How to Export Exchange Public Folders to Office 365?

Public folders in Exchange Server are used to collaborate and share information among the members of a workgroup or the entire organization. These folders help users to share mailbox items and documents with other users, having access and permission to the public folder. When migrating from on-premises Exchange Server to Office 365 or Microsoft (News - Alert) 365 (Exchange Online), you need to also export public folders, along with the user mailboxes and other data. However, unlike user mailboxes, you cannot export public folders to Office 365 using the Exchange Admin Center or the New-MailboxExportRequest PowerShell cmdlet. In this article, we will mention various methods that can help you export public folders to Office 365.

Methods to Export Exchange Public Folders to Office 365

Here are some methods you can use to export public folders to Office 365.

Method 1: Use Outlook to Export Public Folders to PST File

You can use the Import/Export feature in Outlook to export public folder to PST and import this PST into Microsoft 365. However, the user you’re using to perform the process must have access and permissions to the public folder you want to export. Let’s see how.

Step 1: Export Public Folder to PST

First, use the Import/Export feature in Outlook to export public folder to PST by using the below steps:

• Open Outlook and click on File.
• Select the Open & Export option.
• Select the Import/Export option.
• In the Import and Export Wizard, click on Export to a file and click Next.
• In the Export to a file window, select Outlook data file (.pst) and click Next.

• You will see a window with all the mailbox items. Select the public folder you want to export and click Next.

Note: If you want to export some specific data from the public folder, click on Filter.

• In the next window, click on Browse and choose a location to save the PST file. You can select an option for the duplicate items. Then, click the Finish button.
• You will get a prompt to set a password to encrypt the PST file (this is optional). You can leave the password field empty and then click OK.

Step 2: Import Public Folder (PST File) into Office 365

Once the public folder is successfully exported to PST file, you can now import it into Office 365. For this, you need to configure Outlook with Microsoft 365. When done, follow the steps mentioned below:

• Open Outlook and click on File. Select the Open & Export option.
• Select the Import/Export option.
• In the Import and Export Wizard, select Import from another program or file and click Next.

• In the next window, select Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.
• Then, click on Browse to select the PST file and click on Next.

The public folder (PST file) will be imported into Microsoft 365.

However, the above method has certain limitations, such as:

• Exporting large public folders may cause Outlook to crash.
• If the process is interrupted, you need to start it again.
• No option to check the progress of the export process.
• Only one public folder can be exported at a time.

Method 2: Use Batch Migration and Scripts to Export Public Folders

You can use batch migration to export some or all the public folders from your on-premises Exchange Server (2013, 2016, or 2019) to Microsoft 365. To export public folders to Microsoft 365 using batch migration, the user account (that you are using) should be a member of the Organization Management role group. It is also recommended that the user mailboxes should be first exported to Office 365. Then, you need to download the public folder migration scripts and their supporting files. After this, prepare your organization for migration, create a .csv file, create a migration batch, and then start the migration. For detailed process, read this Microsoft document.

Method 3: Use an EDB to PST Converter Tool

To easily and directly export Exchange public folders to Microsoft 365, you can take the help of an EDB converter software, such as Stellar Converter for EDB. This software can open EDB files (offline or online) from any version of Exchange Server and present all the EDB file items, including public folders, in a preview window. You can select the public folders and directly export them to a Microsoft 365 account in just a few simple steps. You can also export the public folders, user mailboxes, and other items from EDB file to PST or a live Exchange Server database. Here are some notable features of this software:

• It can open large EDB files of any Exchange Server version.
• It can export public folders of any size.
• It can extract all the items from EDB file and save them to PST and other formats (EML, MSG, RTF, PDF, and HTML).
• It allows to pause and resume the export process any time.
• It displays the progress of the export process.

Conclusion

As there is no native utility in Exchange Server to directly export public folders to Microsoft 365, you can follow the methods mentioned in this article. However, the manual methods are time-consuming, tedious, and require technical expertise. Therefore, the best option is to use an EDB to PST converter software, such as Stellar Converter for EDB. This software can open EDB files of any size and list all the items on the screen. You can then select the public folders from the list and export them directly to Microsoft 365 account.