Procedures to Extract Mailbox from EDB to PST

extract mailbox from edb to pst

Microsoft users usually are walking out their database from MS Exchange Server because its database files, i.e. EDB files may be corrupted due to some reasons. Since MS Outlook PST files is widely used by users and find it an easy desktop based email application to use. Therefore, email clients require a need to extract email from EDB file to PST.

This will make the Exchange database files portable to be accessed on any other machines.

Solution to Extract Email From EDB File to PST

There are two solutions which users can use to extract mailbox from EDB to PST Outlook i.e. extract exchange mailbox to PST using Exchange Management Shell cmdlets and other solution is extracting files using an additional software that are easily available on web market.

Solution 1: Extract EDB to PST Using Exchange Management Shell (EMS)

Microsoft has provided it's users with an extraction tool named Exmerge.exe, which is initiated for extracting data from EDB mailbox of Exchange Server and then convert that data into Outlook file format i.e. in PST file type. However, this tool is now replaced by two Exchange Management Shell cmdlets, i.e.

The Export-Mailbox is designed for migrating mailbox particular data file rather than whole mailbox. Format of Export-Mailbox command to extract email from EDB file to PST file format is:

If the EDB file consists of corrupt items, then the user has to search & remove the corrupted file or use Export-Mailbox command to remove that file or mail.

Limitations of Extraction Using EMS

Here are some mentioned limitations to extract EDB mailbox via EMS in solution-1

If permissions from Exchange Server Administrator are not properly configured or are disabled then user will face error messages at time of extraction.
To work with this solution user requires Exchange Server to be active. However, Different Credentials like server id, server name, etc. are required at the time of procedure that normally users do not remember.
If the EDB file is corrupted then the solution deletes the file instead of recovering and extracting the data.
Using command line in EMS means that proper format has to be followed while the time user is writing the commands in PowerShell. Hence, solution is complex, long and case-sensitive leading to improper extraction of data.

Solution 2: Extract Email from EDB File to PST Using Third Party Solution

To overcome the limitations of extraction procedure using EMS use external software and extract mailbox from EDB to PST using this solution/software. The methodology involves use of an application that acts as an EDB email extractor to extract exchange mailbox to PST file format. One such application is Exchange Recovery tool, which extract email from EDB file to PST Microsoft Outlook. To extract emails from priv1.edb as well as pub1.edb folders and STM files, user should prefer this extraction program.

The software allows users with following nurturing features:

  1. Archive EDB to PST: Tool provide users with measure for creating Outlook files from Exchange mailbox database, archiving all items like emails, contacts, calendars, etc. on their local machine.
  2. Allow Item Preview: User can preview the database files before they proceed further. The tool generates the preview of all items before extract Exchange mailbox to PST components like emails, contacts, tasks, etc. and also attachments & metadata associated with mails.
  3. Server Independent: The software does not require Exchange Server to be active because it is made up in such a manner that it is independent of Exchange server availability.
  4. Auto-Search EDB File: If user forgets that, in which driver he or she have saved the file then tool enable them with feature of auto search that will search all EDB files from machine.

Apart from above-mentioned functioning of tool, there are many other supportive features that provide users a flawless way of extracting mailbox from EDB to PST.

Upshot

Therefore, The blog concludes with the fact that to extract Exchange mailbox to PST by using Exchange management shell is not beneficial, instead of using this application user's should prefer a software utility that can easily extract email from EDB file to PST Outlook.