How to Import PST to Exchange Server 2016 & Above Safely?

Rollins Duke
Published: July 3rd, 2026 • 10 Min Read

If you are working in a company or any business organization, you know they often need PST files to store archived emails, backups, & important mailbox data.

When organizations move from on-premises to Exchange Server, they often need to import PST to Exchange Server for mailbox consolidation, archived data recovery, & centralized management.

Sometimes, process to upload PST to Exchange Online becomes challenging due to large file sizes, multiple mailboxes, & risk of losing information. While a manual method is available, it requires technical expertise & time. On the other hand, an automated solution provides faster way to migrate PST to Exchange Online by transferring emails, attachments, contacts, & folders, etc., while maintaining original mailbox structure. This helps businesses complete PST migration with less effort & full accuracy.

Users Query on Reddit

Yes, single PST containing multiple users’ emails will import into Exchange Server, but it cannot directly mapped to multiple mailboxes at once.

Using New-MailboxImportRequest, PST data will import into target mailbox. For multiple users, you need to use proper mailbox mapping, like Microsoft Purview Import Service with CSV mapping.

You can also try an automated tool that will help you to move data to respective mailboxes without affecting folder structure.

Why Do Businesses Need to Import PST to Exchange Server?

PST files are Outlook data files that store emails, attachments, contacts, & other mailbox items. Organizations often have PST files due to email archiving, local backups & employee data storage. Businesses need to import PST to Exchange Server to move old email data into a central mailbox. This helps businesses to improve their accessibility, management & compliance, to access their complete email history.

Exchange Online is cloud-based email platform, while Exchange On-Premises is hosted on company servers. Organizations moving to Exchange Online often need to upload PST file to Exchange Online to transfer archived data.

PST import is useful when mailbox data exists only in PST files. However, if original mailbox is still available, direct mailbox migration is better alternative. An automatic solution transfers PST files quickly by moving emails with attachments while preserving folder structure.

Now let’s move to next section to find manual ways to import PST to Exchange Online mailbox.

Pay Attention Here: If you are looking forward to import PST to Exchange Server, make sure that you switch to an updated and latest version. As Exchange Server below 2016 versions are no longer provided support from Microsoft for any bug fixes or technical support assistance. Also, it does not guarantees the safety of your data. We suggest you to switch to the latest versions to the Exchange Server for better data management and assistance.

How to Upload PST to Exchange Online Manually?

In this guide, we are going to use four techniques to import PST to Exchange Server. In which we use MS Outlook to migrate PST file to Exchange Online & Windows PowerShell to import PST to Exchange mailbox PowerShell. Apart from this, we are also using Microsoft Purview Import Service methods, in which we describe two other ways to upload PST to Exchange Online Mailbox. Including, network upload & drive shipping.

1^st Method: Migrate PST to Exchange Server via MS Outlook

Open MS Outlook on your computer PC.
Go to File menu, click on Add account button.
Enter your login ID & Password to configure your Exchange account with Outlook.
After that, restart your Outlook application.
Then, go to File menu, click on Open & Export.
Choose Import/Export, select “Import from another program or file” option.
Then click on Next button to proceed further & choose Outlook Data File (.pst).
After that, click on “Browse” to locate to PST file.
Now select your PST file & click Finish.
Done, you have successfully imported PST file to Exchange Online.

Limitations of Using MS Outlook to Migrate

Requires Outlook desktop application installed with configured account of Exchange Online.
Performance is time-consuming & Outlook might freeze while importing large PST files.
This method is not useful for bulk migration of multiple PST files.
Requires healthy working PST file to avoid importing failures.
Import speed depends on user’s computer performance, network speed, & PST size.

2^nd Method: Import PST to Exchange Mailbox PowerShell

This New-MailboxImportRequest PowerShell will gather complete data from source folder to current mailbox. To import PST file to Exchange Online targeted folder of Exchange Server SE, 2019, 2016, 2013, or 2010, run following command.

Open Windows PowerShell on your Windows OS.

Copy and paste this command on it

New-MailboxImportRequest [-Name <UniqueName>] -FilePath <UNCPathToPST> -Mailbox <TargetMailboxIdentity> [-IsArchive] [-SourceRootFolder <PSTFolder>] [-TargetRootFolder <MailboxFolder>] [-IncludeFolders <MailboxFolder1>,<MailboxFolder2>...] [-ExcludeFolders <MailboxFolder1>,<MailboxFolder2>...] [-Priority <PriorityValue>]

Example

New-MailboxImportRequest -Mailbox mack -FilePath \\RP-GH03\PST\mack.pst

You can also select any folder as destination folder to store PST file. If you want to save uploaded PST files in queue, then use command below.

New-MailboxImportRequest -Mailbox mack -FilePath \\RP-GH03\PST\mack.pst -TargetRootFolder “Old_mail” -IncludeFolders “#Inbox#”

You can view progress report after following command given below.

Get-MailboxImportRequest | Get-mailboximportrequeststatistics

Done!

Drawback of PowerShell Method

Works only with Exchange On-Premises with Exchange Server 2010/2013/2016/2019/SE.
It does not work with Exchange Online mailboxes
PST file must be accessible by Exchange Server
Users cannot import directly from local PC path to Exchange Server
PST must be on UNC network share (for example \\server\share\file.pst).
Account running command must have Mailbox Import Export role.
Normal Exchange admin permissions alone may not be enough.

Method 3: Migrate PST with Network Upload

Open Microsoft Purview Import service on your computer.
Then, generate secure Azure Storage (SAS) URL.
Download & use AzCopy to upload PST files to Microsoft’s temporary Azure Storage.
After that, create PST mapping CSV file.
Now, create an import job in Purview.
After that, configure filters from date ranges, mailbox targets, etc.
Lastly, click on Start button to import PST file to Exchange Online.

Loopholes of Network Upload Method

Users need to follow multiple manual steps, such as uploading, mapping, job creation & monitoring.
There is no direct PST-to-mailbox import API available for full automation.
It requires accurate CSV mapping files wrong mapping did not process PST data to right account.
To use this method, users need a good internet connection along with proper speed.
Using large PST files can significantly increase migration time due to which it might be stucked.
User cannot import corrupt & password-protected PSTs with Microsoft Purview.

Method 4: Upload PST File Using Drive Shipping

Open Microsoft import tools on your computer.
Copy PST files to BitLocker-encrypted hard drive using WAImportExport.exe.
After that, create “import job” in Purview Application.
Then, ship drive to Microsoft’s designated data center.
Now, Microsoft uploads PSTs to Azure Storage.
Finally, submit mapping CSV to start import process.

Limitations of Drive Shipping Method

To use this method, users must require physical hard drives along with shipping logistics.
Additional shipping & handling costs will apply while using Drive Shipping.
While using this method, you might face risk of drive loss, damage, & transit delays.
It requires BitLocker encryption & proper drive preparation to safely import PST file to Exchange Server.

Import PST to Exchange Online Via Automatic Solution

From the beginning to now, you might have understood the reasons along with manual methods. To upload PST file to Exchange Server via methods like Outlook configuration & PowerShell commands becomes time-consuming due to multiple steps, technical requirements, & import errors.

Therefore, you can try BitRecover PST Converter Tool to automatically import PST to Exchange Online securely. It helps users to transfer emails, attachments, contacts, calendars, & folders directly to Exchange Online. While maintaining original folder structure. This tool simplifies PST migration & becomes reliable solution over manual workarounds.

Download Now Purchase Now

Quick Steps of Automatic Solution

Open this automated application on your Windows machine.
Choose between option “Select Files” or “Select Folder.”
Next, select required folders from uploaded PST file, click Next.
Now from list of saving options, choose Exchange Server.
Check “I am Admin” option if you are using admin account.
Finally, enter credentials of Exchange server & click on Next to start.
Done, After completion of procedure, you will get popup of completion on screen.

How Automatic Solution Simplifies Migration of PST File to Exchange Server

This tool imports multiple PST files in single attempt, which saves both time & effort.
Directly migrate PST data to Exchange Online mailboxes.
This tool allows users to do selective mailbox migration by choosing specific folder items in mailbox.
Users can preview their PST file before migration to import only required PST file data to Exchange Server.
This tool keeps original mailbox structure, & maintains complete data integrity throughout entire migration process.
Using this tool, users can efficiently handle oversized PST files without corruption in bulk at once.
Users can also split PST files into small parts by using this tool, & improve their Outlook performance.
This tool generates log report after completion of upload PST to Exchange Online, which helps users to track & verify PST file migration status.

With these features, this automatic solution becomes reliable alternative over manual methods & helps businesses & organizations to complete migrations with complete accuracy.

Manual Methods Vs Automatic Solution

Feature	MS Outlook	Windows PowerShell	Network Upload	Drive Shipping	Automatic Solution
Ease of Use	Easy	Complex	Complex	Complex	Easy
Bulk PST Migration	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Technical Expertise Required	Low	High	High	High	Low
Support Exchange Online	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Migration Speed	Slow	Moderate	Depends on Internet	Slow	Fast
Additional Requirements	Outlook Installed	PowerShell & Admin Roles	Azure Storage & CSV Mapping	Hard Drive & Shipping	No Special Requirements

Final Thoughts

In this guide, we covered how to import PST to Exchange Server using manual approaches & automated solutions. We used MS Outlook, PowerShell, Network Upload & Drive Shipping to upload PST file to Exchange Online manually. While using these free methods to migrate PST file to Exchange Server, we found these manual workarounds involve complex steps, permissions, import errors, perfect technical knowledge & becomes challenging in terms of large PST files.

Those users who want to import PST to Exchange Online without putting themselves into technical complications, they can try an automated solution over manuals. An automatic solution helps users to securely migrate PST to Exchange Online, while keeping emails, attachments, contacts, calendars, & folder structure intact.

You can try any of the given techniques as per your need, but if you face trouble while using suggested automated desktop-based tool, then you can connect with us through live chat 24×7.

Frequently Asked Question

Q1. Import PST to Exchange Online via network upload vs drive shipping?

Upload PST files to Microsoft Azure Storage using AzCopy, then import them through Microsoft Purview is right choice for most migrations. On the other hand, copying PST files to an encrypted hard drive & ship it to Microsoft is fine for large PST collections.

Q2. How to import PST to Exchange Online?

You can upload PST file to Exchange Online mailbox using Microsoft Purview – Network Upload & Drive Shipping, Outlook Import method, & lastly via an automated tool for bulk migration.

Q3. Mailbox Import Export role permission?

Yes, Mailbox Import Export role only works when you enter right command on Windows PowerShell, like given “New-MailboxImportRequest.”

Note: It works with Exchange On-Premises, not directly with Exchange Online mailboxes.

Q4. Best practices import PST to Exchange Online

You can do this with your PST file to easily migrate into Exchange Server, such as checking of PST files before migration, using correct PST-to-mailbox mapping, keeping folder structure intact, testing with a small PST first, using automated suggest tool for bulk PST migrations, & avoid Outlook import for large files.

Q5. Does importing PST to Exchange Online require license?

Yes. Target Exchange Online mailbox requires valid Exchange Online license.