PST to Office 365 Migration

[alainajodi]

As we know, Office 365 is a cloud-based email client provides by Microsoft. Due to its popularity, ease to access from anywhere, and security; heaps of Outlook users are migrating their data into Office 365. If you are also want to import your Outlook PST files into Office 365 but you do not know how to import PST to Office 365 account, then I would suggest you download a free demo version of PST to Office 365 Migration tool. The demo version will assist you to know how to import PST to Office 365 account. After using the demo version, if you agree with its working process and features, then you can make use of the full version to import unlimited PST files into Office 365.

Read More: https://community.arm.com/members/pst-to-office-365-migration

[Akshay_M]

For importing PST files manually to the Microsoft 365 mailbox or performing mailbox migration to Microsoft 365, we’ll first need to configure Microsoft 365 account in MS Outlook. Then, follow the steps below:

Click the File tab, click Open & Export, and select Import/Export.
Open & Export
Select Import from another program in the Import and Export wizard and click Next.
Import from another program
Select Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.
select Outlook Data File
Browse for the Outlook PST data file, select it and click Next.
Browse Outlook file
Set Options according to your preference to manage duplicate items in the file and click Next.
set option
Note: If the PST file is password-protected, enter the password and unlock it, click OK.
Choose the Import items to the same folder in the option and select the Microsoft 365 mailbox, Click Finish.
choose import items
That’s it! The manual method is way short, and there is nothing to worry about except the file size (as it does not work well with large-sized files, supports single file at a time), and the chances of data loss (no guarantee of complete data migration) during the process. However, there are two more methods from Microsoft, which can be used to import PST files to Microsoft 365 mailboxes. Let us have a close look at those methods.

A. Network Upload Method to Import PST to Microsoft 365
The Network Upload method is a great way and a completely free approach to import PST data to Microsoft 365. It allows administrators to import their entire PST data to Microsoft 365 using the Azure AzCopy tool. But keep in mind that the PST file should be stored on a file server or shared folder in your organization before migrating it to Microsoft 365. The steps involved in the Network upload method are:

Copying the SAS URL & Installing Azure AzCopy tool
Uploading PST file to Microsoft 365
Creating the PST Import mapping file
Creating a PST Import job in Microsoft 365
Filtering data and running the PST import job
This method allows you to export one PST file at a time; if you want to export bulk PST files to Microsoft 365, then you will have to repeat the process from the 2nd step to the 6th step or use a CSV file. Thus, the process seems quite complex and time-taking for moving multiple PSTs to the cloud destination.

B. Use Drive Shipping to Import PST to Microsoft 365
Drive Shipping is another way to import PST data to Microsoft 365, which works by using a Secure storage key and PST Import Tool. In this method, you will have to copy your PST data to a hard drive and then ship it to one of the physical locations of Microsoft 365. The steps involved in the Drive Shipping method are:

Downloading the secure storage key and PST Import tool
Copying PST data to the hard drive
Creating a PST Import mapping file
Creating a PST Import job in Microsoft 365
Shipping hard drive to Microsoft
Filtering the data and starting the import job
The drawbacks of this method are that it takes 1-2 weeks to import the PST data to Microsoft 365, and every organization cannot wait for such a long period if there is an urgency of uploading PST to Microsoft 365 and the method is not free at all as it costs money per GB of data.

If organizations have to import PST files to multiple Microsoft 365 mailboxes, it would be a pain for Exchange administrators.

Both Network Upload and Drive Shipping methods are highly technical in nature and can be easily mishandled by users leading to incomplete migration or data loss, or corruption.

All these shortcomings in the manual procedures are a wake-up call for the users, and then they to use automated tools to import PST files to one or more Microsoft 365 mailboxes.