Office 365 is a very popular business productivity suite offered by Microsoft. It is so successful that users are migrating to Office 365 from different platforms. If you are a previous Outlook user who wants to import PST to Office 365 without duplicates. Then you came to the right place.
Having duplicate files can cause a lot of trouble like eating up storage space. It can also cause problems when migrating data by hogging the resources and taking a long time to migrate. In this article, we will be talking about three easy ways to import PST to Office 365.
Manual Method to Import PST
If you have a PST file that contains duplicates then you have to perform the steps below and import them into Outlook when using manual methods. This ensures that duplicate data will be eliminated before we import them into Office 365.
Steps to Import PST into Outlook
- Open Microsoft Outlook and open the file menu from the top left corner.
- Click on the Open and export option and then select import/export.
- Now choose the option “import from another program” and click on next.
- In the next window select Outlook data file (.pst) and press on next.
- Now navigate to the folder where you have the PST file and select it and choose the option “ Do not import duplicates”.
Export PST file from Outlook
Now we have to Export the PST file without duplicates from Outlook
- Open MS Outlook and open the files menu
- Select the open and export option then click on import/export option.
- Select “export to a file” option and click on next.
- Select the folder that you want to export.
- Provide a destination for saving the file.
These 2 steps are done to eliminate duplicates from the PST files. If you already have PST files that don’t have any duplicates then you can skip these steps.
Import PST to Office 365 Without Duplicate Using Network Upload
This is the first manual method that we are going to discuss today. Refer to the first 2 steps in the article if you want to eliminate duplicate files.
Steps to Use Network Upload
- We have to use a tool called Azcopy to import files into Office 365. Install and open the tool on your system. And copy network URLs for azure storage and share access signature.
- Using the key we have copied in the step above validate the required permissions for importing files to Azure.
- Now by using the Azcopy tool and your admin credentials move the data from the PST file to Azure storage.
- Make a CSV file that contains the destination email address where the PST files have to be imported.
- In the end, use admin privileges and the CSV file we have created to implement an import job in Office 365 that will import PST to Office 365 without duplicates to their destination.
Limitations
There are a few limitations when we use the Network Upload method to import PST files into Office 365. They are as follows.
- A maximum size of 150MB is imposed on each item in the PST file. Items larger than this are simply ignored during the import process.
- PST files larger than 20GB are known to have higher chances of returning errors while importing.
- The user must be comfortable in dealing with technology when using this method.
- Admin access is required while performing this method.
Import PST to Office 365 Without Duplicates Using Drive Shipping
This is also a manual method. Hence if you want to avoid duplicates in PST file then, execute the first 2 steps mentioned at the start of the article.
Drive shipping is a service offered by Microsoft. In this service, a Microsoft technician helps the user to perform Network Upload method. This is done by transferring the PST files to a storage device like a hard drive. Then this storage device is encrypted using encryption software. After that, it is sent to Microsoft. Once the drive reaches there a Microsoft technician performs network upload method and uploads it to Office 365.
Limitations
Note: Since we are technically still using network upload method all the limitations applicable to network upload method are applicable to this method too.
- A maximum of just 10 drives can be shipped at once.
- Only a maximum of only 300 folders are allowed in one PST file.
- The cost of importing files is high around $2/GB
- It takes a long time to import data using this method since it involves physically sending the files to Microsoft. It could take anywhere from a couple of weeks to even a couple of months.
Importing PST to Office 365 Without Duplicates Using Professional Tool
From the above, we can see that there are a lot of limitations to importing files using manual methods. Professional Office 365 PST Import Tool overcomes all the limitations of using manual methods. The tool also highly reduces any chance of data loss that might occur during the process
Steps to Use Professional Tool
- Download and run the tool from the link above.
- From the welcome screen check on “is Office 365 admin “ option and log in with admin credentials.
- After that press on add files/folder button then navigate and select your PST file/folder.
- Map the PST files to their destination folder by providing the respective email address.
- Enter the credentials for domain id and authenticate.
- You can also apply a date filter if needed to filter files before they are imported into Office 365
- Click on the “Include Folders” option and enter the folders that you want to import to Office 365.
- Select other options as per your need and click on the import button to start the process.
- Once the process is completed click on the save report option to get the import report in a CSV file.
Also read: How to Perform Office 365 staged migration step by step?
Conclusion
In this article, we have seen different ways to import PST to Office 365 without duplicates. We have noticed that using the manual methods has a lot of limitations while importing the PST files to Office 365. Hence for a smooth and seamless experience, we recommend using the above mentioned tool.
