How to Backup Office 365 Email Account? Detailed Solution
Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure is what offers users the capability to manage their workload with ease. Office 365 productivity suite plays a major role in this. However, users often ask how to backup Office 365 email? This is because there is no direct solution available to do so in a quick & reliable manner. We all are aware of the fact that how crucial data is for any organization, thus people call it the modern-day assets.
There are several challenges that users may experience & all of these challenges are below. In addition, to solve the user query, we are going to discuss the manual & automated solution for the operation. However, users should understand that the manual method has several limitations that make it a dicey option to choose for. Let’s start with the significance of this backup operation.
Significance of Learning How to Backup Office 365 Account Safely
There are various reasons for which users want to perform this task as an extra layer of protection for their data files. Microsoft is popular for the fact that it spends more than $1 billion dollars on safety. Then why do users still want to take a backup? Let’s find out.
Data Security
Although Microsoft claims that they spend a major amount on data security, still they’re not responsible for any data loss. You can find this statement in its terms & conditions. In this case, it’s a better option to keep an extra copy of your data with yourself.
Access Data 24×7
Although we know that Microsoft claims & provides maximum uptime. There’s always room for any technical errors or outages. In that case, having an extra copy of data files let you access data files anytime & from anywhere in the world.
Leapfrog Retention Policy Charges
If you exceed the storage space limit of your account, you have to pay extra charges to Microsoft that are not cost-effective usually. Moreover, organizations do not want to pay for termed employees’ accounts. A backup plays a crucial role here to avoid paying extra.
How to Backup Office 365 Email with these Stumbling Blocks
There are a number of reasons that make this operation tricky for users. All these reasons create confusion among users regarding the correct way of executing this operation. If we can understand the root causes/challenges, we can easily learn the solution without any issue.
The major challenge is that Microsoft does not offer any direct way for users to save their files locally. However, if we still opt for the conventional methods, there are various issues that users face.
- Users can not selectively save their files on the local system. Either they can save one file at a time or they have to save the entire folder. This makes unnecessary data files stored in the local system of users.
- To backup Office 365 mailboxes, conventional methods work well with small files. If you want to take export bulk files to your system, it may take ages. Users need to compromise actual business operations with this backup task.
- Tasks & Categories can not be saved manually by users. The conventional method doesn’t work here. Such issues always irritate users especially when the need for the work is urgent.
- Last but not least, users need to learn the entire manual process in-depth as it involves several steps where users might get confused. It increases the delay even more.
How to Backup Outlook Office 365 Emails Using Automated Approach?
Now the most reliable method that most IT experts recommend is the automated solution. Here 3Steps Software offers a dedicated tool that can automatically save the desired data files on users’ systems. It comes with several filters & unique feature that reduces the workload & time duration to complete the operation. This is possible because of the advanced algorithms that this tool is made up with. Its AI easily makes it possible to save files in a customized manner.
New users learning how to backup Office 365 accounts can totally rely on this utility. It offers incremental backup, supports several versions of the Windows Operating System & even offers bulk backup. If you want a hassle-free backup operation, then this automated solution should be your first choice.
Manual Method to Backup Office 365 Mailboxes
Some users trust the quality of premium automated solutions. Meanwhile, users with tight budgets are still searching for an open-source solution. Here we are with the manual method. Before we start, we are clarifying that it is not recommended by IT professionals as it may result in severe data loss & file corruption.
Step-1. Configure Office 365 account in MS Outlook application and then Go to File option.
Step-2. Click on the Open & Export button and then Click on the Import & Export button.
Step-3. Click on Export to a file & then Click on the Next button.
Step-4. Select the Outlook data file(.pst) & Click on the Next button.
Step-5. Provide a Destination folder path & your files will be saved there.
If you are a beginner & want to learn how to backup Office 365 email, you may feel this operation tricky while its execution. This manual method is the most basic way to get the desired results, thus possessing chances of mishappening that we are going to discuss in the next section.
Shortcomings of the Manual Approach
Opting for the manual method may result in several dysfunctions. This is due to the limitations that come along with the manual method. On the other hand, the automated solution does not have any limitations apart from the fact that it is not free.
The manual method holds plenty of limitations out of which the most pinching ones are mentioned below:
- There are various filters that the manual method lacks. This creates difficulty for users to separate important & unnecessary files. In addition, the bulk backup feature is also not present here.
- The manual method is slow. It may take more than double the time to execute a particular task. Evidently, the manual method reduces work efficiency. This is why the manual method is not recommended for learning how to backup Office 365 account.
- The major limitation of this manual method is that it is not totally safe. There are several gaps that may result in data loss & a high level of file corruption. This is due to the fragile nature of PST files.
To Conclude
Now that we are at the end of this article, we now know the significance of undergoing such a backup operation. Furthermore, we are now aware of the challenges & limitations that users face in this task, especially in the conventional methods. The manual & the automated methods are discussed here.
