When exporting an Exchange account in Outlook to a PST file, mail items that have not been downloaded to Outlook are not included in the PST file. How can I force Outlook to download every mail message in the Exchange account? That is equivalent to manually click on every single folder and wait for Outlook to fetch e-mails from the server.
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Are you an end user or an administrator? Personally I would not be exporting to PST using Outlook I would setup a stand alone 32 bit machine with Exchange Tools, Outlook and run the export via Powershell. Outlook exports what is in Outlook not what is in Exchange– CharlesHCommented Sep 22, 2015 at 13:17
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2If you want better results with an export, go to account settings in Outlook and turn off Cached Exchanged Mode. The only reason your Outlook is not in Sync with Exchange is because this settings is turned on. If you turn it off, close and re-open Outlook then do an export it will pull down from Exchange and you will get a complete PST Export :)– CharlesHCommented Sep 22, 2015 at 13:26
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No problem, added as an answer with a little padding for educational purposes :-D– CharlesHCommented Sep 22, 2015 at 13:35
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2 Answers
The problem you are experiencing is due to Outlook Cached Exchange mode being turned on. This saves a local copy of the mailbox as an OST file and subsequently needs to be downloaded from Exchange.
If you go to account settings in Outlook and turn off Cached Exchanged Mode, close and re-open Outlook. Your mailbox will now be a full mirror of what is in Exchange not what is in the local OST file.
Then with Outlook in this state do an export it will pull down from Live Outlook(Exchange) and you will get a complete PST Export.
By default Outlook preserves only small amount of recent emails locally (Cached Exchange Mode enabled) and when you scroll down to see old emails, it downloads them from exchange server while you are scrolling down. That's why export doesn't export all emails.
You need to disable Cached Exchange Mode to force Outlook to keep all emails locally (this might degrade performance of Outlook app drastically).
I am posting here instructions on how to disable Cached Exchange Mode.
- Click File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
- Click the Exchange or Microsoft 365, and then click Change.
- Under Offline Settings, uncheck Use Cached Exchange Mode.
(If you're an Microsoft 365 subscriber with semi-annual updates, under Offline Settings, uncheck Use Cached Exchange Mode to download email to an Outlook data file.
Hope it helps!
