How to Export Office 365 Mailboxes to PST Using eDiscovery?

Editorial Team March 8, 2023

0 37 4 minutes read

There are many reasons why users might want to get their Office 365 data as PST. It could be anything from having an offline copy on their system to transferring it over to another account. In this article, we are going to talk about how to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery. We will also be looking at one of the best professional tools if you find the steps of eDiscovery too overwhelming.

Export Office 365 Mailboxes to PST Using eDiscovery

One of the reasons why we have to use the eDiscovery tool is since Microsoft itself doesn’t provide a way to convert the data in the mailboxes to PST files. Hence, we have to use the eDiscovery export tool to do the same.

But before we start looking at the steps to use the eDiscovery tool, there are some pre-requirements that we have to make sure are checked off for your system.

Your system must be running Windows version 7 or later versions. Both 32 and 64 bit is supported but if you have anything below windows 7 then you cant use the eDiscovery tool.
Microsoft .NET Framework version should be 4.5 or higher. If you have something that is lower than that then go to Microsoft’s website and update them.
You need to have Internet Explorer 10 or later versions for eDiscovery tool to work properly. If not eDiscovery will show an error message. If you want to use a third-party browser for the same then you will have to download the ClickOnce add-in extension and enable it.

Once you have taken care of all the points mentioned above your system will be ready for eDiscovery tool to work on.

Note: You also need admin privileges to use the eDiscovery tool. If you don’t have admin privileges then you simply can’t use the tool.

Follow the Instructions Given Below to Use eDiscovery Tool.

Log into the Office 365 portal using the admin account. After this go to Microsoft 365 admin center.
From the admin center, expand the admin centers option and then click on the security section.
Now you will have reached Microsoft 365 Defender admin center. From here go to the permissions section> Email & collaboration roles > Roles.
After this click on the eDiscovery Manager role group. Now from the properties pane of eDiscovery Manager add your account to eDiscovery Administrator list. Users can easily complete this by clicking on the Edit button for adding the account.
If the export role is missing then you need to add that by clicking on the edit role group button.
Now log into Microsoft Pureview compliance portal and navigate the content search section.
From here click on the new search option.
Now a new wizard window will open. From here you can customize all the settings of the content search.
Provide a relevant name to the search and then go to the locations tab. From here you can export Office 365 mailbox to PST using eDiscovery by selecting the mailbox that you want to export.
You can also add other filters like queries, keywords, or conditions that are time-related, properties related, etc. If you want to export all the data of the mailbox then simply leave this section empty.
Finally, click the submit button followed by the done button.
Once you have completed the steps mentioned above the search will start in the background. The status of the search can be viewed in the search tab.
After completing the search process, click on its results.
From there click on the actions button and select the export results button.
From here you can choose different settings like if you want to export encrypted files or how to export the Exchange content and many more.
Once you have selected the settings as per your requirement and click on the export button
You can see the process from the export tab in the content search.
Once the process is completed click on the search and then copy the export key and keep it in a safe place.
After this click on the download results button. Now an application called ClickOnce will be downloaded to your system. Paste the export key that you have copied from the previous step into the tool and also select a location to save the PST files.
Once everything is in place click on the start button. After completion of the task, get the resultant PST file from the destination path.

Limitations

There are some barriers that might occur while using the eDiscovery tool.

There might be situations where some items are missing from the PST file that you have exported. This might be because the eDiscovery tool has a size limit on the data it can export. Anything above that will be simply ignored.
There are also situations sometimes where the PST files you have exported might be corrupted.
Depending upon the size of the data that you are exporting it might take a long while for the process to complete.

Professional Tool to Export Office 365 Emails to PST

In the previous section, we have seen how to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery. We have also seen the long list of limitations and problems that might occur while using the tool too. Office 365 Backup Tool solves almost all the problems that the eDiscovery tool has. This tool also enables us to export larger files from your mailbox without any limitations.

Let Us See Steps That We Have to Follow to Use This Tool.

After running the tool first, you will see a login screen.
From there check on the “I Am Admin” option and enter the admin credentials of your Office 365 account and click on the login button.
After this, the tool will import all the mailboxes into the software panel. From here select the mailboxes that you want to export.
Now go to the backup option and select the format to save the file as PST. Also, select the location where you want to save the file.
The tool also offers filters like a date filter, which you can apply if needed.
Click on the Backup button to start the process to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST without eDiscovery.
After completion of the task, the software will automatically open the destination path. Hence, users can easily get the resultant PST files.

Conclusion

In this article, we have seen how to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery tool. We have also seen the large number of limitations that we face when using the tool. So, to have a simple and easy experience we recommend using the above-mentioned tool.