How To Export Office 365 Mailboxes To PST Using Ediscovery

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How to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/adam-the-32-bit-aardvark/) Posted on March 10, 2016
by Adam the 32-bit Aardvark (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/author/adam-the-32-bit-aardvark/)
[Update]: This post was updated on May 14, 2019.
In this article, I am going to show you how to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST files using an Office 365’s
native in-place eDiscovery mechanism as a workaround.
The reason why you may need to use it is that Microsoft doesn’t provide any tools dedicated specifically for
this purpose (like the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet in on-premises Exchange
(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/exchange-mailbox-backup-pst-pros-cons/)). In fact, if you want to
export mailboxes to PST files to e.g. add a layer of extra protection to your Office 365 data or migrate away
from Office 365, the eDiscovery mechanism is your only option, other than opening the mailboxes in Outlook
and using its Import/Export functionality (https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Export-or-backup-email-
contacts-and-calendar-to-an-Outlook-pst-file-14252b52-3075-4e9b-be4e-ff9ef1068f91).
IMPORTANT: eDiscovery is supported in all Exchange Online plans and in selected Office 365 plans. For more
see this TechNet article (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn567131.aspx#Q5).
Note that this solution can also be used in Exchange 2019, 2016 and 2013.
Table of contents:
System requirements
Steps to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery
Office 365 eDiscovery export problems
Export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using CodeTwo Backup for Office 365
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System requirements
browser you agree to saving cookies to your hard drive. Learn more in our Privacy Policy
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32 and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and later versions
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 OK
Internet Explorer 10 and later versions or Microsoft Edge. Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome works only with
the ClickOnce add-in installed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClickOnce#Browser_support)
As already mentioned, this is a workaround, so most of the below steps are going to be related to setting up in-
place eDiscovery. The PST export comes at the end (it is performed via a ClickOnce application).
Steps to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery

1. After logging in to your Office 365 portal, access the Microsoft 365 admin center as shown in the
below image.
2. In your Microsoft 365 admin center, expand Admin centers and click Security & Compliance.
OK
3. In your Security & Compliance center, go to Permissions and edit eDiscovery Manager role group.
This and the next step are necessary because you need to be a member of the eDiscovery Manager
role group to be able to use eDiscovery features.
OK
4. In the eDiscovery Manager role group properties window, add your account to the eDiscovery
Administrator list using the Edit button and following a simple creator.
The role group normally has the following roles assigned: Case Management, Compliance Search,
Export, Hold, Preview, Review and RMS Decrypt. In some cases, the Export role is missing. If that
is the case, make sure you add it by clicking the Edit role group button.
OK
5. Now go to Search & investigation > Content Search.
OK
Important note: If you are missing the Content search option, it is most likely related to the eDiscovery
permissions you set in the previous steps. Changes in the eDiscovery permissions might take even up
to 24 hours to apply. 24 hours after you set the permissions (or less, in my case it happens almost
instantly) the tool should work just fine. The issue with permissions might also result in the lack of the
export/download option later on.
6. In the new window, click New Search.
7. This window has experienced a few layout updates since the introduction of eDiscovery searches.
However, the way it functions is similar. The search window lets you specify which mailbox data you
OK
wish to export. Mind that ticking All locations will cause the tool to search through your SharePoint
online and Public Folders database, which might take a long while. If you want to export data from all
mailboxes, select Specific locations and Modify.
8. In this window, choose Exchange email or select specific mailboxes using the Choose users,
groups option. Additionally, you can enable exporting from SharePoint (again the whole database, or
specific sites) and Public folders by checking the Exchange public folders option (in the Public
folders section at the bottom of the window)
OK
9. Apart from the location filter, the search option gives you several filtering options:
keywords/phrases (separated by logical operators: AND, OR, NEAR, NOT, etc.
(https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Searching-and-using-keywords-in-eDiscovery-c9b29461-20f6-
4ae6-84ac-ce9bed3ceabb))
time, bytime
changing the settings of your web browser. By continuing to use this website without disabling cookies in your web
ranges
From/To/CC/BCC fields
message types (which can be defined in the window that opens when you click the select message
types… button). OK
and many more. You can check those options by clicking the Add conditions button in the search
window.
browser
10. If youyouwant
agreetotoexport
saving cookies to your
all mailbox hardjust
data, drive.
doLearn moreany
not add in our Privacy Policy
conditions or keywords. Click Save and run
and you will be prompted to enter a name of the search and its description:
OK
11. After clicking Save, the wizard will perform the search in the background. Now go back to the Content
Search window, hit Refresh and choose your search.
12. In the window that pops up, you can see if the search has been completed and the details concerning its
result. Click More and Export results.
OK
13. In this window, you can choose if you want to include encrypted files. You can also decide how to export
the Exchange content. I find the default options to be the most reasonable for a backup – each mailbox
has a separate PST file, which makes recovery a bit easier if necessary. Do not check the Enable
deduplication option, unless you want the search results to be exported to a single PST file. For more
on unsearchable items see this TechNet article
(https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn602498%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx).
When you are finished, click Export at the bottom of the window.
OK
14. The wizard starts to export data. Go to the Export tab and choose your search again to see its progress.
OK
15. You can either wait for the task to finish or click Download results right away. If you start to download
the results before the export is completed, the download and export tools should finish at the same
time. Another important part of this window is the special export key. Remember to copy it, as it will be
required in the ClickOnce application that will start in the next step
OK
16. A ClickOnce application called eDiscovery PST export tool will start. Paste the export key copied in
the previous step. Next, point the Export tool to a folder where you want to save the PST files.
After you click Start, the tool will begin the export. When it completes, close the application.
OK
(https://www.codetwo.com/backup-for-office-365/?sts=5763)
After performing the export, you can delete the eDiscovery search from the Content Search window by
highlighting it and clicking the trash button.
Office 365 eDiscovery export problems

While exporting mailbox data to PST via eDiscovery might be a good workaround in some cases, you should
prepare yourself for some possible problems:
PST Export button is missing or the export cannot finish

There are two possible reasons for this problem to occur:
Your account does not have the mailbox import/export role assigned, or the role-assignment changes have
not reached the eDiscovery yet. The quickest way to assign it is to use a PowerShell cmdlet:
New-ManagementRoleAssignment –Role “Mailbox Import Export” –User “user name”
You browser does not support exporting results. The export is performed via a click-once application, which
means that it will only work with Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge browsers. To make the export work on
Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, you can use a click-once extension.
The Office 365 eDiscovery export creates duplicates

The export to PST often creates duplicated items. This is because eDiscovery often finds several instances of
the same email message and by default treats them as separate objects. This can be easily mitigated by
checking the Enable deduplication option (refer to step 13 of the guide above). Mind that de-duplication
mechanism is not a perfect solution. The mechanism has a few limitations (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/office365/securitycompliance/de-duplication-in-ediscovery-search-results#limitations-of-the-de-duplication-
algorithm), for example, it is known to mark some unique items as duplicates, therefore excluding them from
the export.
Some additional problems you might run into after the export is finished
Items are missing,
PST file got corrupted,
The export takes too long,
Search is extremely problematic.
Those problems; unfortunately, do not have a quick fix. In fact, using a bit outdated PST file type for backup or
archiving purposes is not a good idea. To successfully backup and archive your Office 365 mailbox and
SharePoint data without all those problems, you would require a third party tool, like CodeTwo Backup for
Office
This (https://www.codetwo.com/backup-for-office-365).
website uses cookies for web analytics and marketing purposes. You can block saving cookies to your hard drive at any
Export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using CodeTwo Backup for Office
365
OK
If you are looking for an easier and faster way of creating PST files that playing with an eDiscovery search and
export, you can use a third party solution like CodeTwo Backup for Office 365
(https://www.codetwo.com/backup-for-office-365/?sts=5763). The program comes with the intuitive console,
where you can first back up your mailbox data to local storages, and then archive it to PST files.
As the program has the built-in Scheduler, you can easily automate the archiving process. This way the
archive job will start on its own at the scheduled time.
OK
The program comes with a trial so you can download a free version of CodeTwo Backup for Office 365
(https://www.codetwo.com/backup-for-office-365/download?sts=5763) and test it directly in your environment.
The trial version gives you actually the same feeling as the full version with only two limitations – it works 30
days and allows to restore up to 5 items per folder (if you would like to test the restore feature as well).
All in all, using PST files as the backup method (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/using-pst-files-to-back-

up-office-365-why-it-is-a-bad-idea/?sts=5763) is rather a bad idea. Their proneness to corruption, low to none
item-search effectiveness, and poor management options make this method rather unsafe and hazardous for
backup or migration purposes.
Suggested reading
CodeTwo backup solutions for Office 365 and Exchange: Offline mailbox backups and recovery
(https://www.codetwo.com/guides/backup-software-exchange-office-365?sts=5763)
Migration software for Office 365 and Exchange (https://www.codetwo.com/guides/migration-software-for-
exchange-office-365?sts=5763)
CodeTwo Backup for Office 365 – Back up SharePoint Online (https://www.codetwo.com/backup-for-office-
365/sharepoint-backup)
(/products/)
70 thoughts on “How to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery”
Alessandro
September 30, 2019 at 12:00 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
pst-using-ediscovery/#comment-7229)
Sorry but the admin center panel was changed. Now Security and Compliance are splitted in two
separated items on the menu. I don’t find the correct menu to change permission to e-discovery. Thanks in
advance.
Reply
(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

October 1, 2019 at 12:16 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-
to-pst-using-ediscovery/#comment-7237)
That’s true, the admin center has changed and I mention it in my other article
(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/microsoft-security-center/). However, not everything has
been migrated, eDiscovery mechanism included. You can still access the old Office 365 Protection
center at: https://protection.office.com/homepage (https://protection.office.com/homepage). I’ll
OK
make sure to update the article when something changes.
Ryan McGee
July 30, 2019 at 7:55 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
ediscovery/#comment-6727)
This seems like a lot of work. Wouldn’t it be easier to just give read and manage permissions to another
user, let the mailbox sync to them and then export to a .pst file from Outlook?
Reply

August 5, 2019 at 3:28 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
Sure you can, but the question is how many mailboxes you need to export and how many you are
willing to export manually. You can give full access permissions to all mailboxes at once and allow
automapping, but having more than 10 in a single Outlook instance usually causes heavy lag.
The plus of export via eDiscovery is that you can get them all at once. Each one in a separate
PST file. It is not a perfect method, but it works.
Dozer
February 14, 2019 at 12:32 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
using-ediscovery/#comment-4422)
If you can’t see the PST EXPORT button – make sure you are using
Microsoft EDGE – Chrome etc doesn’t work with this.
Reply

February 14, 2019 at 1:00 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-
mailboxes-to-pst-using-ediscovery/#comment-4426)
The export works with Internet Explorer, too. Chrome and Firefox can be used, but require a
ClickOnce extension.
KSC
February 8, 2019 at 6:52 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
I had managed to get the search to run. However the ‘Export results’ button is missing. I only see a ‘Export
report’ button.
My PC has the required software, any idea?
Reply
changing the settings of your web browser. By Adam
time, by continuingthe 32-bit
to use Aardvark
this website without disabling cookies in your web
browserFebruary 8, 2019
you agree at 1:40
to saving pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-
cookies to your hard drive. Learn more in our Privacy Policy
Most probably, the account you are using does not have the Mailbox Import Export role assigned
OK
to your account. This role is required to export and is not included in any Role Group by default.
Maik
November 22, 2018 at 4:52 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
Hi,
is it possible to Backup the In-Situ-Archive to PST?
Otherwise i have no full backup from the users data.
Thanks
Regards
Maik
Reply

November 23, 2018 at 11:09 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-
Hi Maik,
When you use Content Search in eDiscovery, archive mailboxes are searched as well. This means
that during the export, they are downloaded as well.
sean
July 17, 2018 at 9:49 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
wow thank you for the information
And now I’m quitting Microsoft; everything is complicated for admins also they generate errors from every
update I guess everyone departments want to hide sources or cooperate? Linux all the way now, I will not
look back ever again.
Reply
Roy
June 19, 2018 at 10:12 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
Thanks for the great sharing, you made my day!
Reply
Anthony Murfet
June 9, 2018 at 5:11 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
I’m going to guess that this is not going to work if the mailbox has In-Place or Litigation Hold enabled.
Reply
June 11, 2018 at 8:35 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to- OK
Hi Anthony,
On the contrary, the primary reason to use the eDiscovery search tool is when mailboxes are on
hold. In fact, the eDiscovery mechanism and the Search-Mailbox cmdlet are the only way to
search through purged items (that is if there is the right retention policy or hold in place).
Brandon Ames
May 26, 2018 at 12:09 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
When I click Export at step 13, I am getting this error:

Parameter Scenario is not a valid URL option for cmdlet New-ComplianceSearchAction.
Parameter name: parameter
Any ideas?
Reply

May 28, 2018 at 12:28 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
Hi Brandon,
This issue usually comes up when there is some kind of problem with permissions. In other words,
either the permissions have not yet propagated throughout the tenant or were not assigned for the
chosen account. First, make sure you have the required permissions (see step 4). You can also try
adding yourself as an eDiscovery Manager (in addition to the Administrator). It should not take
more than an hour for the permissions to start working. Also, signing out and in again might help.
PTWH
April 24, 2018 at 3:47 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
information out dated
useless.
Reply

April 24, 2018 at 10:00 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
There have been some changes concerning the layout of the eDiscovery function; however, its
functionality has not changed. I am going to update the screenshots in the article later this week,
stay tuned!
Linas
March 21, 2018 at 1:59 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
Hi if you get error: OK
Deployment and application do not have matching security zones.
you need to install, ExtensionMeta4 ClickOnce Launcher in Chrome :
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/clickonce%20for%20microsoft?hl=en
ANd then it works as charm, gots this form MS support
Reply

March 21, 2018 at 2:19 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-
Hi Linas,
thank you for the contribution. Just to mention, this information is already included in the System
requirements section above.
Nick
March 1, 2018 at 2:13 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
Hi Adam,
Thanks for the tip, has been really handy.
We’ve ntoiced lately when we’ve used the eDiscovery tool to export user mailboxes, it is also including all
files the user has access to in our SharePoint (Office365).
Has anyone else had this issue and/or know the way to exclude SharePoint files/documents from the
search/export?
Reply

March 1, 2018 at 11:21 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-
Hello Nick,
In the first step of configuring an eDiscovery search, you have the option to either Search all
sites, or Choose specific sites to search. If you choose the latter and do not specify any sites,
there should be no SharePoint files included in the export.
Jonathan Shapiro
November 19, 2017 at 5:19 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
Thanks for the very informative write-up. My organization is currently in a hybrid mode. We’ve already
moved all the archive mailboxes from Exchange on-prem to Office 365. The primary mailboxes are still on-
prem while we resolve certain issues with vertical applications, etc. Archive mailboxes are not enumerated
when there is no associated primary mailbox so there doesn’t seem to be any means to export an archive
mailbox in that situation except to connect Outlook to the mailbox and export the PST. Does anybody know
of some other means to export an archive mailbox when the primary mailbox is on-prem?
Reply
OK
Hi Jonathan,
Migration from Office 365 to an on-prem Exchange or to PST files is quite problematic – the only
way to do this natively is eDiscovery or manual export. The only dependable way to export
mailboxes (and archives) from Office 365 is using a third party tool, like CodeTwo Office 365
Migration (https://www.codetwo.com/office-365-migration/).
André Gonçalves
October 10, 2017 at 5:12 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
Hello,
I have a problem.
I can export to PST file using ediscover tool, but my PST file is a mirror of my office365 account.
How I can export email for a PST file and automatic delete email on the source?
thanks,
Reply

October 11, 2017 at 11:42 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-
I can propose two solutions. Both require PowerShell.

You can use New-MailboxExportRequest to export emails and follow up with Search-Mailbox
with the -DeleteContent switch. Just remember to use the same search parameters. This way you
will export chosen emails to PST and delete them from source mailboxes afterwards.
Another option is to use Search-Mailbox cmdlet with -TargetMailbox, -TargetFolder and -
DeleteContent attributes. Instead of generating a PST file, it will result in copying chosen emails
to another mailbox and deleting from the source.
You can check the following articles if you need help with the cmdlets I mentioned:
Exchange 2016, 2013, 2010 mailbox backup by export to PST (PowerShell)
(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/exchange-mailbox-backup-pst-pros-cons/)
How to delete email from mailboxes on Exchange 2016 / 2013 / 2010 / Online
(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-delete-email-from-mailboxes-on-exchange-2016-
2013-2010-online/)
René
July 24, 2017 at 2:21 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
Does the pst export / file also includes contacts and calendar informations? Or is this only a mailbox / e-
amil export? Thanks for your support.
Reply
changing the settings of your web browser. By Adam
time, by continuingthe 32-bit
to use Aardvark
this website without disabling cookies in your web
browser you
July agree
31, 2017toatsaving
10:15 cookies to your hard drive. Learn more in our Privacy Policy
am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
By default, the pst file includes all message types: emails, calendars, contacts, etc. You canOK
use
filters and conditions to export only emails or to exclude some message types if you like (see Step
7 of the guide above).
Tom
June 22, 2017 at 3:11 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
This trick was extremely helpful! Although I noticed that it now has a limited lifespan. Microsoft has this
notice on the Compliance Management screen:
Starting July 1, 2017, you won’t be able to use the EAC to create searches in Exchange Online. Please
start using Content Search in the Security & Compliance Center. In Exchange hybrid deployments,
searches run from your on-premises organization aren’t affected by this change. Learn more about content
search.
Will there be another method or is Microsoft just shutting down this workaround?
Reply
Jonathan
June 22, 2017 at 8:12 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
Yes, I got this same message. However I was able to export a mailbox by going to the Security
and Compliance Center and adjusting the permissions in line with the above (There are similar
options). Then go to Search and Investigation -> eDiscovery. Create a case (“PST Export”). Open
that case using the button to the left of the line and then click on the Search Tab. From here you
can define the search similarly to the steps above. Once the results of the search have finalised,
click on the export button as found in step 9 above. The result can then be found in the Export tab
where you can Download exported results from the hyperlink on the right panel. The only
additional step is to copy the Export Key to the clipboard to then paste back into the ClickOnce
Export Tool. Essentially, given the information above and performing similar operations through the
Security & Compliance Admin Console, you can achieve the same result.

June 22, 2017 at 4:09 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
Thank you for such a detailed description! That is right, the functionality is not blocked, it is just
moved to the Security and Compliance Center. I will update the article before it is outdated, so that
it gives a detailed step-by-step walkthrough of the new method (like Jonathan wrote, it is not that
different, anyway).
In the meantime, you can watch the video guide on how to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST
files (https://www.codetwo.com/blog/export-office-365-mailboxes-pst-ediscovery/?sts=5763) – it
shows how it is done using the new method.
Jose
Hi! First,you
browser thank you
agree to so much
saving for the
cookies trick,
to your it’sdrive.
hard beenLearn
mostmore
helpful!!
in our Privacy Policy
Now, the question: Do you think could be a way to use this same workaround for the public folders?
I would like to extract a pst for each public folder we have (ideally, in batchs, but if I had to do it manually
for each folder it doesnt matter). OK
I have already tried mail-enabling the public folder, but you can only browse for user mailboxes.
Thanks again!
Reply

June 13, 2017 at 1:38 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
Hi Jose,
Yes, you can use eDiscovery to back up public folders.
Just make sure you check out Search all public folders in step 6. You cannot limit your search to
a specific public folder, but you can use certain keywords to limit your search. As far as I know,
public folders do not have to be mail-enabled for eDiscovery to find them.
Halil MOLLAOGLU
It’s worth to mention that when you start importing the PST via the export tool it asks for authentication. If
your Office 365 account it MFA (two factor authentication) enabled, you have to create an app password in
order to authenticate. The PST tool doesn’t support ADAL libraries.
Reply
Venkat
It’s very helpful
Reply
Tim
May 9, 2017 at 7:49 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
Went through the process but no download optioned appeared.
Reply

May 10, 2017 at 10:55 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
Hi Tim,
Please make sure you have completed the step 4 and that your account has the Mailbox Import
Export role assigned. In my case, it took about half an hour before the changes were applied.
browserSometimes,
you agree tologging out and
saving cookies in the
to your tenant
hard drive.again mightinhelp.
Learn more If the Policy
our Privacy icon is not there after a
considerable amount of time, you might want to consider raising a support ticket with Microsoft.
OK
Thomas KUSEL
April 3, 2017 at 6:11 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
Hi,
I’ve been trying to follow you guide but I’m stuck on step 4 : the + button for adding roles in discovery
management is non existant on my admin console.
Am i missing something ?
Reply

Hi Thomas,
If you cannot add new roles to Discovery Management Role Group, please try creating a new Role
Group. Then add the three Roles mentioned in step 4 to the new Role Group and continue with
the article accordingly. You can also use PowerShell, just consult the Note below the step 4.
Jeff
October 31, 2016 at 8:04 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
Hi Adam,
I am recieving this error below:
Following errors were detected during this operation.
* [10/30/2016 11:01:59 PM] System.Deployment.Application.InvalidDeploymentException (Zone)
– Deployment and application do not have matching security zones.
– Source: System.Deployment
– Stack trace:
at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadApplicationManifest(AssemblyManifest
deploymentManifest, String targetDir, Uri deploymentUri, IDownloadNotification notification,
DownloadOptions options, Uri& appSourceUri, String& appManifestPath)
at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.DownloadApplication(SubscriptionState subState,
ActivationDescription actDesc, Int64 transactionId, TempDirectory& downloadTemp)
at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.InstallApplication(SubscriptionState& subState,
ActivationDescription actDesc)
at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivation(Uri activationUri,
Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings
browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl)
at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.ActivateDeploymentWorker(Object state)
I am not exactly sure what I am seeing here. Have you seen this before?
Reply
This website Adam
uses cookies for web analytics and marketing the You
purposes. 32-bit Aardvark
can block saving cookies to your hard drive at any
time, by changing2,the
November settings
2016 of your
at 12:39 pm web browser. By continuing to use this website without disabling cookies in your web
(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-
Hi Jeff, Do I assume correctly that this happens when you try to run the PST export tool in Step
10? What browser are you using? OK
Erwn Chavez
October 29, 2016 at 1:02 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
Thumbs up for Stephens information.

I was running it on chrome and it didnt work.
I read this and moved over to Edge and BAM! It worked.
Thanks :)
Reply
Andrew IT
Is it possible to export user archives from o365 using this method?
Reply

October 27, 2016 at 8:34 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-
Hi Andrew, Yes, it is. They will be exported into PST files (https://support.office.com/en-
us/article/Introduction-to-Outlook-Data-Files-pst-and-ost-222eaf92-a995-45d9-bde2-f331f60e2790
(https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Introduction-to-Outlook-Data-Files-pst-and-ost-222eaf92-
a995-45d9-bde2-f331f60e2790)).
Gianluca
November 16, 2016 at 3:05 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-
Hi, how to export archive? I mean the archive in the separated tree, where all emails older than 2
years go…
thanks
bye

Hi Gianluca,
It depends how the archive was created. Be default, eDiscovery searches (and exports) users’
primary archive mailboxes (see Sources here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/dd298021(v=exchg.160).aspx#using (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/dd298021(v=exchg.160).aspx#using)). But this only applies to Exchange archive
mailboxes (https://technet.microsoft.com/pl-pl/library/jj984357(v=exchg.150).aspx
(https://technet.microsoft.com/pl-pl/library/jj984357(v=exchg.150).aspx)).
– Adam
OK
Simon Forder
Worked really well. Thanks :)
Reply
Schools Mcgee
The ediscovery tool or compliance center is NOT going to work if you have a large amount of data to
export. For example, there is a 250GB download limit. In our organization, that is enough for less than one
week of data.
The export tool is terrible, if you have a large organization, searches are very buggy and take 30 minutes
per search. Because the tool is so bad, we are trying to go to another archiving system. Guess what, using
this same buggy tool is the solution we are given to export, and even a 100GB export will not work or have
a ton of errors. That’s two weeks. We are down to trying to export one day. Tons of errors for 100GB.
Do NOT listen when Microsoft says this will replace your current archiving system. It is a scam.
Reply
dan
September 11, 2016 at 8:19 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
This does not allow you to export/download PST unless you have an Exchange Online Plan 2, therefore
this does not work for us.
Reply
Amit
September 2, 2016 at 4:55 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
Thanks buddy , really helpful.
Reply
Stephen Lupton
August 24, 2016 at 7:05 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-
MAKE SURE TO RUN THIS IN INTERNET EXPLORER. I SPENT AN HOUR ON THE PHONE WITH
MICROSOFT BECAUSE THE PROGRAM THAT RUNS WHEN YOU CLICK THE DOWNLOAD
WOULDN’T WORK WITH MOZILLA FIREFOX.
P.S. Microsoft was useless.
P.P.S.
browserGodaddy
you agreewas supercookies
to saving helpfulto even though
your hard drive.itLearn
wasn’t their
more problem.
in our Privacy Policy
Good day! :)
Reply OK
Jyoti Prakash
September 26, 2016 at 1:00 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-
Thats a great tip Stephen, thanks a lot.

Was wondering why it wont work on Chrome, then read your comment.!!
Matthew Silcox
Seriously? Make sure you blame Microsoft when you’re incapable of using Google. It took me <5
seconds to Google it and figure out that you can, indeed, use Google to export PST by using a
ClickOnce Chrome extension.
Matthew Silcox
Google Chrome and Firefox extension**
Dr.Cyprian
EXACTLY… USE EXPLORER OR YOU ARE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME~!
Tibetan warrior
July 6, 2016 at 10:24 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
thanks Adam, works a treat however the mailbox I exported is massive so it split it into multiple 10Gig pst
files.
Is there a way to consolidate them all into one PST?
Reply

July 11, 2016 at 2:46 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
Hi,
Yes, it is possible. To merge PST files into a single file, you can use the Import/Export option in
Microsoft Outlook.
Here you will find more details: http://msoutlookworld.blogspot.com/2015/10/how-to-combine-
multiple-pst-files.html (http://msoutlookworld.blogspot.com/2015/10/how-to-combine-multiple-pst-
files.html).
Just
time, by keep the
changing in mind that
settings of using Outlook
your web data
browser. files larger
By continuing thanthis
to use 10website
GB can cause
without Outlook
disabling to work
cookies in your web
inefficiently and inconsistently.
All the best,
Adam
OK
Igor
In my account I cannot complete Step 4 because there is no plus and minus buttons to add new Roles.
What should I do?
Reply

July 5, 2016 at 12:57 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
Hi Igor,
This may be a permission issue.
To verify that, please check this Technet article (the “What do you need before you begin?”
section): https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj657480(v=exchg.150).aspx
(https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj657480(v=exchg.150).aspx).
You may also need to run the New-ManagementRoleAssignment cmdlet to add roles from step 4.
Here you will find more details: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/jj657480(v=exchg.150).aspx (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/jj657480(v=exchg.150).aspx) (the “Add a role to a role group” sections).
Let me know whether it helps!
Best regards,
Adam
Joshua
I was able to successfully export using an administrative account that had no mailbox or license. I did have
to log off and back on after adding the permissions to the account for the export option to appear. I also did
have to add the “Mailbox Import Export” permission to the Discovery Management Role manually.
Reply
Rolf
@Adam; the account you use to do the export alse needs to have an active mailbox. If this is an
administrator account without an active mailbox temporarily assign a license to this account.
Reply
Jason
time,24,
May by2016
changing thepm
at 4:49 settings of your web browser. By continuing to use this website without disabling cookies in your web
(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
Thanks “Adam the 32-bit Aardvark”! I really appreciate you posting this!
One minor comment: I was not able to add the Mailbox Import Export role but found that if i ticked OK
the box
to “Search All Public folders” when creating the eDiscovery it then let me do the save to PST option
anyway.
If i did not check the box for “Search All Public folders” the download button (arrow) would not show up.
Reply

May 25, 2016 at 3:58 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-
Hi Jason,
Did you get any errors when you tried to add the Mailbox Import Export role?
Best regards,
Adam
Matthew G
April 21, 2016 at 5:12 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
It takes some time for the system to update with a new role. It also helps to log out and completely close
the browser.
At the ClickOnce application step it did not work in Chrome but the obvious solution is to open it from
Internet Explorer.
Thanks so much for these detailed instructions!
Reply
David
April 13, 2016 at 4:28 pm (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-to-pst-using-
When I get to step 9 I don’t see the downward arrow. Help!
Reply

Hi David,
In step 4, please check if all 3 roles I talk about are included.
Best regards,
Adam
Ryan
I have the same problem, no Download link/symbol is showing. YES I ensured all 3 roles are
checked in Step 4 also… Tips?
October 18, 2016 at 9:37 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes- OK
What Office 365 plan are you guys on?
Erwn Chavez
October 29, 2016 at 1:05 am (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/how-to-export-office-365-mailboxes-
Hey David,
I had this same issue while i was logged in as the admin.
I couldn’t even add the admin to the member list in step 4.
Not sure if this is the solution, but this was a workaround that i did.
I created a new user and temporarily assigned it a license.
Gave that user admin rights and then added him to the list in step 4.
Afterwards, i signed out of my admin account and signed in with the new user i created. Went to
that Ediscovery screen and now i was able to see the Download button. Oh, and DONT FORGET
to run this on IE. It doesnt work on chrome as Stephen explained.

I had this same issue while i was logged in as the admin.

I couldn’t even add the admin to the member list in step 4.
Hi Erwn,
Can you provide more details on how this issue manifested itself?
Best regards,
Adam
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How to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery

[Update]: This post was updated on May 14, 2019.

Steps to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery

Office 365 eDiscovery export problems

PST Export button is missing or the export cannot finish

The Office 365 eDiscovery export creates duplicates

All in all, using PST files as the backup method (https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/using-pst-files-to-back-

70 thoughts on “How to export Office 365 mailboxes to PST using eDiscovery”

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

Thanks for the great sharing, you made my day!

When I click Export at step 13, I am getting this error:

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

I can propose two solutions. Both require PowerShell.

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

It’s very helpful

Went through the process but no download optioned appeared.

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

Thumbs up for Stephens information.

Is it possible to export user archives from o365 using this method?

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

Worked really well. Thanks :)

Thats a great tip Stephen, thanks a lot.

Google Chrome and Firefox extension**

EXACTLY… USE EXPLORER OR YOU ARE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME~!

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

When I get to step 9 I don’t see the downward arrow. Help!

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

(https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/) Adam the 32-bit Aardvark

I had this same issue while i was logged in as the admin.

What is the sum of 2 and 3? *

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