Migrate PST to Exchange Accurately with New 5 Techniques

If you are looking for the best solution to migrate PST to Exchange, then you should read this guide. In this guide, we are going to use Microsoft Outlook, Exchange Admin Center, Windows PowerShell commands, and lastly, an automatic solution to import PST to Exchange. The use of manual techniques to upload PST to Exchange requires technical knowledge of Outlook, Exchange Admin Center, and Windows PowerShell commands. Secondly, the manual techniques are time-consuming, risky for non-technical users, and prone to human errors.

The Professionals prefer risk-free and secure automatic solution over manual techniques to get their job done instantly with complete accuracy. Whether you are transferring old emails, contacts, and calendars into Exchange mailboxes or want to get easier access from multiple devices. The professional solution often becomes a reliable way to move PST to Exchange.

The free manual techniques often fail to complete the import PST to Exchange server, and do not maintain data integrity. Apart from this, the manual methods do not guarantee to preserve folder hierarchy, and are also not useful for batch processing. However, if you still want to use all the manual methods to upload PST to Exchange, then get ready to face the challenges of manual workarounds. Before we begin with manual techniques lets quickly understand why users need to transfer PST to Exchange in the next section.

Why Users Need to Migrate PST to Exchange?

Here are listed some of the major reasons that inform why users migrate PST to Exchange:

• When users need to store email data on a server rather than locally, to get access anytime with multiple devices.
• Sometimes users keep PST files as backups to recover them after the account deletion or corruption.
• When organizations need legal or forensic purposes. Importing PST data into an Exchange organization can easily search emails for investigation.
• Users also import PST to Exchange server when they want to store a copy of old emails, contacts, and calendars for future use.

These were the major reasons why most users upload PST to Exchange. Now, after knowing the reasons, let’s move to the next section to learn the manual techniques.

Import PST to Exchange Manually with 5 Techniques

In the upcoming sections of this guide, you will see the four solutions to migrate PST to Exchange. In the first solution, two methods are used to import PST to Exchange server. The second method uses the Exchange Admin Center, while the third method uses Windows PowerShell to upload PST to Exchange. Lastly, we are using an automatic solution to transfer PST to Exchange quickly, securely, and accurately. Follow the detailed steps described below for all the listed solutions in the upcoming sections to move PST to Exchange.

1st Solution: Upload PST to Exchange using Outlook

In this solution, we are describing two tested methods to migrate PST to Exchange. So, to import PST to Exchange, follow the instructions carefully in both methods.

First Method: Import shared PST file to Exchange Account with Outlook

This technique is divided into two steps, so follow both of them carefully.

1st Step: Account Configuration

1. Open Outlook application on your computer PC.
2. Click on “File” button and choose “Add Account” option.
3. Now, enter the email “ID and Password” on it and click “Continue” button.
4. Then, close and restart your Outlook to completely sync.

2nd Step: Import Shared PST

1. Go to “File,” choose “open & export,” and click “import/export” button.
2. Then, choose option “import from another program or file” & click “Next.”
3. After that, select the “Outlook Data File (.pst)” option & hit the Next button.
4. Browse the file location where PST file is stored and click “Next.”
5. Finally, wait for a few minutes your PST files are imported into Exchange.
6. Done, using this method, you can import a shared PST file into Exchange.

Second Method: Export Outlook PST File & Import to Exchange Using Microsoft Outlook

We are sharing only the steps to export Outlook email account data, as the account reconfiguration & import process are already explained in the first solution & remain the same.

1. Open Microsoft Outlook on your computer.
2. Go to the “File” menu, click on “Open & Export” section, and choose “Import/Export” option.
3. Then, click on “Export to a file” option and click “Next.”
4. After that, select the Outlook Data File (.pst) option & click on the Next button.
5. Here, choose the mailbox folder you want to export & hit the Next button.
6. Browse the location to save the created PST files.
7. Finally, click on “finish” button to complete the export process.
8. Done, after this process, you will get a PST file of your existing Outlook account.

Reminder: To import the exported PST file into the Exchange server’s account, follow the described steps in the first method of this solution.

2nd Solution: Import PST to Exchange Server with Exchange Admin Center

Now let’s migrate PST to Exchange with the use of Exchange Admin Center:

1. Open the trusted browser in your Windows Operating System.
2. Now, copy and paste the given link to open your Exchange Account
   admin.cloud.microsoft/exchange#/homepage
3. After that, enter your “ID” along with “Password” on it to login to exchange account.
4. Then, click on the “Mailboxes” tab to open mailbox panel.
5. Click on the “Three dots,” and choose Import PST option from the drop-down.
6. After that, a new window pops up on your screen with the name of Import from a .pst.
7. Provide the UNC path, and set the filename of the source PST files.
8. Then, click on Next button, and choose the destination for your PST files.
9. After that, select a mailbox, and choose options between “Import to this mailbox” and “Import to this mailbox’s archive.”
10. Click on “Next” button, and hit the browse button to add or remove notification recipients.
11. Finally, click on the Finish button to end this import PST to Exchange server process.
12. Done, by using this process, you can migrate PST to Exchange with Exchange Admin Center

3rd Solution: PST to Exchange Server with PowerShell

In this solution, we are using Windows PowerShell, so to migrate PST to Exchange, read and use the command carefully.

1. Open the windows PowerShell on your windows PC.
2. Enter the given command inside the PowerShell
   New-MailboxImportRequest `
[-Name <UniqueName>] `
-FilePath <UNCPathToPST> `
-Mailbox <TargetMailboxIdentity> `
[-IsArchive] `
[-SourceRootFolder <PSTFolder>] `
[-TargetRootFolder <MailboxFolder>] `
[-IncludeFolders <MailboxFolder1>,<MailboxFolder2>...] `
[-ExcludeFolders <MailboxFolder1>,<MailboxFolder2>...] `
[-Priority <PriorityValue>]
3. After that, enter this (For Example) code inside the PowerShell
   New-MailboxImportRequest `
-Mailbox "mack" `
-FilePath "\\RP-GH03\PST\mack.pst" `
-TargetRootFolder "Old_mail" `
-IncludeFolders "#Inbox#"
4. Finally, your PST files are imported into Exchange.

Note: To use PowerShell, you need to enter details of your stored PST file.

Drawbacks of Using Manual Techniques

• Using both Outlook methods to migrate PST to Exchange is a slow process, especially in the case of a large PST file, which consumes much time.
• All the above solutions to import PST to Exchange are prone to human errors.
• Your Microsoft Outlook might crash in case of batch and large PST files.
• Setting the UNC path inside the Exchange Admin Center might be complicated for non-technical users.
• Entering the wrong command inside PowerShell will fail the complete process.
• All three solution has high chance of data corruption due to any interruption during the process.

These were the drawbacks of manual techniques that you should know before using any of them.

If you want a limitation-free solution, then you can try the professional solution described in the next section.

How to Import PST to Exchange Server Automatically

Using manual techniques to migrate PST to Exchange is good for technical and professional users, but according to its drawbacks, the manual method is not the safest way to import PST to Exchange. If you don’t want to put yourself in any kind of technical trouble, due to which you might face serious account risk, then you can try Outlook PST Converter Tool to safely upload PST to Exchange. This program simply move PST to Exchange in their original format, while maintaining complete data integrity and without losing folder hierarchy.

Quick Steps of Automatic Solution to Upload PST to Exchange

1. Open the program on your Windows PC.
2. Select “Convert configured Outlook mailbox data” option and click “Next.”
3. Then, select the required folder to move inside the Exchange Server account from the preview panel and hit “Next.”
4. After that, choose “Exchange Server” as a saving option.
5. Now, enter the “ID” and “Password” on the blank fields.
6. Finally, click on “Next” button to start the import PST to Exchange.
7. Done, using this automatic solution, you can directly migrate PST to Exchange without losing any email and its structure.

Benefits of Using Automatic Solution Over Manual Techniques

• The tool provides two conversion options, which are helpful for shared PST files and a configured account.
• Using this tool, users can import PST to Exchange from corrupted PST files in their original format.
• The software maintains complete data integrity & folder structure of PST files during the entire migration process.
• Its user interface and experience make this utility easy to use for technical and non-technical users.
• This tool operates without the installation of Outlook and completes the migration successfully in batches.

Final Verdict

At the end of this blog, on the topic of “migrate PST to Exchange.” We have shared five techniques to import PST to Exchange server. In which we use Microsoft Outlook, Windows PowerShell, Exchange Admin Center, and an automatic solution. We found that using manual methods to upload PST to Exchange is lengthy, time-consuming, risky, not easy for non-technical users, & prone to human errors.

On the other hand, the automated solution suggested by experts is a safe, simple, & quick way to migrate PST to Exchange. Now it’s totally on you, which technique you are going to choose to upload PST to Exchange accurately.