Office 365 Mailbox Backup: A Comprehensive Guide Using eDiscovery Tool

Microsoft 365 offers efficient email recovery, data transfer, and disaster recovery from malware or ransomware, ensuring smooth transitions between employees and efficient mailbox contents transfer.

a) How do I use the eDiscovery PST Export Tool to backup Office 365 Mailbox to a desktop or PC ?

Step 1: Provide eDiscovery Permission

1. First, log in as an administrator and open the Security & Compliance window.

2. Then, click on the Permissions option in the left panel to open its section.

3. After that, check the box labeled eDiscovery Manager to open its wizard.

4. Next, you need to click Edit Role Group from the eDiscovery Manager window.

5. Then, click Select eDiscovery Administrator under the Edit Role Group section.

6. After that, click on Edit to continue.

7. Next, click +Add to assign the role to the member.

8. Then, enter their username and initials in the search bar, then check their corresponding boxes and add them to find a user.

9. Finally, select a user and click the “Finish” button after receiving a confirmation message like “1 member has been added.”

Step 2: Generate an eDiscovery New Case

1. First, go to Search & Investigations and select eDiscovery in the Security & Compliance window.

2. Then, click +Create Case to open the New Case Wizard.

3. After that, create a meaningful case name and its details in the description box.

4. Finally, click Save to create a new eDiscovery case.

Step 3: Add members to manage the case

1. First, select the case name from the listed cases created in the above steps to open the Manage This Case dialog box from the eDiscovery section.

2. Then, click the Add button under the Manage Members section.

Note: You can easily assign new roles to eDiscovery cases under the “Manage Role Groups” section.

3. After that, add users from the people selector window and click on Add.

4. Finally, click Save to finally add members. By doing this, users can perform eDiscovery searches on their Office 365 data.

Step 4: Do a content search

1. First, go to Security & Compliance and click the Search & Investigation drop-down button. and select the eDiscovery option.

2. Then, select the case under the Case Name column and click Open.

3. After that, click on the Search >> + New Search tab from the menu, as shown in the screenshot.

4. On the new search page, you can search for anything under the search query section.

5. Then, select a mail or site, modify it, choose content search components like Office 365 Groups and SharePoint Online, select Exchange public folders for Office 365 email backup, and save.

6. Next, click Save and Run to save the search and start the process.

7. In the Save Search popup, simply enter the search name and details under the Name and Description boxes. Then, click the “Save” button.

8. Finally, enter the desired keyword in the Keyword box in the Exchange Online window and click Search and Run to begin searching for content.

Step 5: Download the eDiscovery PST Export Tool and Searched Content on Desktop

Note: To download the eDiscovery tool, you need an Internet Explorer 9.0 browser; otherwise, an “Application cannot be started” error will occur.

1. First, click on the More drop-down button and select Export Results from the search window.

2. To modify settings, navigate to the Output options and Export Exchange content sections and click on the “Export” button as per your requirement.

3. After clicking on the Export tab, a list of all searched jobs for a specific eDiscovery case will be displayed on the screen.

4. Then, click Download Results to download the eDiscovery PST export tool.

5. After that, the export tool starts downloading, and it only takes a few minutes to complete.

6. Next, copy the export key, paste it into the eDiscovery Export Tool pop-up window, specify a file location, and click “Start“.

7. Finally, click “Close” and finish saving the PST file at the selected location, then move it to a USB drive or Outlook.