Use Office 365 Import Service to Migrate PST Files Into Office 365 Accounts

OVERVIEW

Are you looking for a working Microsoft Office 365 import service to import PST to Office 365 account? If yes, then, you are at the right place, we have come up with different ways to use import service in the Office 365

Microsoft Office 365 is the one of the most widely used messaging and emailing platform by the end users. Sometimes users want to maintain a local copy of MS Office mailbox on their system as its all data is saved in the cloud. Furthermore, saving Office 365 mailbox data on a local machine can also help the user in overcoming hazardous situation.

At the time of importing PST file back into the Office 365, users search for Office 365 import service which is the general and popular method.

Therefore, in this blog, we are going to discuss a step-by-step guide for implementation of Import service in MS Office 365 also known as Network upload and Drive Shipping. Additionally, the best alternative approch for import service for quick and easy process.

Best 3 Methods to Migrate PST Files Into Office 365 Account

Here in the below segment we will discuss about the different approches of Office 365 import services and its step by step guidance. Follow the each steps carefully.

Approach 1: Import PST File to Office 365 Using Network Upload

Follow the steps below to upload PST file in Office 365 Outlook:

Step 1- Copy SAS URL & install Azure AzCopy

SAS URL is considered as a network URL for storage path of Azure in Microsoft cloud and SAS is known as Shared Access Signature key. This key provides all of the permissions, which are required to upload and copy Outlook .pst files to the storage location of Azure.

Note: User should use Azure Azcopy version 5.0 for transferring PST file to Azure location successfully. Keep in mind that you must download the Azure AzCopy software to use Office 365 import service to migrate pst-filesfrom, “Upload files over the network” to page by the given below procedure:

First of all, go to this https://protection.office.com URL address
Then, you have to Login to Office 365 by entering all the credentials of an administrator account
In the left-hand menu bar, click on Data Governance and then, choose Import option
Under the Import page, select Go to the Import Service option.
Now, you can import data to Office 365 on this page, you have to click on the New Import job, and choose Upload Email Messages (PST files)
When you click on the Upload files over a network, the following page will be shown

Now, in Prerequisite Step 2 of the above screenshot, hit on Show network upload SAS URL option
After clicking on that, copy/ move the URL address, which is appeared, and save it to a particular file
Similarly, in Prerequisite Step 3, you must click on Download tool option for downloading and installing the Azure AzCopy
On the pop-up window, go to the Run button
To exit or leave from Upload files over the network page, press Cancel button

Step 2- Import Multiple PST Files into Office 365

Now to import PST files into Office 365 accounts, you can follow the below steps of Office 365 import service by using AzCopy.exe tool:

On your computer, open the Command Prompt
Then, navigate to directory where AzCopy.exe is tool installed
By default, the software is installed on the given path: %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\AzCopy
Next, run this command to upload PST files to Office 365. AzCopy.exe /Source: (Location of PST files) /Dest: (SAS URL) /V: (Log file location)

Step 3- View a list of PST files Uploaded to MS Office 365 Account

This step is optional in which you have the Office 365 import service to migrate pst-files; to view the complete list of Outlook data files (.pst) you can install the Azure Storage Explorer. It is an inbuilt software. Moreover, there are two reasons for doing this:

Check the loading of PST files to Azure successfully.
Confirm the name of a specific file for each PST, which is uploaded to Azure blob. As this will help, when you have created the PST mapping file because you must define both filename and folder pathname for each Outlook PST file.

Step 4- Create PST Import Mapping File

Once the PST file is uploaded to Azure storage location, in the upcoming step you have to create a CSV (comma separated value) file, which signifies about the user’s mailboxes where Outlook PST files will be imported.

First of all, you need to download a copy of PST Import mapping file.
After that, open or store a .csv file to your desktop.

Step 5- Make PST Import job in Office 365 Exchange

To create PST import job in Office 365 account, you must have to follow these steps:

Navigate to https://protection.office.com .
Then, sign in MS Office 365 account with the help of all credentials for an administrator account in Office 365 Online organization.
Choose an option Data Governance and then, press Import
A new page of Import will be displayed, choose an option Go to the Import service
On the other page of import PST to Office 365, select the New job i.e. on + sign, and choose Upload PST emails from the given options
From the Upload files over the network page, choose I am done uploading my files and on the check boxes I have access to the mapping file, followed by click on Next button
Proceed to further step, type in PST import job, and press Next.
Now for adding PST file Mapping, you have to click on Add button.
Choose the name of CSV file that shows in the list, and click on Validate option to check errors for the CSV file.
Once the validation of PST file mapping is done, read the terms as well as conditions, and the checkbox is enabled.
Eventually, click on Finish button to submit the job.
On the page, the job is appeared in the list of PST file Import.
Select the job and click on Refresh button to update the status information.
Finally, click on View details to get the new status for the selected job.

Limitations Of Network Upload Method

After understanding the above steps, you may have understand that using this method is not an easy task. Performing Network upload require good experience on the working of Office 365 Admin center and PowerShell commands. As small mistake can lead to the corruption of PST files.

Approach 2: Drive Shipping Method to Import PST File

For all those organization who were facing difficulty in understanding the Network upload method, Microsoft the another method in Office 365 import service, which is Drive Shipping.

In this method, organization / user needs to perform few steps in stating by creating CSV file with PST file name and store it in a hardrive along with PST files. Then, ship that drive to nearby Microsoft data center. To perform the complete migration of Outlook PST file to Office 365 using drive shipping, follow the below-described steps:

You have to copy the PST files to a BitLocker-encrypted hard disk.
Next, ship the hard drive to Microsoft physically.
After receiving the hard disk by Microsoft, the data personnel can upload the collected Outlook PST files to the desired place, which is not permanent in Microsoft cloud storage.
In the last of Office 365 import service to migrate pst-files, you can use Microsoft Office 365 import service and migrate PST file to Office 365 mailbox.

Approach 3: Migrate PST to Office 365 via Automated Software

If the above-stated methods fail, users can take the help of an automated solution i.e., Office365Import Tool. It is designed in such a way to import PST to Office 365 account in bulk. Even the Office 365 import service to migrate pst-files fails to work in such a way.

It is capable enough to perform data migration in just a few clicks. It has a simple and user-friendly interface that even a novice user can use it without having any extra knowledge.

System Specifications

Hard Disk Space: 500 MB of free hard disk space
RAM : 8 GB of RAM (8 GB is recommended)
Supports : Windows 10 & 11 (64 & 32 bit) & Windows 2012 / 2016 Server
Processor : Minimum 8 core Processor

Software Features

Efficiently transfer Emails, contacts and calendars to Office 365 accunt
Upload Multiple PST Files to Office 365 Using Admin Account Credentials
Capable enough to upload multiple Outlook Data Files to Office 365 by using Admin Account credentials
Facility of applying Date Range Filter Options to migrate Selective Mailbox Items to cloud
Ability to import multiple PST files to Microsoft 365 acounts without any size limit.
Skip Previously Imported items using the Incremental Import Option
It has Incremental Import Option which allows software to skip previously imported files.
Generates Comprehensive Report at the end of the Import process.
It supports Latest Windows OS 10 & 11 (64-Bit)

Note: For users who have files in Microsoft Office 365 and looking for a solution to transfer office 365 mailbox files to Outlook PST format, they can refer to this article to export Office 365 mailbox to PST.

CONCLUSION

After considering the need to migrate PST files into Office 365 mailbox and using Microsoft Office 365 import service to upload PST files in the above section, we have explained two manual solutions. Along with this, we have highly recommended a commercial tool i.e., Office 365 Import by which users can import multiple PST files to Office 365. Users can choose any of these approaches as per their convenience.