How to Download PST from Exchange Online? Top 3 Methods

Exchange Online is the collaboration platform through which most organizations improve their workflow. It consists of several other apps such as OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, Outlook,  and so on. All of the data in the Exchange Online is stored in the PST file format. That’s why whenever there is a situation to save Exchange Online data offline, then we have to download PST from Exchange Online. But the query is how. So, before going into the solutions, let’s find the benefits of exporting PST from Exchange Online.

Why Export PST from Exchange Online?

There are different advantages of using the PST file, some of them are as follows:-

1. Protecting data from the data loss that can be caused by attackers steal sensitive information.
2. Reducing Exchange Online space, you can download the data and save that to the PST file locally. 
3. PST file also helps with the migration. In case you decide to migrate your data from one platform to another then this PST file helps you to complete the process easily.
4. To fulfill the legal and compliance requirements of the organization, backup of the mailboxes is mandatory.

How to Download PST from Exchange Online?

Basically, there are three different methods through which you can download a PST file from Exchange Online. Let’s explore them in detail.

Method 1. Export PST from Exchange Online Mailbox to PST Using Outlook

• Step 1. Launch and Run the Outlook Application on your computer.
• Step 2. Move to File > Add Account to configure your Office 365 mailbox to Outlook.
• Step 3. Enter the required credentials and click Next > OK > Finish. 
• Step 4. Now open File > Open & Export and then the Import/Export option.
• Step 5. Choose Export to a file option and click on Next.
• Step 6. Hit the Outlook Data File (.pst) option and Next.
• Step 7. Select the folder you wish to export, tick the Include subfolders box, and click Next.
• Step 8. Choose the destination to export the PST file and Finish.

Method 2. Download PST from Exchange Online Using PowerShell

1. Open PowerShell on your system.
2. Enter the command 

$UserCredential = Get-Credential

3. Provide Office 365 admin credentials and then execute 

$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUrl https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

4. Now run

 Import-PSSession $Session

5. After setting up the connection, provide the email address in the below command.

Add-MailboxPermission -User “[email protected]” -Identity “[email protected]” -AccessRights FullAccess -InheritanceType All

6. Move to Outlook and wait till the target mailbox appears in the left side panel.
7. Open File > Info Page and Account Settings
8. Choose Account Settings> Exchange Online. Select Change and hit Use Cached Exchange Mode.
9. Export the mailbox using Outlook.
10. After the completion of the process remove the access rights.

Remove-MailboxPermission -User “[email protected]” -Identity “[email protected]” -AccessRights FullAccess

11. Lastly the PowerShell session

Remove-PSSession $Session

Also Read: Explore How to Migrate Exchange to Office 365?

Method 3. Automated Tool to Save PST from Exchange Online

One of the prominent tools to download PST from Exchange Online is the SysTools Office 365 Export Tool. This tool is recommended by the experts because of its robustness. For getting the PST file without hassle this tool is the best one. It maintains the data integrity and data hierarchy throughout the process. With the simple user interface, even a non-tech user can also use this tool. After getting PST you can easily perform Office 365 to Office 365 Migration. Let’s see what are the steps required to complete the process using the automated tool

Export Office 365 Mailbox to PST Step-By-Step

• Step 1. Download and Run the tool. Choose Office 365 as the Source and Outlook as the Destination.
• Step 2. Choose the workload items and apply the Date filter.
• Step 3. Complete the Source Office 365 account credentials. Validate all the provided details and move to Net.
• Step 4. Provide the destination path to save the resulting PST file and Next.
• Step 5. Load all the users into the tool. Finally hit on the Start Export button.

Concluding Lines!

In this write-up, we have explained all the top 3 methods to download PST from Exchange Online. Here manual and automated solutions are elaborated in detail. But because of some limitations of the manual methods these methods are not recommended. The Automated tool is recommended by experts to get the correct results.