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Download Emails from Exchange Server – An Overview

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Published By Deepa Pandey
Ashwani Tiwari
Approved By Ashwani Tiwari
Published On April 2nd, 2024
Reading Time 6 Minutes Reading
Category Exchange Server

Microsoft Exchange is an example of a successful office utility bundle. Just after its launch, it became popular instantly. This is when Microsoft started getting a larger segment of the market. However, if look today, users want to download emails from Exchange server to their local system. This is because that technology has become old & even Microsoft launched its Office 365 bundle. There are several other reasons also why users want to perform such an operation.

We are going to explore the fundamental solutions of this operation in this article to solve user queries. The drawbacks of the manual methods are also mentioned here. Moreover, the two autonomous methods are also listed below. The most important aspect of this operation is to select a reliable method & tool. Let’s start with the needs because of which users want to export Exchange 2013 mailbox to PST. Not only version 2013 but even others too.

Why Do You Need to Export Emails from Exchange Server?

Below are the reasons mentioned why users take this decision. Furthermore, these reasons are not fixed, they can change with time & users.

  1. To have a backup of their data files with them.
  2. For compliance and legal requirements.
  3. For having 24×7 access to the crucial data files of employees.
  4. Offline access to emails in areas where Internet connectivity is low.
  5.  By getting PST file, you can easily import PST to Exchange Online.
  6. To provide your data extra security & protect it from viruses, data breaches, etc.

What Are All the Available Methods We Have?

There are several methods by which users can get their expected results. Out of which some work well & some can make your experience worse. Below are the methods mentioned in random order to download emails from Exchange server.

  • The first method is to use the Exchange Admin Center to download all the emails from the Exchange server. 
  • The second method is an automated tool, recommended by the experts because of its various advanced features.

You will get to know about both methods in detail. So, you can choose the right one that can fulfill your requirements at best.

Export Emails from Exchange Server Using Exchange Admin Center

Using the Exchange Admin Center, you can download the emails to access them offline. This method is quick when the data is small in size. Through this method, you can download the complete mailbox of the users. So, let’s follow the below steps to complete the process. 

  • Step 1. Login to the EAC and move to the recipients and then mailboxes.
  • Step 2. Press right-click on the mailbox that you want to download.
  • Step 3. Choose the option Export to a PST file. 
  • Step 4. Select the required option from the given two: download mailbox content or archive mailbox content.
  • Step 5. Provide the location to save the downloaded emails.
  • Step 6. Tick the checkbox to notify after the process ends and then Finish.

Drawbacks of Manual Method to Download Emails from Exchange server

The manual method has some critical drawbacks that can make users’ download experience worse. These drawbacks are mentioned below clearly.

  • The manual method becomes time-consuming when the users are multiple.
  • New users are more likely to get stuck to performing these technical steps.
  • There might be the possibility of human errors while executing the manual steps.
  • No surety downloaded emails will maintain folder hierarchy.

Automated Solution to Save Exchange Server Emails to Local System

After analyzing the limitations of the manual method, it becomes clear that it is not the right fit for downloading multiple user’s emails. So, after performing several tests on the automated tool they recommend the Exchange Export Tool to download emails from Exchange server. After download emails locally, you can also reduce Exchange mailbox size. This tool is easy to operate because of its simple user-interactive interface. Even a non-tech user can also execute this tool to complete the process. Let’s see the required steps of the automated tool. 

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Export Emails from Exchange Server Using the Automated Tool

Step 1. Download and Launch the tool. Choose the Source platform as the Exchange and the destination as the Outlook.

source and destination

Step 2. Tick the checkboxes to download required items such as emails, contacts, and calendars as well. Apply the date filter as per the requirement and then Next.

workload items

Step 3. Now in the Source tab, enter the essential credentials of the Exchange server account. Validate all the details and then Next.

source details

Step 4. Provide the location to save the resulting file with the file size. Validate the entered path and move to Next. 

destination details

Step 5. Load all the users into the tool using different options such as Fetch Users, Import Users, and Download template. Validate the users and then Next.

load users

Step 6. Finally, click on the Start Export button and track the process until it is completed.

start export to download emails from Exchange server

Why Do Experts Recommend Automated Tool?

There are several advanced features associated with the automated tool which makes the process simpler and efficient. Here are some main reasons why this automated tool is the expert’s first choice to download emails from Exchange server.

  1. While exporting the crucial data the first thing is to make sure that data will be secured. This automated tool secures the complete data during the exporting process.
  2. Provides an interactive dashboard to track the exporting process. So that you can stop the process in between whenever required. 
  3. All the downloaded emails will be in the proper hierarchy as per the original. 
  4. Advanced options such as Delta Export to export the newly arrived emails. Re-run to re-run the complete export process.
  5. Generates the complete report after the process ends. So that you can analyze all the executed steps in detail.

The Final Say

Now that we have learned how to download emails from Exchange server. Two methods are discussed so that you can use the right fit for you. But having some limitations with the manual method, it is not advised to use. That’s why an alternative automated tool is explained in detail to export emails from Exchange server efficiently. Now choose the method wisely and complete the process.