How to Backup Exchange Online Mailbox using Office 365?

  

Mark Regan
Published: April 23rd, 2025 • 6 Min Read

What is Exchange Online?

To manage your emails, contacts, and other data in Office 365, Microsoft offered Exchange Online, a cloud-based version of the Exchange server. In this, users have all the basic features and functions of the server. But instead of managing their data on-premises, it is hosted in a cloud server. Hence, Exchange online helps many companies in organizing the data.

Because it deals with a lot of data, there is no 100% guarantee that your information will be safe even though it is a cloud based service. That’s why it is important to backup your data to prevent any unforeseen incidents.

Why Users Need to Save Exchange Online Data?

Saving your important data not only prevents you from losing the data but also helps you in many situations. Below we have mentioned all possible reasons to backup Exchange Online mailbox.

• Sometimes, while managing your emails, contacts, calendars, and other data you may accidentally delete them. If you have the backup copy of the deleted data, you can easily recover them.
• There is always a risk of cyberattack or hacking your account. Therefore, it is important to archive your Exchange online mailbox.
• For legal compliance, you need to backup the exchange online data.
• When an employee leaves, it is required to backup your data for legal reasons.
• The policy of Microsoft default retention is not long-term. Therefore, backing up your data helps you by keeping the data as long as you want.
• You can save your Exchange Online data in your preferred geo-location.

There are several reasons why you need to backup your Exchange Online data. So, to save your data there are two solutions that you can use to extract mailboxes from Exchange Online. But, before that there are some technical requirements you must fulfill before we go through the methods.

Preparations Before Backing Up Data

• First of all, you must have the appropriate permissions to use Microsoft 365. Also, know the admin credentials of your account.
• The methods we are going to use are applicable for shared, primary, and in-place mailboxes.
• The place where your Exchange online backup will be stored must have adequate storage space.

Once you fulfill all the requirements, now you can straightforwardly follow these methods that we are going to explain below.

Backup Exchange Online Mailbox using eDiscovery

The feature of eDiscovery in Office 365 allows administrators to hold, search, and export their data. With the help of this, we can find our Exchange Online data and backup mailbox data. Below are the steps to do that.

1. First, log in to the Office 365 Admin Center. Expand the portal by clicking Admin Centers.
2. Select Security and Compliance, then go to Search and Investigation.
3. Click on the Content Search and (+) button to find your data.
4. Enter the name of the mailbox, and press Next.
5. Choose Search Everywhere, then the Exchange option.
6. To find specific mailbox data. Click on the Custom Location Selection.
7. Select the (+) button to add the mailbox you want to export.
8. If you want to save all the data, leave the default set filters as it is. Then, click on the Search button.
9. Once it finds all the data, click on the Start Export button.
10. Select the Download exported results. Then, copy the export key.
11. Paste this copied key below and browse a location to save your exported Exchange Online file.
    
12. At last, click on the Start button.

With this free method, you can search your Exchange Online mailbox and export them. However, it is not an ideal way to download Office 365 emails. This is because of its lengthy process, and it is complex for non-technical users. So, if you are having problems with the manual method, then try to use this next option.

Steps to Backup Exchange Online Mailbox

1. Download the software and run it on your computer or laptop.
2. Enter your Office 365 email address. Click the I am Admin button.
   
3. Provide the Password and log in to the software.
   
4. Once the tool fetches all your data, you can preview them by clicking the data on the left side of the screen.
5. Choose the desired option from the Saving options. Provide a destination path.
   
6. At last, click on the Backup button to save your data.
   

These steps make the backup process easier. There are many other features and functions of the software that benefit you.

Amazing Features of Exchange Online Mailbox Backup Tool

• This software easily backs up your data from OneDrive, SharePoint, and other Office 365 services.
• You can easily export your data from tenant to tenant account.
• There are several saving options available such as migrate Office 365 to Thunderbird, Gmail, PST, etc.
• By using this solution users can easily access their Exchange Online data offline.
• It easily downloads on all the versions of Windows as well as Mac OS.

Concluding Words

If you want to backup Exchange Online mailbox, then this article provides two different methods which help you to save your emails. Manual and professional methods both are easy, but most of the users have trouble using eDiscovery features. Therefore, the automated tool is a great choice.