Top Challenges When You Import PST to Office 365 and How to Overcome Them

PST (Personal Storage Table) files are a great way to store emails and other mailbox data but moving them to a cloud platform can be challenging for several organizations. Office 365 offers various advanced benefits to businesses for easy email management and cloud accessibility; however, users require a specialized technical knowledge with deep platform understanding to easily transfer PST files to Office 365.

In this blog, we will talk about some of the most common challenges you may face when importing PST file to Microsoft Office 365 and explore some practical solutions to overcome these challenges.

Top challenges and solutions to overcome for smooth PST to Office 365 migration

Here are some of the major challenges that users face when they upload PST file to Office 365. We will also provide the reliable solutions to overcome such challenges:

Challenge 1: Oversized PST file issue

Issue: Timeout, process failure, or import freeze issues occur because of the large PST files. If the size of your file is over 20 GB, then it will lead to incomplete import PST to Office 365 jobs.

Solutions: You can overcome this issue in the following manner:

• This issue can be resolved by splitting large PST file into smaller, more manageable PST files.
• Eliminate duplicate or unnecessary email items from PST file and keep only the necessary data.

Challenge 2: Corrupted or damaged PST file issue

Issue: There are chances of corrupt PST files, which can interfere with the import process and prevent it from completing successfully. Also, when the PST file becomes old or it is closed improperly, then there are chances of missing some folders or emails after completing import process.

Solutions: Fix this issue by:

• Take help from Outlook’s inbuilt utility- Inbox Repair Tool and fix the PST file corruption.
• Or you can use a third-party PST repair tool, which is capable of removing PST file corruption.

Challenge 3: Network or upload problems

Issue: Unstable, improper, or slow internet connection causing Azure upload failure, leading to interrupted or failed import jobs.

Solutions: Follow the below troubleshooting techniques to fix this problem:

• Switch to a fast internet connection and then try to upload the PST file.
• Upload PST file to Office 365 during non-peak hours to reduce upload failures.

Challenge 4: Incorrect Azure storage configuration

Issue: Incorrect or misconfigured SAS URLs will fortunately stop the import jobs.

Solution: Here is how to resolve configuration challenges:

• Using compliance center, create a new SAS URL with Read, Write, and list permissions.
• With new CSV mapping template (Microsoft recommended) and upload the PST to correct Azure container.

Note: Make sure there is no typo; one mistake can interrupt the whole process.

Challenge 5: Incorrect permissions and roles assigned

Issue: Improper or incorrect roles and permissions are assigned, which are stopping the import job from accessing target mailbox.

Solution: Transfer PST to Office 365 smoothly with following solutions:

• Use a Global Admin or Exchange Admin account to assign the mailbox Import Export role.
• Sign out and sign in again after assigning the permissions.

Wait for few moments, as it may take some time to apply changes.

Challenge 6: How to import PST to Office 365?

Issue 1: The import process requires constant monitoring to keep a track of failed items and import them again. 

Issue 2: Duplicate emails and other data are being imported into Office 365 because manual methods don’t allow to filter out the data.

Issue 3: Lack of technical knowledge in using PowerShell or compliance center can lead to human errors.

Solution: Manual methods are helpful, but not 100% secure. So, it is recommended to use professional tool to import PST to Office 365 without errors. Kernel Import PST to Office 365 allows users to migrate bulk PST file data to various Office 365 mailboxes and groups at once. It offers multiple advanced options to users like performing incremental migration to avoid duplication of data, exclude empty or deleted folders, date filter, etc., to make sure error-free import process.

The software lets users run multiple instances to import large mailbox quickly. Moreover, it comes with a free version which allows to save 10 items per PST folder without any cost.

Conclusion

When users try to import PST to Office 365, they may face several challenges in performing the process. However, through this guide, we provided reliable solutions to avoid some commonly faced challenges by the users. To make the import PST to Office 365 process quick and hassle-free, use the recommended PST migration to Office 365 tool. The tool offers great benefits to make the entire process seamless while avoiding the issues.