How to Export IMAP Emails to PST File in Easy Steps – Explained in Details

A Brief Introduction of IMAP and PST

MAP or Internet Message Access Protocol is an email protocol that allows you to access your email from multiple devices. IMAP stores your email messages on the email server, and you can also view them from any device that has an email client that supports IMAP. There are various benefits of using IMAP such as you can access your email from any device, can delete messages from the server, or keep them for future reference.

Microsoft Outlook uses the PST file format to store email messages, contacts, calendar events, and other items. Users typically store these files on their computers, but they can also store them on network servers or in the cloud. Moreover, PST files are a convenient way to store and manage email messages. Sometimes users want to export the IMAP emails to the PST files. 

Why Export IMAP Emails to PST?

Exporting IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) emails to PST (Personal Storage Table) format is often done for several reasons:

• Exporting IMAP emails to PST allows you to make a local backup of your email. You may safely keep your emails on your computer or an external storage device by storing them in PST format. This backup is important in the event of an unintentional deletion, server problems, or if you want to switch to a different email client.
• If you are transferring from one email client to another, exporting your IMAP emails to PST allows you to move your messages, contacts, and other data to the new email client. Many email programs, including Microsoft Outlook, enable importing data from PST files, making it easy to transfer your emails without losing any information.
• Some businesses or individuals choose to save their emails in PST format for easier organization, archiving, and searching. With PST files, you may use your email client to create categories, categorize emails, apply filters, and do complex searches.

When users enable the IMAP option in Outlook, Outlook stores a copy of their IMAP mailboxes in OST files. However, if these OST files become corrupted or accidentally deleted, users may lose access to their IMAP data. As PST files are easier to access, many users choose to back up their IMAP emails to PST files. So, we have the top techniques to export IMAP to PST files. Let’s discuss them now.

Top 02 Methods to Export IMAP Emails to PST

The best two methods for how to backup IMAP Emails to a PST file. Here we discuss both methods i.e. Manual and Professional approach. A manual approach is a free way to export IMAP data to PST files without using a third-party tool. The professional method allows you to download emails from IMAP Server and save them into PST, EML, MSG and other file format on desktop. You can do this by following some steps in the Microsoft Outlook application but this approach is not recommended as this solution has many limitations.

Method 01: Export IMAP to PST Manually

Follow the Given Steps to export the IMAP emails to PST files Manually:

1. Firstly, open the Microsoft Outlook application on your PC.
2. Click the File option and choose Open & Export.
3. Choose the Import/Export option from the drop-down list and choose Export to a file.
4. Then, click the Outlook Data file option and browse the mailbox files or folders that you wish to convert.
5. Further, pick the destination folder and assign it a name for the newly created PST file.
6. Finally, click the Finish button, and your IMAP data is converted to a PST file.

Limitations of Using Manual Method:

The manual method has many disadvantages, some of which are listed below:

• Manual method is a time-consuming and lengthy process.
• You can only back up a single IMAP Mailbox at a time.
• High risk of data loss.
• You have good technical knowledge for performing the process.

Method 02: Migrate IMAP Mailboxes to PST File Professionally

Aryson IMAP Backup Tool is a professional software that allows users to export email from IMAP account to PST file format. It also migrate email from IMAP to Google Business Emails (G Suite) with all email items. The software helps to migrate IMAP emails into other email clients and clouds. It backup IMAP emails locally in your hard drive or computer with all email attachments.

Follow Given Six Steps to Export Email from IMAP to PST

1. Launch the Aryson IMAP Backup tool on your PC.
2. Click the Import CSV option and browse the user’s ID file.
3. Now, the IMAP-enabled IDs are shown, choose the required one and click the Next button.
4. The software then reflects all the IMAP ID folders in a tree structure.
5.  Choose File Format from the drop-down list as PST.
6. Further, click the Convert option to start the migration of IMAP emails into the PST file.

Final Analysis

In the above blog, we have discussed the top techniques to export IMAP emails to PST. We have shared a manual as well as professional solutions to execute the export process of the MAP mailbox to PST. Manual methods have distinct drawbacks and can be at risk of data loss. That is why many technical experts suggest using professional solutions to complete the export process in less time.

Frequently Asked Questions

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