How to Efficiently Export Office 365 Archive Mailbox to PST File

In this article, we will discuss what is archive mailboxes and how to export Office 365 archive mailbox to PST file for all users. We will put lime-light on the user confusion between archiving and archive mailbox (In-Place Archive) and their uses.

What is Archive Mailbox in Office 365?

Archiving is a process of moving data into a repository that can be used as a backup as a separate mailbox. This repository is available alongside with primary mailbox (Inbox) that can be used for storing emails separately from one another.

In-Office 365, we call this mailbox as Archive Mailbox (also known as In-Place Archive). It is an additional mailbox for storing emails separately from Inbox emails. After enabling the archive mailboxes, any user can access them for saving their inbox email inside it.

The Benefit of archive mailbox is that it provides you the central location for storing emails that are no longer needed direct access. This way user can keep their Inbox (primary mailbox) clean and easily accessible.

Benefits of Exporting Office 365 Archive Mailbox to PST

Following are the list of benefits that user gets by exporting Office 365 archive mailbox to PST:

• It reduces storage requirements in Office 365
• Prevents from losing data of the user
• Increases server performance
• Easy to restore data when needed
• Eliminates mailbox quotas
• Provides easy search capabilities

Methods to Export Office 365 Archive Mailbox to PST

There is no direct method provided by Microsoft to export Office 365 mailbox, whether it is a primary mailbox or any other user-generated mailbox like Archive mailbox. However, by using some indirect methods such as Outlook and third-party tools, users can export Office 365 archive mailbox to PST.

Method #1: Export Complete Archive Mailbox to PST – Automated Solution

As we have explained above that office 365 doesn’t yet provide any method to backup Office 365 mailboxes, therefore, users need to take the help of an automated tool like Office 365 Export Wizards. This tool is specifically designed for such an export procedure. It allows you to select Archive Mailbox from Office 365 account and export it into the PST file format without any hassle.

Features Provided By Automated Tools

• Exports Archive Mailbox, Inbox, and other mailbox data.
• Capable to export contacts, calendars, tasks from O365 account
• Allows to export Shared mailbox data to PST format
• Provides date-range filter of selective data export
• Dual-Login options: With Admin & Without Admin Credentials
• Provides split PST option to create small size exported files
• Maintain hierarchy of exported archive mailbox or other mailboxes

Download Tool

Steps to Export Office 365 Archive Mailbox to PST:

1. First, download and install the tool for export process
2. Login into the tool using Admin or User account 
3. Select the User account for the export process (Available when login via Admin)
4. Choose the Email format as “PST” & Set Split PST (optional)
5. Select the Category as “Archive Mailbox” & Set date-range filter
6. Choose the destination location for the exported archive mailbox PST file.
7. Click on Start button to initiate the export process. 

Method #2: Use Outlook for Exporting Archive Mailboxes From Office 365

Another method to export Office 365 archive mailbox to PST is with the help of desktop Outlook Application. If you don’t have MS Outlook installed on your system, then simply prefer an automated solution as a solution.

Following are the working steps to Export Archive Mailboxes using Outlook:

1. Open MS Outlook application on your desktop.
2. Go to File tab and click on Add Account option.
3. Enter the details of Office 365 account and configure it.
4. After the configuration is finished, Go back to File tab and click Open >> Import/Export
5. Choose “Export to a file” option from Import/Export wizard
6. Now, choose the “Outlook data file .pst” option from the list.
7. Select the Office 365 Archive mailbox from list >> Next,
8. Browse the location for the exported file, & click on Finish button

Conclusion

In this guide, we have explained the two possible solutions to export Office 365 archive mailbox to PST. Both methods work perfectly, the automated method is best suited for organizations to export multiple users’ archive mailbox. Whereas manual method is suitable for a single user only.

Although there is an alternate approach for exporting Office 365 mailboxes using the eDiscovery tool. But this method is quite tedious for any Office 365 user who doesn’t have good command of Admin center working. It’s better not to follow such a method, which may corrupt the exported file in the process.