Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations are unable to work from their office. Almost all organizations allowing their employees to do their job from their home premises.
In the starting face of a pandemic in 2020, organizations had struggled to communicate with their employees and client as all their data was in their systems or they were using an Outlook email clients.
But, this year many organizations are switching from the on-premises environment to the cloud and Office 365 is the best choice for Outlook users.
This is why in this article we will focus on the simplest possible method to import organizational PST files from Outlook to Office 365. Here, we will guide you with steps to import PST to Office 365 with MS Outlook and an automated solution. Each method has its own advantage and disadvantages, so read all of them carefully before opting for any solution.
How to Import Organizational PST File from Outlook to Office 365
There are three ways to perform the import process:
- Import PST file into Office 365 account using MS Outlook
- Using Network Upload for importing PST into multiple Office 365 account
- Using automated tool to import PST file to Office 365
But, before that make sure that you have already created the Office 365 user account and have the PST files with you from your MS Outlook account. If you don’t have, then no worries, you can check for in the upcoming section.
Steps to export PST from MS Outlook:
1. Open MS Outlook and go to File tab.
2. Go to Open & Export and then use the “Import/Export” button.
3. In the pop-up window, select “Export to a file”
4. Next, select “Outlook data file (.pst)”
5. Select the Outlook mailbox that you wish to export
6. Next, browse the location where you wish to export the PST file and hit Finish.
You can perform the above steps for each user to get their account PST file and after then you will be ready for
Method 1: Using MS Outlook Application
The MS Outlook solution is quite easy to perform and it's completely free of cost. But, this method can import a single pst file at a time into single Office 365 account. So, performing this approach for the complete organization is not feasible.
Steps to import organizational PST file from Outlook to Office 365:
1. Open the MS Outlook application, and go to File tab.
2. Now, open the Open & Export tab and then select “import/export”
3. Here, select “import from a program or file” option and click Next.
4. In this window, select “Outlook data file (.pst)” and click Next.
5. Browse the location of the PST file need to be imported into Office 365 accounts
6. Select the mailbox where you want to store the import pst file and Finish.
As we have mentioned above, this method is only best for single users only. If there is the only a single account where you wish to import pst file, then it's the best method. Otherwise, for multiple users, go with the other two methods.
Method 2: Using Network Upload
Microsoft offers a method called Network upload that allows an administrator to import organizational PST file from Outlook to Office 365. This method requires a proper understanding of the working of Exchange Admin Center. So, if you are new to Office 365 it’s highly recommended to hire an expert or go with another method.
If you want to know about the working of Network Upload then, you can visit the Microsoft official website for detailed steps.
Method 3: Using Automated Tool
If you aren’t satisfied with any of the above solutions, then an automated Outlook to Office 365 migration tool solution is the best solution for you. Although the solution is paid, it's quite easy for technical or non-technical users to use it easily. Follow the steps below to use the tool:
1. Download the tool from the Official website & launch it.
2. Login into the tool via admin (use Is Admin) or skip for user login.
3. Use Add File (s) or Folder option to import the pst file path into the tool
4. Map the PST file with the designated Office 365 account and validate.
5. Select the category of items to import from PST file(s) and hit the Import button.
Now the tool will start importing organizational PST files from Outlook to Office 365. Once the process is finished, you will get a notification pop-up. And, the job is done. You can use this tool to import pst to Offic 365 anytime you want using these 5 simple steps.
Conclusion
In this article, we have listed 3 methods using which admin can import organizational PST file from Outlook to Office 365 domain. Check the benefits and disadvantages of all the methods and pick the right solution to resolve your organizational issue. For testing of the automated tool, you can try its free demo version that will import first 100 emails from each folder of the PST file.
Now a day, Maximum Windows user used Microsoft Outlook.
An OST file (.ost) is an offline folder file in Microsoft Outlook.
Offline folders make it possible for the user to work offline and then to synchronize changes with the Exchange server the next time they connect.
The ability to work offline is useful in environments with limited or unreliable connectivity.
Another type of file in Outlook is the PST file, which is simply stored on the client or a server other than the Exchange server.
Moreover, the user can get rid of such type of problem by using Outlook, File not will be access into Microsoft Outlook.
WIth the change technologies, there is need to change our work type and applications too, as we continue using old applications they become Outdated and are not fully compatible with new tools.
Office 365 is now a new way of using Microsoft applications.
You can use Outlook, Word.
Excel, PowerPoint and other applications from anywhere and on any device if you have Office 365 account.
But as Previous Outlook has lots of data to move this to Office 365, we need to export PST file.
This task can be achieved easily by Import PST to Office 365 tool.
Office 365 is subscription plans from Microsoft for MS Office programs including Outlook and many other cloud-based services.
Having an Office 365 account or subscription is very beneficial for MS Outlook users like access emails from any location and any device due to a cloud-based system if connected to the internet and more storage space for your mailboxes.
So, these days many Outlook users want to save offline OST files data to the online server of Office 365.
There are two ways to perform this action manually and using a third-party software.
But, this method is complicated and there many cons with this method like risk of data loss and if OST file is damaged then you can’t even convert it to PST file directly from MS Outlook.
This is an indirect method for OST to Office 365 migration.Step 1 – Manually Export OST file data to a new PST file.There is an option of Import / Export in MS Outlook Software for Windows, which allows users to export offline OST data to Outlook PST.
