Complete Guide: How Does Exchange Backup Mailbox?

Overview of Microsoft Exchange Server

Microsoft Exchange Server is a popular email and calendar server software developed by Microsoft. It is primarily used by businesses to manage their email communication, calendaring, contacts, and tasks. Exchange Server provides users with advanced features such as shared mailboxes, public folders, mobile device support, and collaboration tools.

It is designed to work seamlessly with other Microsoft products such as Outlook, SharePoint, and Skype for Business (formerly known as Lync). Exchange Server can be deployed on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid configuration, allowing organizations to choose the deployment model that best suits their needs.

Why People Want to Backup Exchange Server Mailbox?

Email is an important communication tool for personal and professional use, and losing important emails can be disastrous. So more and more users start to pay attention to backup emails. For Exchange Server users, this is even more important. There are several reasons why people want to realize Exchange Server mailbox backup. Some of the main reasons are:

🔴 Disaster recovery: In case of any unexpected event such as server failure, natural disaster or cyberattack, having a backup ensures that you can restore your data quickly and easily.
🟠 Compliance requirements: Many organizations have regulatory compliance requirements that mandate them to maintain a copy of their email data for a specific retention period.
🟡 Legal disputes: In case of any legal dispute, having a backup provides proof of communication history and helps in resolving the issue efficiently.
🟢 Accidental deletion or corruption: Sometimes users may accidentally delete important emails or the mailbox data may become corrupted due to various reasons. Having a backup ensures that you can recover the lost data without any hassle.
🔵 Migration to a new platform: Organizations may need to migrate to a new email platform, and having a backup ensures that you can export your data easily and efficiently.

How Does Exchange Backup Mailbox?

In this section you can find two methods to backup emails on Exchange. One is for manual backups, and the other can create automatic backup tasks for you. Choose the one that suits you after reading the detailed steps!

#1. Manual Way for Exchange Server Mailbox Backup

Exchange Server uses the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication Service (MRS) to import .pst files to mailboxes and to export mailboxes to .pst files. This can help you backup Exchange Server mailbox to .pst.

Outlook users probably know that the easiest way to backup mailbox is to backup Outlook to .pst file. The advantages of using MRS instead of Outlook to import and export mailboxes are:

• Import and export requests are asynchronous (you can import and export multiple .pst files at the same time).
• Imports and exports take advantage of the queuing and throttling that's provided by the MRS.
• You can import a .pst file directly to a user's archive mailbox.
• The source or destination .pst files can reside on any network share that's accessible by your Exchange servers.

Follow the steps below to use the EAC to export Exchange mailbox as a backup.

1. In the EAC, go to Recipients > Mailboxes > click More options icon., and select Export to a PST file.

2. The Export to a .pst file wizard opens. On the first page, select the source mailbox, and then select one of these options and click Next:

• Export only the contents of this mailbox
• Export only the contents of this mailbox's archive

3. On the next page, enter the UNC path and filename of the target .pst file and click Next.

4. In the Export to a .pst file wizard in the EAC, select whether to receive notification messages and click Finish.

• Leave the Send email to the mailbox below when the .pst file has been exported check box selected. Click Browse to add or remove notification recipients.
• Clear the Send email to the mailbox below when the .pst file has been exported check box.

#2. Automatic Way for Exchange Server to Backup Mailbox – Third-Party Software

If you want to backup emails on Exchange Server, a more direct method is to use professional tools, such as professional Exchange email backup and restore tool - AOMEI Backupper Server. It can perform the task of saving Exchange mailbox data in PST file and then you can perform restore whenever required.

The "Outlook Backup" function of AOMEI Backupper provides a more comprehensive and reliable backup solution for all email users. No matter you are using Outlook or Gmail, etc., using this feature, you can backup your entire Outlook profile including PST files, email accounts and settings in just a few clicks. You can also schedule automatic backups and choose from various backup options such as full, incremental, and differential backups. In addition, AOMEI Backupper's backup process is fast, efficient and error-free, ensuring your data is always safe.

1. Click the download button below to install AOMEI Backupper Server on your computer.

2. Open Outlook, and be sure you log in with your account. Then, launch AOMEI Backupper Server and click Backup and Outlook Backup.

2. Click Add Outlook data and select the email account you want to backup. You can select multiple mailboxes at once. Then click OK.

3. Click the second box to select a local path, network or NAS location, or cloud drive to store your Outlook PST files in Exchange Server.

4. Enable Daily, Weekly,  Monthly, or Event triggers schedule backup and click Start Backup to backup Exchange mailbox to .pst automatically.

Summary

After reading this article, I believe you already know how will Exchange backup mailboxes. One is to use the tools that come with Exchange Server, and the other is to use reliable third-party software. Here we recommend you to use the second one, with this tool, you can quickly export your Exchange mailbox data to a PST file, and then restore it to Exchange/Office 365 as needed. This method is straightforward and works with every version of Exchange Server.