How to Export Office 365 Mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery- A Quick Guide

What makes an email service or business productivity suites popular among users? The answer to this question is varies among people, but most of the answer is – The service / software which provides users better email client servers & simple-to-use user interface.

Makes it popular amongst users, Office 365 has both, the better servers and the brand name “Microsoft”.

But, due to some reasons and situations may ascend users to export Office 365 Mailboxes to PST like creating a backup of Office 365 mailbox data on the local machine as they can use in other mail clients like Outlook.

However, there is no direct solution provided by Microsoft which can export the PST file of Office 365 mailbox. Although, one can use eDiscovery procedure to save search results in Outlook PST format on the local system. To know the complete picture, here, we will discuss steps to export Microsoft Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery.

So, let’s begin!

How To Export Office 365 Mailboxes To PST Via. eDiscovery Process?

In order to export Office 365 to PST, there are two options are available. One is the manual workaround that using eDiscovery process and second is the use of software solution – Office 365 Email Backup Software.

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Let’s start with the manual approach.

Method 1: Steps to Export Office 365 Mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery

eDiscovery is a service provided by Microsoft under Office 365 Security & Compliance Center. This tool is not made for the exporting process. Actually, its function is to search the content in Exchange Online Mailboxes, Office 365 Group, Share Point, etc for business conversations. Further, this information is used as evidence for legal cases.

Moreover, users use this option as an indirect way to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST on the local machine. For this, they first need to search the content in the O365 account using eDiscovery functionality. Afterward, download the eDiscovery PST Export tool and save the searched data into Outlook supported file format. Go through the below steps to achieve the same.

1. First, open the link https://protection.office.com and login to Office 365 account. Then, go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
2. Now, click Security & Compliance option under the Admin Center.
3. After that, select Permission option and Drag to eDiscovery Manager. Note:- Only members of the eDiscovery Manager role group can able to access the various features of eDiscovery.
4. Now, check thebox beside eDiscovery and click on Edit to add the role group.
5. Click Edit role group if the Export role is missing.
6. When a role is assigned, then go to Search and Investigation. Then select Content Search option.
7. Now, click on New search option.
8. You can click on Add Condition to more accurate search in Office 365
9. For Exporting process, select Specific location and Modify.
10. Now, choose emails or specify mailboxes using Choose users group.
11. You can also export mailboxes data from SharePoint and Public folder by choose Public folder option.
12. The search option contains other filters such as Equal Any of and many more. But in order to Export all your mailboxes data of Office 365 to PST, then do not add any conditions or keywords, simple click on Save and run button.
13. Once you have clicked on Save button, the content search will start in the background.
14. Now, you have to go back to your saved searches and Select Folder name to export O365 mailbox data to PST. There you can check the status of your search with the help of More menu and choose Export option.
15. Now, select any Output option according to the requirement from Export Result window.
16. After all settings, click on Export button.
17. After the export process completed, click on Download Result to download the content search result.
18. The exported search result will store on the Azure Storage.
19. Download the export link from Export result to a computer in a detailed pane.
20. Make sure you copy the Export key.
21. Now, click on Download result from Export PST_Export window.
22. When you click on download result it will redirect to you to install the Microsoft eDiscovery Export Tool.
23. After installing the export tool, paste the Export key.
24. Now, browse the location, where you want to save the content search and click on Start button to export Office 365 mailbox to PST process.

Drawbacks of eDiscovery PST Export Tool

There are multiple disadvantages of the above mentioned procedure. The major ones are listed below.

1.eDiscovery is not starting: This is a very common issue, and this error occur due to lack of pre-requisites requirements like.

This service only work on Windows 7 and above. Below Windows 7 OS, eDiscovery PST Export Tool is not going to run.

Updated Microsoft .Net framework is required. It will not work on the old version of .Net framework.

You will need the latest version of Internet Explorer to download the Tool. Or if you are using other then Explorer, then you have to add ClickOnce add into your browser.

2. Failed Exporting Item Error:- This will happen during the export process and the reasons is mentioned below.

• Corrupted messages in your search content.

• A huge amount of data export, also create this type of error.

3. Exporting Process is Completed With Errors: This will occur due to the problem in the internet connection.

4. eDiscovery Crashed Error: This will happen, when you are working on the huge amount of content searching.

5.Hanged While Calculating Process: While calculating the attributes, the PST export tool gets stuck. As a result, the exporting process goes into a hang situation.

Note:- eDiscovery is only comes with Office 365 Enterprise E3 and Enterprise E5 subscription plan.

Flexible Solution to Export Office 365 Mailboxes Data to PST

No doubt, eDiscovery is the best tool in Microsoft Office 365 for content searching, but when it comes to save Office 365 mailboxes data into PST or create a backup of your O365 email data, then it is not the ideal solution. So, it is good to use an easy solution for the same. Let us have a look at the key features of the tool:

• Export Office 365 data like Emails, Contacts, Appointments / Meetings.
• Save the resulting Office 365 backup into PST / EML file formats.
• Provides folder hierarchy and selective migration options.
• Supports backing up of Office 365 data in batch.
• Offers pause and resume option during the backup process.

Working Steps to Export Office 365 Mailbox to PST

Step 1: Download and install the tool on your system.

Step 2: Click on Login button to proceed further. Enter credentials of Office 365 user for authentication.

Step 3: Select radio button adjacent to Office 365 Backup and click Next.

Step 4: Select the desired location to save the copied emails from Office 365.

Step 5: Now, select the email format and apply advanced settings.

Step 6: Lastly, click on Start and see the real-time progress.

Final Say

Hence, we would like to conclude that, eDiscovery is not meant for the Office 365 export process. As you see, the steps to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST Using eDiscovery is a lengthy & cumbersome task. However, if you want an easy way to convert Office 365 mails into PST on local system, then you can opt the automated way too.