Manual Steps To Perform OST to Office 365 Migration Successfully

OST file if the offline folder of the Outlook data file, which cannot be accessed from anywhere except the Outlook profile which has created it. As everybody knows having data on a cloud platform has many advantages. For example, a user can access the mailbox data from anywhere without any dependency. It works like backup file also in the case of data loss. Therefore, if a user wants to move OST file to Office 365 account, then first convert OST file to PST format. After that, a user can import it to Office 365 account. Hence, in this post, we have discussed manual steps to perform OST to Office 365 migration.

Manual Method to Import OST into Office 365 Account

In order to perform OST to Exchange Online migration, there is no direct manual solution available. Therefore, a user need to perform this migration in two parts i.e., first export Offline OST to Outlook PST format and after that import it to Exchange Online. Now, to perform this migration task in an appropriate way, follow the steps mentioned below:

Manual 1: Use Export Feature of Outlook 

To export files from offline OST to Outlook, follow the steps mentioned below: 

• First of all, open MS Outlook application 
• Then, navigate to File >> Export to a file >> Next button 
• After that, choose Personal File Folder (.pst) option and click on Next button 
• Now, choose the folder that you want to convert and check the Include subfolders option 
• In last, select the destination location to save the exported file on the system and click on the Finish button 

Limitation: A user must be connected to MS Exchange Server to perform the above steps.

Manual 2: Use Archive Feature of MS Outlook.

• Open Microsoft Outlook application on the local machine.
• After that, click on the File >> Archive option 
• Then, choose the file or folder that you want to archive 
• Now, choose the destination to store the archived .pst file 
• Click on the OK button and begin the archive process 

Limitation: Using this manual solution, a user can migrate complete OST file data except contacts.

Manual 3: Export Offline OST to new PST

• To begin, open MS Outlook application on the local machine 
• After that, create a new Outlook Data File (.pst) in the Outlook profile 
• Now, select the mailbox folders that needs to exported in Outlook PST file 

Limitation: This method does not allow to move inbox, Sent items, Contacts, etc. the default folders to PST file. Therefore, just copy the folder from OST to Outlook PST file.

Step 2: Import PST file to Office 365 Account

After OST to Outlook data file (.pst) conversion, a user needs to import the resultant PST file to Office 365 account. Now, to do the same, a user can use any of the three methods:

Method 1: With the Help of Drive Shipping

A user can use this method to move data to OneDrive for the Business. Initially, a user has to copy the data from PST file data to hard drive (make sure that the hard drive is BitLocker-encrypted). After that, move the drive to the Microsoft data center physically.

Method 2: Using Network Upload Method

In order to transfer or copy Personal Storage Table into Office 365 account in less time, follow the steps given below:

• First of all, copy SAS URL and then, install the Azure AzCopy 
• After that, move PST file into Office 365 mailbox 
• Now, you can view the list of PST files uploaded or saved to Exchange Online (Optional) 
• Then, create the .pst import mapping file 
• In last, create a Personal Storage Table import job in the Office 365 

Drawbacks of Manual Procedures

The manual solution is very lengthy and time consuming.
The uploading of PST file takes lots of time and effort in the case of large-sized PST file in bulk.
If any of the steps is not performed properly, there are chances of data deletion or corruption.

Method 3: Third-party Tool to Perform OST to Office 365 Migration

As discussed above, there is no direct manual solution available to import OST to Office 365 account. Moreover, the manual methods discussed have some limitations, which make users switch to some third-party tool for an ideal solution. One such popular tool is OST to Office 365 Converter software. It import OST file to Exchange Online in just a few number of clicks and overcome all the limitations of manual solutions. It is a guaranteed solution to move OST file without any loss of data.

Conclusion
Considering the need of users to import OST file to Office 365, various manual solutions are discussed above. The manual solutions are completely free to use but they are not easy to use and have various limitations. So, to overcome all such drawbacks, a direct solution is also suggested to move OST to Exchange Online.