How to Convert Exchange EDB file data to Outlook PST file

While migrating the mailboxes from one exchange server to another or to a different platform like Office 365, converting EDB files to PST can simplify the process. Creating PST files from EDB data can serve as a backup. This ensures that mailbox data is preserved and can be restored if needed. Another scenario is If an Exchange database becomes corrupted and you cannot recover it using standard methods, converting the EDB file to PST can help retrieve the mailbox data.

However, there is no direct method to convert EDB file data to Outlook PST file using native tools; you can use indirect methods to convert mailboxes in the EDB file to PST. Alternatively, you can use third-party software to directly extract data from EDB file and converts it into PST file.

In this article, you will learn about the indirect methods to convert EDB file data to Outlook PST.

Methods to Convert EDB file data to Outlook PST

To directly convert EDB file data to PST you can either use PowerShell cmdlet like New-MailboxExportRequest, EAC or an Outlook account. Let us look at the detailed steps to use each of these methods.

Note: Before you convert Exchange EDB file data to Outlook PST file, ensure your user account has the Mailbox Import/Export role assigned. Without this role assigned to your user account, EAC and PowerShell will generate an error when you try to convert EDB to PST.

Method 1- Use the EAC

The Exchange Admin Center provides a GUI to export mailboxes in the database to a PST format. Use the steps described below:

1. Log in to Exchange Admin Center and navigate to the Mailboxes as shown below:

2. Select the mailbox you want to export and click on the more options icon (Three dots). Select Export to a PST file.

3. In the Export to a .pst file  click on Browse if you want to export any other mailbox instead of the one you selected. Select one of the 2 radio buttons to export the content in the mailbox or to export the items in the mailbox’s archive. 

4. Click on Next.
5. Set up a path for the .pst file. Ensure that you are entering the path by following the UNC (Universal Naming Convention). The path should be in the following format: \\server\folder\ExportFile01.pst. Then click on Next.

6. On the next window, click on Browse and select an account on which you want to receive the confirmation after the mailbox has been exported successfully. If you do not want a confirmation, uncheck the Send mail to the mailbox below when the .pst file has been exported box.

7. Click on Finish and the export process will start. When the mailbox exports successfully, you will receive a confirmation email if you check the box in the previous step. 

You can confirm the export process by navigating to the location you entered to save the .pst file and see if the file exists.

The problem with this process is that you can export only 1 mailbox at a time. Additionally, you can export either the data from the primary mailbox or the data from mailbox’s archive at a time.
You can use the Outlook account to export the mailbox with its archives. The process is described in the next method.

Method 2- Use Outlook account

You can use the your Outlook account with admin rights to export a mailbox and its archived items to a .pst format. Let us look at the steps for this process:

1. Log in to Outlook with Admin credentials and select the mailbox you want to export.

2. Click on File and navigate to Open & Export. Select Import/Export from the options.

3. From the Import and Export Wizard window, select Export to a File and then click in Next.

4. From the Export to a file window, select Outlook Data File (.pst), and click Next.

5. Confirm the selection of the mailbox. Additionally you can click on Filter and set the parameters if you want to filter out specific mailbox items to be exported as .pst file. Click OK to save the filter settings and then click Next.

6. Set the destination of the exported file and click Finish.

7. If you are exporting the mailbox for the first time, set a password for the PST file. And if you have exported the mailboxes before, enter the password you had set.

8. Click OK and Outlook will convert the Exchange EDB file data to Outlook PST file. Navigate to the location you had set to access the PST file.

This method is more efficient than using EAC but it has the following limitations:

• If you try to export a file larger than 50 GB, Outlook will crash.
• If the process is interrupted, you cannot resume the export process. You will have to start the export process again.
• You can export one mailbox at a time that makes it inconvenient while exporting mailboxes of a large number of users.
• There is no way to know when the status of the export process as outlook does not provide a live export status.

As an alternative method, you can use the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet on the EMS. Let us look at the steps in detail.

Method 3- Use the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet

This method is used to export a single mailbox in the EDB to PST format. Use the following syntax on the Exchange Management Shell:

New-MailboxExportRequest [-Mailbox] <MailboxOrMailUserIdParameter> -FilePath <LongPath>

The status field will be displayed as Queued. To get the status updates of the export process, you can run, the Get-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet with the mailbox name. The output will display the staus as succeeded when the export process will be completed.

Once the process is completed, it is important to remove the export request using the following syntax:

Get-MailboxExportRequest -Status Completed | Remove-MailboxExportRequest

There may be cases when the New-MailboxExportRequest fails, in that case the Status field will be displayed as Failed. To remove a failed request, run the command syntax provided above and replace Completed with Failed.

This PowerShell cmdlet provides various parameters to filter out, include and exclude several mailbox items. But, the drawback of using this method is that while exporting, the command may fail when it encounters a bad item or a large item. Even though, this can be avoided by using the –BadItemLimit and the –LargeItemLimit, using these parameters can result in data loss.
The best alternative to convert Exchange EDB file data to Outlook PST file is to use third-part EDB to PST converter tools like Stellar Converter for EDB. With this tool, you can open multiple EDB files from any Exchange Server version, with no size limit. You can browse through the data store in an Outlook-like interface. You can export all the EDB file data, including user mailboxes, archives, shared mailboxes, and even public folders, to a live Exchange Server database.

Conclusion

If you want to convert Exchange EDB file data to Outlook PST file you can either use Exchange Admin Center, Outlook profile or PowerShell cmdlets like New-MailboxExportRequest. However, all of these methods have some drawbacks associated to them and can even result in data loss in some cases. As an alternative you can use third-party EDB to PST converter software like Stellar Converter for EDB. This tool can open both offline or hosted edb files with no size limit and can directly export the mailbox data including the archives, public folders and deleted item, to Outlook PST file.