Exchange Server 2013 - How to Export/Import .EDB Mailboxes?

In this blog post, you can know about how to export content from 2013 Exchange database file .edb mailboxes to Outlook .pst file & import data from Outlook .pst file to Live Exchange Server existing mailbox account. You can perform this task using either Exchange Admin Center (EAC) or Exchange Management Shell commands.

Export-Import Task using Exchange Admin Center (EAC):

Step 1 - Need to Create a Shared Folder

Now, the first step to initiate this task is to create a shared folder, you can create it anywhere in the network but I suggest you couple of things to avoid issues:

1. You need to create this folder accept C: drive or any further partition in which you installed the Exchange Server, and in any partition that contain databases or log files. The reason behind this is to avoid the full disk space issue, as the conversion process take place might be the high number of pst files being generated.
2. You should create a clean-up procedure/script that helps to remove the remaining files after X days.

I create a folder with the name 2013Data

The shared folder “2013Data” must have the permission rights under Exchange Trusted Subsystem. To give the access of this shared folder to Exchange Trusted Subsystem, I need to give full control of this folder share & security level. Right click on the 2013Data folder and assign full control as you can view in the below figures:

Step 2 - Implement Import/Export Permission to the User

By default, the import/export permission is not assigned to users in an Exchange environment therefore first I need to provide permission to any user. To do that I take a user “Mark” now, I login with this user using EAC (Exchange Admin Center) and I am going to perform the following steps:

1. Open EAC (Exchange Admin Center) using Browser (Internet Explore)
2. Login with the User (user name and password) in EAC
3. Click on Permissions
4. In Admin Roles > Select the Recipient Management > View the Assigned Role & Members in the Left Pane (Now, as I already mentioned that import/export permission is not assigned to the user by default, thus you need to go on formatting tabs under Permission section & click on edit tab).
5. Now, In Role Group > Recipient Management > Go to Roles Section, Click on Plus Sign
   
6. “Select a Role” Window will Open
   
   
7. Now, Select the role > Mailbox Import Export > Click on ADD > Ok
8. After finish this task you can see that “Mark” user become the part of the same role group

Note: the next thing we need to check the permissions of “Mark” will work properly or not, to check it we need to logout & login again with the user from EAC and check these 

 options,

If this option is not showing in the option tab then the changes are not done in the right way, you need to check the issue & fix it. Retry to activate the red marked options in the option tab.

Task 1) - Export Mailbox to Outlook PST

After assigned permissions to the user and applied changes to the shared folder, let’s logon to the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) with the user ‘Mark’. Select the desired mailbox which in my case is ‘Jonathan’. Click on the Option tab … and select the option “Export to a PST File”.

In the next step, we need to select either the mailbox or mailboxes archive content for exporting in the .pst file.

Now, we need to add the name of the .pst file and provide the full path of the shared folder “2013Data”.

On the final step of exporting to a pst file, we need to mention the user that will receive the process completion messages.

You can find the notifications via Exchange Admin Center to that user which we selected in above figure

Start and finish process message has received by the same user. In the message information we can notice that EAC sent the process completion, location of PST file & how much time was took by the process in completion.

After a successful conversion, we can open the pst file in Outlook and as you can notice that we have the recoverable items folder in the .pst file which is called dumpster in the previous editions of Exchange Server.

Task 2) - Import Data from PST file to Exchange Server

Import data from PST file into Exchange Server mailbox account is similar as the export task, first we need to select the account or mailbox in which we need to import the content of the pst file then click on this … option and choose the Import PST option.

Now on the second steps we need to provide the path of the .pst file. I store .pst file in the same shared folder that we created earlier for exporting task, folder name: 2013Data.

Select the mailbox in which you want to import the personal storage table data and click on Next.

In the final step, select the user by clicking browse button to receive the task completion messages.

Final result will message by EAC to the user.

We finished Export/Import task in Exchange Server 2013 via Exchange Admin Center (EAC), let’s see how this same task we can perform using Exchange Management Shell.

Export-Import Task using Exchange Management Shell:

First we need to create a shared folder which in my case is 2013Data. Right Click on the Folder 2013Data & Go to Properties >

Select Sharing Tab > Click on Advance Sharing > Check the ‘Share the Folder’ option > Click on Permissions > Click on ADD > Write Exchange Trusted Subsystem > Click on Check Name > If you find line under the Exchange Trusted Subsystem then Click on Ok. Now, Check the all options under Allow section > Click on Apply & Ok > Again on Apply & Ok

Now, go to Security Tab

Click on Edit Tab > click on ADD option > Enter the object name “Exchange Trusted Subsystem” > Click on Check Name > If you find line under the Exchange Trusted Subsystem then Click on Ok > Now, Check the all options under Allow section > Click on Apply & Ok

Second, we need to allow mailbox import export permission to the administrator, as by default this permission is inactive for user.

Restart the Exchange Management Shell after assign permission to the administrator

Export Mailbox

Apply this command to export mailbox from Exchange Server 2013 environment:

New-MailboxExportRequest –Mailbox <alias name> -FilePath <UNC File Path>

Example: New-MailboxExportRequest –Mailbox Mark –FilePath \\WIN8\2013Data\Jonathan.pst

Also, we can check the progress status, apply this command in cmdlet

• Get-MailboxExportRequest

Import Mailbox

Apply this command to import pst content in mailbox under Exchange Server 2013 environment.

New-MailboxImportRequest –Mailbox <alias name> -FilePath <UNC File Path>

Example: New-MailboxImportRequest –Mailbox Smith –FilePath \\WIN8\2013Data\Jonathan.PST

Also, we can check the status using these commands:

1. Get-MailboxImportRequest
2. Get-MailboxImportRequest | Get-MailboxImportRequestStatistics

Conclusion:

We performed Export / Import Mailbox task via using Exchange Admin Center (EAC) & Exchange Management Shell in Exchange Server 2013 environment and with proper steps & accurate permission rights we turn the task easier and faster.

But if you still unable to perform Export Import procedure in Exchange Server 2013 environment or if you face any problem during Export / Import task because of database corruption, mailbox corruption etc then you can view this post https://plus.google.com/115112572193304560946/posts/a6Ft72Z5RLF, it will help to export & import content from mailboxes even in the corruption stages.

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In Exchange 2010 – How to Export/Import Mailboxes?

In this blog post you can find out that How to Export and Import Mailboxes in Exchange Server 2010. Before you will proceed with the export or import task of the mailboxes, first you need to full-fill the prerequisites, which turn your task easy & quick.

Pre-requirements:

1. You should have 64Bit Windows Operating System

2. Powershell 2.0 should be installed

3. .Net Framework 3.51 should be installed

4. Outlook Office 2010 on 64 Bit should be installed

5. Exchange 2010 management tools should be installed

6. Domain membership should be created for this client

7. You should be the member of Administrative account or you have the Full Administrative permission rights

The very first thing you need to grant the rights, even to those accounts that are organization administrators. So, you need to apply this command in shell:

New-ManagmentRoleAssignment –Role “Mailbox Import Export” –User Administrator

Now, just restart your Exchange Management Shell to access the new cmdlets.

Next, you need to create the network share as it is used as the file path of the exported PST files. Now, you need to give the read/write permission to the file under Exchange Trusted Subsystem.

Ok, let’s Import the Data from .PST file into Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox first.

To perform this task you need this command New-MailboxImportRequest. If I want to import my mark.pst file that has located in a folder “Outlook” on my server WIN8.MAILTEST.COM to Exchange Server 2010 mailbox then I need to deploy this cmdlet:

New-MailboxImportRequest –Mailbox Mark Jonathan –FilePath \\WIN8\Outlook\mark.pst

This command will simply import all data from pst file into the specified mailbox. Also, it will import data from dumpster folder. If you want to check the status the imported mailbox then you need to apply this command:

Get-MailboxImportRequest or Get-MailboxImportRequestStatistics

Basic commands are not enough when you need to import selected folder or selected data from the pst file. To import data from selected folder you just need to include this parameter in the command “-IncludeFolder”:

New-MailboxImportRequest –Mailbox Mark Jonathan –FilePath \\WIN8\Outlook\mark.pst -IncludeFolders “#Inbox#”

You can also import data from the PST file to a new folder in the mailbox by using the following cmdlet:

New-MailboxImportRequest –Mailbox Mark Jonathan –FilePath \\WIN8\Outlook\mark.pst -TargetRootFolder “Mark Important Emails”

Note: if the targeted root folder does not exist then it will created automatically after applying this above command.

You can import the Archive from the pst file into live Exchange mailbox account:

New-MailboxImportRequest –Mailbox Mark Jonathan –FilePath \\WIN8\Outlook\mark.pst -IsArchive

Similarly, you need to apply commands for Exporting data from Mailbox to PST file in Exchange Server 2010

To exporting mailbox to a pst file, you just need to apply this command:

New-MailboxExportRequest –Mailbox Mark Jonathan –FilePath \\WIN8\ExchangeMailbox\markjonathan.pst

Now, if you want to check the status of the exported mailbox then you need to apply this cmdlet:

Get-MailboxExportRequest or Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics

If you want to export data from selected folder of the mailbox then you need to apply this command:

New-MailboxExportRequest –Mailbox Mark Jonathan –FilePath \\WIN8\ExchangeMailbox\markjonathan.pst -IncludeFolders “#Inbox#”

Also, I can export data from mailbox to a new created folder in .pst file:

New-MailboxExportRequest –Mailbox Mark Jonathan –FilePath \\WIN8\ExchangeMailbox\markjonathan.pst -TargetRootFolder “Mark Exported Emails”

Export the archive folder from mailbox to pst file:

New-MailboxExportRequest –Mailbox Mark Jonathan –FilePath \\WIN8\ExchangeMailbox\markjonathan.pst -IsArchive 

These all above commands helps you to export or import mailbox in Exchange Server 2010 but if you face any trouble in Exchange server 2010 and you unable to extract data from Exchange database file .edb then you can use a third party solution which helps you to extract mailboxes from .edb files and export mailbox either into live Exchange Server or Outlook .pst file. Follow this post to know how this tool works on mailboxes conversion from edb to pst or edb to edb.

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How to Export or Import Mailbox from Exchange Server 2007

Possibilities might be arise where you might be need to export or import individuals mailboxes from Exchange Server 2007 to offline files. To accomplish this task you must be fulfill few per-requirements that must be met before you export/import to PST file:

• Export/Import Mailboxes to PST task must be executed from 32 bit client machine with Exchange Management Tool (EMT) installed. The 32 bit dependency comes with the Outlook client.
• Outlook 2007 or older editions of Outlook must be installed on the client machine.
• User must be the part of Exchange Organization Admin or Exchange Server Admin from where the mailbox Export/Import task would be performed.

Exporting Single Mailbox to PST file

The most basic commandlet line is as follows:

Export-Mailbox –Identity <mailboxUser> -PSTFolderPath <pathToSavePST>

Note: PSTFolderPath must be pointing either to a folder or to a .pst file. If you targeted to the folder than mailbox alias name will be used as the target, also, if the .pst file already exists then the content of the mailbox will be merged into it.

Example:

After the cmdlet task finishes, you will have the .pst ready in the specified location:

Exporting Multiple Mailboxes to PST Files

To execute the process of bulk mailboxes conversion task you just to add a pipe in the identities of the mailboxes. Note that when you execute the bulk exporting task then one .pst file will be created for each mailbox.

The most basic commandlet line is as follows:

Get-Mailbox -Database 'MDB' | Export-Mailbox -PSTFolderPath D:\PSTs


Importing Single Mailbox from PST File

The task of importing the .pst file content is quite similar with the above exporting task:

Import-Mailbox -Identity <mailboxUser> -PSTFolderPath <PSTFileLocation>

Again, PSTFolderPath must be the full path to the targeted directory where the .pst file lives or the .pst file stores. In case if you point to the a directory then the cmdlet will try to match the mailbox alias with the name of an existing .pst file in the specified folder and import all data into that mailbox.

Example:

Importing Bulk Mailboxes from PST File

As the above export situation whenever the bulk importing task to be perform, the PSTFolderPath must be point to a folder from where the task logic will try to match mailboxes alias name with the .pst file name under that location, if there any difference found between the particular mailbox name and pst file name then that mailbox will be skipped.

Example:

Get-Mailbox -Database 'MDB' | Import-Mailbox -PSTFolderPath D:\PSTs


Export/Import Data into PST after Filtering

If you want only selected data to export or import from Exchange Server 2007 then you can perform it with the following cmdlet command, lets take an example, suppose you need to export only those messages that you received between 01 June, 2014 to 16 June, 2014 and those messages contain the word “Review” in the subject and “Project” or “alpha” in the body.

Export-Mailbox –Identity <mailboxUser> -PSTFolderPath <pathToSavePST> -StartDate 1/1/06 -EndDate 12/1/06 -SubjectKeywords:'review' -ContentKeywords:'project','alpha'

And. Similarly in Import

Import-Mailbox -Identity <mailboxUser> -PSTFolderPath <PSTFileLocation> -StartDate 1/1/06 -EndDate 12/1/06 -SubjectKeywords:'review' -ContentKeywords:'project','alpha'

Solution – If the problem arises during the Exchange Export/Import Task

Might be you will face any error situation during Exchange Export/Import task in that case if you need data from mailboxes or import pst file into live Exchange Server, you will need a third party solution.

With the third party conversion tool you can export mailboxes to pst file even if the exchange database is corrupted. Also, you can export mailbox into live Exchange Server environment again. To know more about, how the third party tool works & how the tool helps to export or import mailboxes in Exchange Server 2007, you can read this post: https://plus.google.com/115112572193304560946/posts/a6Ft72Z5RLF

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Exmerge - An Ideal Tool for Exporting Mailbox into PST Format

To export single or multiple mailboxes from Exchange Server 5.5, Exchange Server 2000 & Exchange Server 2003, Exmerge tool is the best utility to accomplish this task.

What user can do with Exmerge:

• It helps to export data from multiple mailboxes from one Exchange Server & merge data into other running Exchange Server mailboxes.
• It helps in exporting data from source Exchange Server into .pst files & merges the entire data, in the .pst files, into multiple mailboxes on the destination Exchange Server. 
• Also, it helps to replace existing data instead of merging new data if this mentioned by the Administrator.

Things should know first before using Exmerge:

• It is not support above 2GB size mailboxes means user can only export maximum 2GB sized mailbox.
• It is not support Exchange Server 2007 & later editions. 
• Domain Admins or Full Exchange Administrator Account doesn’t have Send-As or Receive-As permission by default thus, these users should active this permission first otherwise, an error message appear on the screen.
• Account that has running the Exmerge must be configure the permissions manually

Full-fill the Mandatory Permissions before Running the Exmerge:

• User must be the member of Local Administrator Group
• User who running Exmerge must be delegated as “Exchange View Only Administrator” 
• From the database where user want to export PST’s, Add the user account that running Exmerge in Security Groups & provide it Send-As or Receive-As permissions.

Installation & Mailbox Export Procedure

1). Download Exmerge.EXE & extract the Exmerge.exe & Exmerge.ini file in the Exchange Server Bin Folder.

Note: If the user extract these files in other folder then this error message might appear.

To fix this error user need to copy this “EXCHMEM.DLL” file at this path “C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin Directory”

2). Now, Add the Exmerge to the Mailbox Store or Exchange Database from which you need to export mailboxes into PST files.

a). To do that you need to open Exchange System Manager:

b). Go to Administrative Group -> Select the Store (Mailbox Store or Public Folder Store) -> Right Click on it & move to “Properties”.

c). A dialog box appear, now, go to Security tab and click on “ADD” option to add the Exmerge to the Mailbox Store.

d). Now, provide the “Send As” & “Receive As” permission to the account that running Exmerge. And finally click on “OK”.

Note: To export mailbox to PST using Exmerge, you need run it as a delegated Adminstrators, Send or Receive permitted Account Admin or Exchange View Only Administrators

Start the Exporting Task using Exmerge.EXE

1. Start the Exmerge Wizard and Click on Next

2. To export PST, user need to select “Extract or Import (Two Step Procedure)”

3. Now select “Step 1: Extract data from an Exchange Server Mailbox”

4. Enter the name of the Exchange Server and leave the other optional information:

5. Now select the store from where you want to export the mailbox in pst format.

6. Select the single or multiple mailboxes which you want to export into pst format.

7. As default English is already selected as Default Locale, if you need to change in other locale then click on the drop list option.

8. Decide the location or path where you need the pst files after exporting task.

9. Click on save settings and click next.

10. Now, a process status dialog box will appear where you can view the exporting process.

11. And, that’s it you have mailbox or mailboxes in .pst format after successfully finish this task.


Note: if the exmerge fails in its task or any other problem arise while exporting mailbox to pst in Exchange Server 2003, 2000 or 5.0 editions then you can take the help of third party tool as a solution. Might be you do not have enough backup to continue the work at the present stage then I suggest you a third party conversion tool that helps you to get all content from exchange database files and restore it in active Exchange Server or in Outlook application.

My this post will help you to understand the working of third party tool and how it helps you to recover and convert content from mailbox to MS Outlook .PST or migrate into Live Exchange Server: https://plus.google.com/115112572193304560946/posts/a6Ft72Z5RLF

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