How to Migrate Outlook PST File to Office 365?

by Robert Allardice Data Migration Expert

Looking for methods to migrate the Outlook PST file to Office 365? If Yes, you are in the right place.

Since the launch of Office 365 in 2011, more and more organizations are opting for it and migrating from a desktop-based email client like Outlook to Office 365 Online. It is due to the fact that both MS Outlook and Office 365 Outlook is similar in interface and working, switching from one to another is not at all trouble. It’s simple to set up a new account in Office 365 and starts working on it. But what if you need your old Outlook emails. You cannot just dump your Outlook files and start from scratch. And for the Organization which is new to Office 365, it is hard for them to perform the migration.

So to help you with this task, we have created this simple guide. In this you will know, how to:

1. Create PST file from Outlook account (skip if already have the PST file).

2. An automated solution for a fast migration of Outlook PST file to Office 365

3. Manual Solutions to Transfer files from Outlook to Office 365

Steps to Create PST file from MS Outlook

In case, if you don’t have Outlook PST created all users account, then follow the steps below to see how:

1. Open Your MS Outlook application on your desktop

2. Go to File tab, click on Open and then Import/Export option

3. From Import/Export wizard, choose “export to a file” option from list Next

4. Now, from export file option, select “Outlook data file (.pst)" option >> Next

5. Browse the destination location for the exported PST file

6. Choose the mailbox which you wish to export and Finish Now you have the PST file with you. Proceed with the methods for migration.

Method #1: Professional Solution to Migrate Outlook PST file to Office 365

The professional solutions are the fast and accurate way to export your Outlook data in your Office 365 account. Using this, users can migrate multiple user's account data simultaneously without any hassle. Additionally, the automated tool provides you multiple filtering options for selective data migration. The Best software for such type of migration is SysTools Import PST to Office 365 tool. The automated tool allows performing the migration of PST in multiple user accounts simultaneously. Apart from the migration of Outlook PST to the user account, the tool can be used to migrate the Pst file into the shared mailbox of Office 365.

Advance Features of Automated tool

• Migrate Outlook PST to shared mailboxes

• Import emails, contacts, calendars & tasks from PST file

• Option to migrate Outlook PST with or without Admin credentials

• Doesn’t pose any limitation on the size of the PST file that can be Imported

• Category and Date Filters for selective data migration from PST file

• Incremental Import facility to skip already migrated data from .pst file.

• Option to include or exclude Delete and Send items into destination Office 365 account

• Provide a detailed report of the migration after completion

Quick Steps to Migrate Outlook PST file to Office 365

1. Download and Install Office 365 Importer on your machine

2. Login via Admin account to migrate PST files in multiple user accounts

3. Choose Add File(s) /Folder option to include PST file for migration

4. Click on Sample CSV option, to generate CSV file for PST and uses id mapping

5. Select the Category, Apply Date filter for selective data migration

6. Apply Incremental, and Include Folder option (optional)

7. Click on Import button to migrate Outlook PST file to Office 365 account

Note: After the process is completed, click on the Save Report button to generates a complete migration report. Now login to your Office 365 accounts for the confirmation of the migration.

Manual Methods to Migrate Outlook PST file to Office 365

To help is users Microsoft creates its own method name as Import Service (Network Upload) for the migration. This is to help Outlook user to easily transfer their data to Office 365 Online. In this method, the user needs to perform certain jobs to set up the migration environment. This method requires proper technical skills with Command-line knowledge for its working.

Note: This method is not recommended to the organization that are new to Office 365. Steps to Perform Import Service

Step 1: Copy the SAS URL and install AzCopy

Step 2: Upload your PST files to Office 365

Step 3: Create the PST Import mapping file

Step 4: Create a PST Import job in Office 365

Step 5: Filter data and start the PST Import job

Now, if you're finding trouble with the manual method then, Microsoft provides you another option, it is to use Drive Shipping method.

In this method, Microsoft will charge you $2/GB of PST file for the import process. The Complete migration will be performed by the Microsoft, you need to create a Mapping CSV file and put the PST file in a Drive and Ship it to Microsoft data center.

Limitation

• The Import services of Microsoft is only available in certain countries of the world

• Require high technical knowledge for its working

• Sometimes Office 365 import service failed due to corrupted PST file

• Take too much time in creating an import job

Conclusion

In the end, we want to suggest you use the automated tool if you performing migration for your organization. It is because the data of each user is very crucial for any organization, losing it during a complex migration process such as Network Upload may impact your business. To migrate the Outlook PST file to Office 365, we will highly recommend you to use automated tool suggested above for fast and accurate migration of data. You can also first try its free demo version, which will migrate 25 emails per folder from PST file.