Microsoft Outlook personal folder file, commonly known as PST file, finds a lot of applications today with Exchange organizations and Exchange email client users though it was originally introduced to reduce the storage burden of Exchange Servers. PST file provides a convenient way to store the emails locally. The latest versions of Exchange Server allows to export Exchange Database (EDB) files as PST files for the purposes of archiving, security compliance, and snap-shot based retention. Many Exchange recovery tools like Exchange Recovery Manager convert even corrupt EDB files to PST format and thus recover inaccessible items in MS Outlook.

Export Exchange mailboxes to PST file

In Exchange 2010 SP1, Microsoft introduced a new way to import and export Exchange mailboxes. With the help of some Exchange Management Shell cmdlets, Exchange users can convert EDB files to PST format easily, provided they have the rights to do so. In Exchange 2013, apart from the cmdlets, Exchange Admin Center (EAC) can be used to perform the export action.

No Exchange account has export/import rights by default. So first of all, the account that performs the export/import must be assigned the rights even if it is an Administer account. This can be done by adding Mailbox Import Export role to the user (or you can simply add the user to a security group with this right). Another requirement is that the target PST file should be in a location accessible to the user performing the export.

Use Exchange Management Shell to export Exchange mailbox to PST

In Exchange 2010 and 2013, the steps given below are required to export mailbox to PST.

  1. Add Mailbox Import Export Role to the User
  2. Prepare the PST destination folder
  3. Export the mailbox to PST

Add Mailbox Import Export Role to a user


To add Mailbox Import Export Role to a user, use the cmdlets:

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role “Mailbox Import Export” -User “<user name>”

To add the role to a mailbox named ‘LittleJohny’ the cmdlets are:

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role “Mailbox Import Export” -User “LittleJohny”

Alternately, you can create a security group, add the user to this group, and add Mailbox Import Export Role to this security group. To add the Mailbox Import Export role to the security group use:

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role “Mailbox Import Export” -SecurityGroup “<security group name>”

To add the role to a security group named ‘TestSecurityGroup’ use:

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role “Mailbox Import Export” –SecurityGroup “TestSecurityGroup”

In Exchange 2013 you can perform all these actions using EAC.

Prepare PST destination folder

The destination PST folder should be shared folder accessible to the user. So create a network share and provide all permissions to Exchange Trusted Subsystem.

Export mailbox to PST

Finally one can move the mailbox to the PST file using:

New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox <MailboxName> -FilePath “<Path to the PST file>”

Here is how you can move a mailbox named ‘LittleJohny’ to a folder named ‘TestFolderShare’ on the server TESTSERVER01.

New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox LittleJohny -FilePath “\\TESTSERVER01\TestFolderShare\Destination.pst”

If the mailbox is an archive one, you can use:

New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox LittleJohny -FilePath “\\TESTSERVER01\TestFolderShare\Destination.pst” -IsArchive

In Exchange 2013, you can perform all these actions using EAC.

Can corrupt mailboxes be exported to PST?

Exchange Management Shell cmdlets are not found to be successful in exporting corrupt mailboxes to PST. But professional solutions can help you export even corrupt and inaccessible mailboxes to Outlook PST. This solution works with all recent versions of MS Exchange Server.

Blog Summary

Want to Export an Exchange mailbox to Outlook PST? Open the Exchange Management Shell and run a few cmdlets given here. But if you have corrupt or inaccessible mailboxes, think of using third-party recovery tools.