Export an Orphaned OST File to PST using Native Methods
OST file – Offline storage folder that saves Exchange server mailbox data on a local machine. Any changes or updates made to the OST file while Outlook is in offline mode are synchronized to the Exchange server after Outlook re-establishes the connection. Any Exchange server crash or disaster has no effect on the OST file. In the event of a disaster, you can use a converter to import an OST file to a PST file to retrieve your mailbox data.
Converting an OST to a PST File is useful for a Variety of Reasons.
A user may have deleted some emails by accident and requested that the administrator restore his mailbox data from an OST file backup snapshot.
Individual Exchange Mailbox Backup and Restore
OST files can get rather huge over time, especially if users have mailboxes that are 20GB to 100GB in size. An.OST file can be opened on a machine with the same alias as the current one.
If you can log in to Outlook with the Exchange mailbox profile, you can use one of several techniques to export an orphaned OST file to PST with the time-saving OST to PST converter. The following are Microsoft native procedures for converting an OST file to a PST file:
With Microsoft Outlook’s File Export Option, you can Convert your OST to PST.
If you can log in to Microsoft Outlook using an Exchange profile, you can export an orphaned OST file to PST, and the Outlook data source file is an OST file.
Open Outlook and log in with the OST-created Exchange mailbox account. Follow the procedures below to convert an OST file to a PST file:
1. From the Outlook menu Navigate to Files —> Select “Import & Export” from the “Open & Export” menu.
2. Click Next after selecting “Export to a file,” as shown in the figure below.
3. Choose “Outlook Data File (.pst)” from the drop-down menu. and then click Next, as illustrated in the image below.
4. Click Next after selecting the Mailbox / Folder you want to export, as seen in the figure below.
5. Select the radio option “Do not export duplicate items” and click Finish as shown in the below image, then browse to the destination directory where you want to save the exported PST.
To Export an Orphaned OST File to PST, Enable Archiving.
- Items from OST files will be saved as a separate PST file.
- Create an archive and save the data from the OST file to a PST file:
- To begin, open Outlook. Go to File and select “Options.” Click “AutoArchive Settings” under “Advanced.”
- Choose the days for which you want to run archiving. Select the location where the archived PST file will be saved, then define the archiving details, and finally click OK.
- Your OST file’s mailbox items will be saved to the PST file with these settings.
- Export an orphaned OST file to PST if it has no Exchange profile or server connectivity, or if it is corrupted.
Step-by-step instructions for Converting OST to PST:
Step 1: Begin the setup procedure by downloading and installing the software.
Download and install the setup.
To complete the installation procedure, follow the directions that appear on the installation screens.
Step 2: Select “Start Your Free Trial” from the drop-down menu.
Step 3: Click Continue after selecting “OST Recovery” as the export method.
Select the OST file you want to recover and export the emails to a PST file from the screen below.
To select the location of the OST, click the “Browse” option.
Now To begin the recovery process, click the “Continue” button.
By pressing the ‘Browse’ button, you may choose where to save the produced PST file.
Select the Mailbox / Folder you want to convert to a PST file by right-clicking the Tree view. To continue with the export operation, select the ‘Export Selected Mailboxes / Folders to PST’ popup menu option.
As seen below, choose the required mailboxes and click ‘Export OST to PST.’
The message ‘Export operation has been completed.’ will be displayed once the Export process is done. You may now use Microsoft Outlook to access the exported PST file and validate the emails, calendars, contacts, and other stuff.