Microsoft Exchange PST Capture Tool

It's time to harvest those PST files

PST files are the plague of most managed networks and the bane of most email administrators.  It also clearly demonstrates that if you don't have an email policy (and an email management strategy to back it up), users will follow the path of least resistance.

In the not-so-long-ago days, email storage was expensive and growing exponentially.  The common reaction to this was to enforce mailbox quotas to keep mailboxes from growing so large.  When you put a barrier in place it's human nature to try going around it, so when users run up against their mailbox quota they look for alternate ways to store their emails.

Enter Outlook PST (personal storage) files.  PSTs allow users to archive emails out of their Exchange mailbox into a discrete file.  There are several problems with this:

• PSTs are not governed by company email retention policies or legal discovery
• PSTs cannot be accessed from Outlook Web App (OWA) or mobile devices
• PSTs are usually stored on local computer drives that are rarely, if ever, backed up
• If users store their PSTs on a network drive you haven't really solved the storage issue, have you?
• PSTs are normally not password protected.  Anyone who can access the PST can read the emails.
• PSTs are typically difficult for end-users to manage

Now that storage is cheaper and more abundant, companies are looking to harvest those PST files back into Exchange so they can be managed by corporate retention and discovery policies.  Older emails can also be archived using native Exchange Online Archiving (aka Personal Archives) or other third-party solutions.

Today, Microsoft delivered the Microsoft Exchange PST Capture Tool 2.  This new tool allows you to import the contents of PST files into a user's mailbox, into an Office 365 online mailbox, or directly into an Exchange Online Archive.  By optionally installing PST Capture Agents on target machines, administrators can determine where .PST files are located and who their file owner is via the PST Capture Console.

Read the Exchange Team blog, .PST, Time to Walk the Plank, to read a bit more and watch a video about the tool with Ann Vu and Ankar Kothari.  BTW, Ann was the one who came up with the "That's right. My theme is Super Sparkle Happy" Exchange t-shirts at least year's TechEd.  :)