As an Exchange administrator, sometimes, you need to export specific mailboxes from an Exchange Database (EDB) file to Personal Storage Table (PST) format. This is required when someone is leaving the organization and there is a need to backup the user’s mailbox data, when backing up data of some crucial mailboxes or when migrating mailboxes to another environment.
There are different methods to export specific user mailboxes from an EDB file to PST format. In this article, we will explain these methods with step-by-step instructions.
Methods to Export Specific Mailboxes from EDB File
You can use the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) or PowerShell cmdlets in Exchange Management Shell (EMS) to export mailboxes from EDB to PST format. However, these can only work if the Exchange database file is mounted (online) and the server is working properly.
If you want to export mailboxes when the server or database is offline, you can use a third-party specialized EDB to PST converter tool to export the mailboxes from EDB file format.
Let’s take a look at the detailed process.
Method 1: Use Exchange Admin Center to Export Mailboxes to PST
You can use the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) to export specific mailboxes from EDB to PST format. Before proceeding, you need to ensure that you (or user account you’re using) have the Mailbox Import/Export permissions assigned.
If your account does not have the required permissions, assign them. Then, follow the steps given below to export the mailboxes:
- Log in to the EAC, navigate to recipients, and select Mailboxes.
- Select the mailbox that you want to export, click on the more options (three dots), and select the Export to a PST file option.
- Click on Browse if you want to select a different mailbox. Then, select one of the two options – Export only the contents of this mailbox or Export only the contents of this mailbox’s archive and click Next.
- Specify the path where you want to export the PST file (For example, \\server\folder\ExportFile01.pst) and click Next.
- Select the option Send email to the mailbox below when the .pst file has been exported, if you want the user to be notified after export. Then, click Finish.
Though the Exchange Admin Center provides an interactive GUI that makes the export process simple, there are some drawbacks, such as:
- There is no option to track the progress of the mailbox that is being exported.
- Mailbox items and archived items have to be exported separately.
- There are no filter options to customize the export.
Method 2: Use Exchange Management Shell (EMS) to Export Mailboxes to PST
You can use the New-MailboxExportRequest PowerShell cmdlet in the EMS to export specific mailboxes to PST. Unlike the EAC, you can use various parameters with the cmdlet to customize the export. Let’s see how to export mailboxes using PowerShell cmdlets.
Note: Similar to the EAC, you need the Mailbox Import/Export permissions to export the mailboxes.
Open the Exchange Management Shell and run the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet as given below to export the desired mailbox to PST.
New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox User1 -FilePath \\server\PSTFiles\User1.pst
This will initiate the request to export the mentioned mailbox to PST file format.
If you want to filter the contents of the mailbox, then you can use ContentFilter parameter with the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet. For instance:
New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox Tony -ContentFilter "(Body -like '*company*') -and (body -like '*profit*') -and (Received -gt '01/01/2018')" -FilePath \\SERVER01\PSTFileShare\Tony_CompanyProfits.pstThe above command will export the emails that have the words company and profit and received after 01/01/2018.
Similarly, you can use the
–IncludeFoldersand
–ExcludeFoldersparameters to include specific folders and exclude specific folders, respectively from the export.
To view the progress status of the mailbox export request, you can use the
Get-MailboxExportRequest as show below:
Get-MailboxExportRequest -Identity <MailboxExportRequestIdParameter>
Once the mailbox is exported successfully, you can remove the export request by using the Remove-MailboxExportRequest. For example:
Remove-MailboxExportRequest -Identity <MailboxExportRequestIdParameter>An Easy and Quick Solution to Export Specific Mailboxes from EDB File
The above methods can only work if the database is online (mounted) and the Exchange Server is functioning properly. In addition, there is no option to track the real-time status of the export.
As an alternative, you can use a third-party specialized EDB to PST converter tool, like Stellar Converter for EDB to granularly export the mailboxes from EDB file format – be it online or offline.
The tool can easily convert the EDB file of any size and from any Exchange Server version. The tool displays all the mailboxes and other EDB file items in a three-pane preview window. It allows users to selectively save mailboxes and other items from the EDB file in PST and other popular file formats, such as EML, MSG, RTF, PDF, and HTML. It can also export the mailboxes and other items from EDB file format to a live Exchange Server or Office 365 (Microsoft) account. The best thing is that this EDB to PST converter tool shows the real-time progress status of the export.
Conclusion
There are various reasons why you need to export specific mailboxes from an EDB to PST format. You can use Exchange Admin Center (EAC) or PowerShell cmdlets in the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) to export the mailboxes. However, these native tools have certain limitations. A better alternative is to use a third-party EDB to PST converter tool, like Stellar Converter for EDB. This tool can extract mailboxes from EDB file format (online or offline) and export them to PST format in just a few simple steps.
