Managing Import/Export Permissions…
By default, the permissions required to Import/Export are not assigned to users in an Exchange environment. In this article series we are going to use a user called helpdesk that is part of the Recipient Management role and using Exchange Admin Center (EAC) we are going to perform the following steps:
Figure 03
The result will be similar to Figure 04 where we can see also our helpdesk user being part of the same Role Group.
Figure 04
The next step is to open a new session using the helpdesk credentials to make sure that the permissions that we have just assigned will work properly.
Exporting Mailbox data to PST…
Now that we have the Shared Folder and permissions in place, let’s log on as helpdesk user in the EAC (Exchange Admin Center) and select the desired mailbox which in our case is Anderson Patricio. Click on the … button and thenExport to a PST file, as shown in Figure 05.
Figure 05
On the initial page of the wizard (Figure 06), we should have the user that we have just selected and we can select the source for the PST export process which can be the Mailbox or the Archive mailbox. Click Next.
Figure 06
On the second page of the wizard we will use the Shared Folder that we have created in the previous section. We will add the name of the PST file, as shown in Figure 07. Click Next.
Figure 07
On the final page of the wizard, we can define a mailbox that will receive a message when the process is completed, click Finish (Figure 08).
Figure 08
The user that created the PST Export request will be notified during the process via the Exchange Admin Center as shown in Figure 09.
Figure 09
The same user will receive messages about the process (start and finish messages). In Figure 10, we can notice that Exchange sent a message informing that the process has finished, the location of the PST file and how long it took.
Figure 10
The best way to test it is to open the file generated. Besides the regular folders that are “seen” by the end-users while their mailbox is on Exchange, we will have a folder called Recoverable Items and 3 (three) subfolders in our exported PST file. We have several Exchange features using these folders, such as In-place hold, mailbox audit logging, deleted item retention and so forth. This folder was known as Dumpster in previous versions of Exchange Servers. (Figure 11)
Figure 11
Importing PST
The process to import PST data to a mailbox is similar to the export process. First we need to select the desired mailbox and click on the … icon and then Import PST, as shown in Figure 12.
Figure 12
On the first page of the wizard (Figure 13), we need to specify the path of the PST that is located in the same folder created in the beginning of this article (EXUtil$ Shared Folder) and click Next.
Figure 13
On the second page of the wizard (Figure 14), we need to specify which mailbox will receive the contents. In this example we are going to select user13 Personal Archive location just to make sure that we can see in an empty Archive mailbox that is being imported into the destination mailbox. Click Next.
Figure 14
On the final page we can send a message when the process is complete. We can select more than one user by clickingbrowse… In Figure 15 we selected two users (Administrator and user13) and it may be handy when you need to import content to a remote user. Just tell the user to wait for the message from the system to start accessing the data, this way you do not need to keep an eye on the process and inform the user afterwards.
Figure 15
The result is a message sent to both users (Figure 16).
Figure 16
Conclusion
By default, the permissions required to Import/Export are not assigned to users in an Exchange environment. In this article series we are going to use a user called helpdesk that is part of the Recipient Management role and using Exchange Admin Center (EAC) we are going to perform the following steps:
- Open EAC (Exchange Admin Center) using Organization Management
- Click Permissions
- Double click Recipient Management
- Click Add located in the Roles sections and on the new page select Mailbox Import Export and click Add ->and then OK (Figure 03)
Figure 03
The result will be similar to Figure 04 where we can see also our helpdesk user being part of the same Role Group.
Figure 04
The next step is to open a new session using the helpdesk credentials to make sure that the permissions that we have just assigned will work properly.
Exporting Mailbox data to PST…
Now that we have the Shared Folder and permissions in place, let’s log on as helpdesk user in the EAC (Exchange Admin Center) and select the desired mailbox which in our case is Anderson Patricio. Click on the … button and thenExport to a PST file, as shown in Figure 05.
Figure 05
On the initial page of the wizard (Figure 06), we should have the user that we have just selected and we can select the source for the PST export process which can be the Mailbox or the Archive mailbox. Click Next.
Figure 06
On the second page of the wizard we will use the Shared Folder that we have created in the previous section. We will add the name of the PST file, as shown in Figure 07. Click Next.
Figure 07
On the final page of the wizard, we can define a mailbox that will receive a message when the process is completed, click Finish (Figure 08).
Figure 08
The user that created the PST Export request will be notified during the process via the Exchange Admin Center as shown in Figure 09.
Figure 09
The same user will receive messages about the process (start and finish messages). In Figure 10, we can notice that Exchange sent a message informing that the process has finished, the location of the PST file and how long it took.
Figure 10
The best way to test it is to open the file generated. Besides the regular folders that are “seen” by the end-users while their mailbox is on Exchange, we will have a folder called Recoverable Items and 3 (three) subfolders in our exported PST file. We have several Exchange features using these folders, such as In-place hold, mailbox audit logging, deleted item retention and so forth. This folder was known as Dumpster in previous versions of Exchange Servers. (Figure 11)
Figure 11
Importing PST
The process to import PST data to a mailbox is similar to the export process. First we need to select the desired mailbox and click on the … icon and then Import PST, as shown in Figure 12.
Figure 12
On the first page of the wizard (Figure 13), we need to specify the path of the PST that is located in the same folder created in the beginning of this article (EXUtil$ Shared Folder) and click Next.
Figure 13
On the second page of the wizard (Figure 14), we need to specify which mailbox will receive the contents. In this example we are going to select user13 Personal Archive location just to make sure that we can see in an empty Archive mailbox that is being imported into the destination mailbox. Click Next.
Figure 14
On the final page we can send a message when the process is complete. We can select more than one user by clickingbrowse… In Figure 15 we selected two users (Administrator and user13) and it may be handy when you need to import content to a remote user. Just tell the user to wait for the message from the system to start accessing the data, this way you do not need to keep an eye on the process and inform the user afterwards.
Figure 15
The result is a message sent to both users (Figure 16).
Figure 16
Conclusion