How to Import PST to Shared Mailbox Office 365? Step By Step Solution

author
Published By Mohit Jha
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On July 31st, 2023
Reading Time 7 Minutes Reading
Category Office 365

PST files may cause a headache for users outside the Exchange Server environment. From the eDiscovery point of view, PST files are not considered a secure option for data security. When it comes to data migration, it is common to find that users have accumulated a large amount of data in gigabytes or possibly, terabytes. Hence, it is required to transport the emails from the mail server and store it in the PST file format. For these problems, Microsoft offers a tool named PST Capture Tool. Microsoft allows users to import PST to shared mailbox Office 365 with the help of Import Service.
import PST to shared mailbox Office 365

But, there are some prerequisites before the transfer process starts:

  1. An admin account on the O365 tenant
  2. Import Export Mailbox role assigned to the admins
  3. High upload bandwidth will be considered the bonus

    Quick Solution: To easily import multiple PST files into Office 365 shared mailboxes, download the tool below:

    Office 365 Importer  Purchase Now

How to Import PST to Shared Mailbox Office 365 Manually?

This feature is built on the Azure storage established by Microsoft. It is used to store the PST file before importing them into the mailboxes.

upload PST to Shared Mailbox Office 365
For the PST file to be imported first, a storage account will be generated. It will take a few minutes and there are chances that a user wishes to give it two attempts before it is created. For that, it is required to click on the option “Show network upload SAS URL.” This URL will comprise the following things:

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  • Storage Account Name
  • Container Name
  • Shared Access Signature
Let’s Take an Instance:
https://dd092cec1d084ab8b190526.blob.core.windows.net/ingestiondata?sv=2012-02-12&se=2017-02-05T13%3A33%3A07Z&sr=c&si=IngestionSasForAzCopy201611212055520769&sig=aeBqKqsM
ilU8PDHueVj3Q4c5hkgE%3D

  • Storage Account Name: dd092cec1d084ab8b190526
  • Container Name: ingestiondata
  • Shared Access Signature: ?sv=2012-02-12&se=2017-02-05T13%3A33%3A07Z&sr=c&si=IngestionSasForAzCopy201611212055520769&sig=aeBqKqsMilU8PDHueVj3Q4c5hkgE%3D

The shared access signature consists of the following parts:

  • sv: storage service version
  • se: expiration date
  • sr: storage type (Container/Blob)
  • si: Storage identifier
  • sig: Signature
    This URL will be used by the AzCopy / Azure Storage Explorer tool to import the Outlook PST file.
    Note: The URL may change with the passage of time, but, the shared access signature part is certainly valid for 60 days.

Related: How to Automatically Forward Emails in Outlook 365? Different Ways Explained

Import PST to Shared Mailbox Office 365 PowerShell – Upload PST

Once a user has done the storage provision, the upload procedure can be started. To upload PST to shared mailbox Office 365 PowerShell is an alternative tool. Suppose, AzCopy can be used. It is the command-line tool to import PST to shared mailbox Office 365 account. Azure Storage Explorer, is a graphical tool. They both are good at one’s place and any of them can be used.

#Azure
Note: It is needed to use AzCopy version 5.2 or higher. Otherwise, a user will get some 404 errors:
“Failed to validate destination: One or more errors occurred. The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found. The specified resource does not exist.”
#AZURE STORAGE EXPLORER
Microsoft Azure

And now, the software can also be used to upload the PST file.

Note: A user can also identify the list of files located on Azure with its PowerShell line (require Azure.Storage module): “New-AzureStorageContext -SasToken ($SharedAccessSignatureURL -split ‘\?’ | Select-Object -Last 1) -StorageAccountName ($SharedAccessSignatureURL -split ‘\.’ -split ‘//’)[1] | Get-AzureStorageBlob -Container ($SharedAccessSignatureURL -split ‘\?’ -split ‘/’)[3] | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name”

Upload PST to Shared Mailbox Office 365 – Mapping File

Once the PST file is uploaded to the Azure storage, it is needed to build a CSV file that will map Outlook PST files to the destination folder and mailboxes. For instance,

mapping-file

It is really needed to maintain the structure of the PST file. The case is kind of delicate for the “TRUE” or “FALSE”, and for the name of the Outlook PST file.

Import PST File to Shared Office 365 PowerShell

It is the final step, it is needed to import the PST mapping file and execute the import option, so import PST to shared mailbox Office 365 Powershell would going to complete.
batch

Click on “Finish” and the process is complete. The import process will continue on the Microsoft side. A user can also examine the progress with the help of details of the batch job.

Limitation of Manual Solution

Although this is a free method that can help users to import PST to shared mailboxes, the method is quite tricky for some organizations. Additionally, this method is only available in certain parts of the world. In case, you get a message, “import service for your region has not rolled out yet!” then it means you cannot use the Import service for now. In such cases, the user can go for the alternative solution below.

Also Read: How to Import PST to Outlook 365 In Few Steps? Everything You Need to Know

Alternative Solution For Azure AzCopy Tool

If you find the above solution difficult or face an error during the import process, then you can take the help of the automated tool. The automated tool can help you to ease the complex process & the best tool for such purpose is Office 365 Import Tool. Additionally, there are multiple filtering options provided by the tool to import selective emails from a PST file into Office 365 shared mailbox. Follow are the working steps of the tool to import PST to shared mailbox Office 365:

Software Pre-Requisites to Import PST to Shared Mailbox in O365 

  1. Add Admin Impersonation Permissions in Exchange Admin Center.
    • Set Mailbox Import Export Permissions to the Discovery Management Role Group.
      Office 365 admin impersonation
  2. Then Add UserMailbox Permissions to the Respective Admin Account.
    required permissions

Steps to Import PST Files to Shared Mailbox in Office 365 

Step 1. Download and Install the Tool

To initiate the process, you need to download and install the software. Click on the buttons provided below to download the installation file.

Download Now Purchase Now

Step 2. Select Platforms – Office 365 & Outlook

After successfully downloading the tool, proceed to the next step. Launch the tool and choose the platforms you want to work with. Here we are selecting Outlook as the source platform and Office 365 as the destination.

Step 3. Enable Workload & Applying Date Filter

Our tool empowers you to manage your workload efficiently. Once you’ve selected the necessary workload to import, you will find the “Date Filter” option. By applying the date filter, you can import data from a specific time period to Office 365.

Step 4. Authenticate Source & Destination Platforms

To ensure the security of your data and interactions, we have implemented a robust authentication system. In this step, you will be prompted to authenticate both the source and destination platforms. Rest assured, your privacy and confidentiality are of utmost importance, and this authentication process provides an additional layer of protection.

Step 5. Create Mapping, Add & Select Users

Now you have to add users, and in order to do this you have these three options. Choose any of the following methods to add users:

  • Fetch Users: Automatically fetch users from the source.
  • Import Users: Import users via a CSV file.
  • Download Template: Download a CSV template to use as a sample for user creation.

Once users are added, proceed to select and validate the required permissions.

Step 6. Initiate the Import Process

After validating the users, click on the “Start” button to import PST to Shared mailbox in Office 365.

Also Read: How to Move Google Drive Folder to Another Drive – Effortless Solution

Bringing It All Together

Microsoft Office 365 drive shipping option is considered helpful when the organizations have the PST file in terabytes. The size of the mailbox allotted to the user is 50GB and there is unlimited file archived in Office 365, it is not possible to store all the data on the server. That is when the need to import PST to shared mailbox Office 365 PowerShell emerges.

However, drive shipping is always considered an expensive and time-consuming process. Moreover, the PowerShell method is way more technical for naive users. Hence, it is always a great idea to opt for the most secure automated tool, as mentioned above, to import PST to shared mailbox in Office 365.