy the shared network path. For example, \\exsrv2013\d$\pst.

Methods to perform the Export and Import process

Below are the methods to export mailboxes to PST and import those PST files to Outlook.

Method 1: Export Mailboxes to PST and import the PST files using Exchange Admin Center.

You can use Exchange Admin Center (EAC) to perform the export and import process. Although, you cannot export the public folder in the mailbox and filter out any specific content that you want to include or exclude from the export.

Here are the steps to export mailboxes to PST and then import the PST file using EAC:

Export mailboxes to PST using EAC

1. Log in to the EAC as administrator.
2. Navigate to recipients > mailboxes and click on ellipsis icon (three dots).
3. Select the Export to a PST file option from the menu.

4. In Export to a .pst file wizard, browse and choose the mailbox you want to export to PST and select the appropriate options to export only the contents of this mailbox or mailbox’s archive. Click Next.

5. In the next window, enter the UNC path (shared folder path on the network) and the name of the .pst file. You can enter any name. Then, click Next.

6. Click Browse to select your user account. Exchange will send an email when mailbox export to PST is finished.

7. Click Finish. This will start the PST export.

Import PST files to mailboxes using EAC

1. Follow the first two steps of the process to export mailboxes using EAC.
2. Select the Import PST option from the menu.

3. Enter the UNC path of the location where the PST file is saved and then click Next.

4. In Import from a .pst file wizard, browse and choose the mailbox you want to import the PST into and select the appropriate options to import only the contents of this mailbox or mailbox’s archive. Click Next.

5. Click Browse to select your user account. Exchange will send an email when mailbox export to PST is finished. Then click finish to start the import process.

Method 2: Export Mailboxes to PST Using Exchange Management Shell (EMS)

As an alternate method, you can use the PowerShell cmdlets in Exchange Management Shell (EMS) to export mailboxes to PST format and import PST files to Outlook.

This method provides you an option to include or exclude specific data while exporting or importing the mailbox data. In this method, we will use the New-MailboxExportRequest and the New-MailboxImportRequest PowerShell cmdlets.

To Export Mailboxes to PST using EMS use the following cmdlet:

New-MailboxExportRequest –Mailbox testdummy –FilePath\exsrv\d$\pst\TestDummy.pst

The above PowerShell command will export the specified mailbox to the mentioned shared folder path as a TestDummy.pst file.

Similarly to import the PST file enter the following cmdlet:

New-MailboxImportRequest –Mailbox testdummy –FilePath\exsrv\d$\pst\TestDummy.pst

The PowerShell cmdlet mentioned above will import the PST file saved at \\exsrv\d$\pst\TestDummy.pst to testdummy.

If you want the status of the import or export process, you can use Get-MailboxExportRequest or Get-MailboxImportRequest cmdlet, respectively.

Note: You cannot use this method to export or import Public Folders.

Visit this to check more methods to export Exchange mailbox to PST.

Alternate Method: Export Mailboxes to PSTs Using Third-Party Tools

The methods discussed above only work when the database is online and healthy, and the Exchange Server is available. In addition, you need various additional permissions and roles to perform the mailbox import and export process.

To avoid these prerequisites and other limitations, you can use an EDB to PST converter tool like Stellar Converter for EDB to export mailboxes from online or offline EDB files to PST and various other formats. It can also export mailboxes directly to a live Exchange Server or Office 365.

Best Practices to follow while exporting mailboxes to PST

While you are exporting or importing the mailboxes to PST, you are advised to follow the best practices mentioned below:

• Take a backup of your server before performing any export or import operation.
• Monitor progress and logs of the import or export process to avoid any errors or data loss.
• Use appropriate tools for specific environments (e.g., enterprise vs small business).

Conclusion

You can export Exchange mailboxes to PST and import the PST files into mailboxes using Exchange Admin Center (EAC) and PowerShell cmdlets in EMS. In this article, we have discussed the stepwise process to export mailboxes and import PST files using the EAC and EMS.

However, these methods have some limitations, such as mailbox database must be online/mounted, and you need to have additional permissions to perform the export or import process.

To overcome the limitations of the manual methods, you can use Stellar Converter for EDB to export mailboxes from Exchange database (EDB) file to PST format.

It can open any type of EDB file (online/offline) and from any version of Exchange Server – from Exchange 5.5 until Exchange 2019. The software can export user mailboxes, archives, public folders, and other EDB file items.