--- title: "Effortlessly Import PST to Outlook: A Comprehensive Guide" description: "Explore various methods to import PST files into Outlook and Exchange mailboxes with this step-by-step tutorial." canonical: "https://adamtheautomator.com/import-pst-to-outlook/" --- # Effortlessly Import PST to Outlook: A Comprehensive Guide > Explore various methods to import PST files into Outlook and Exchange mailboxes with this step-by-step tutorial. Source: https://adamtheautomator.com/import-pst-to-outlook/ --- ATA Learning Tap to hide [ ATA Learning ](/) * [Home](/) * [Tutorials](/tutorials/) * [Instructors](/author/) * [Advertising](/advertising/) * [Recommended Resources](/resources/) * [About Adam](/about-adam/) Search for: * [](https://twitter.com/adbertram) * [](https://github.com/Adam-the-Automator) * [](https://www.linkedin.com/company/adam-the-automator-llc) * [](/feed/) ![Effortlessly Import PST to Outlook: A Comprehensive Guide](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/matthew-henry-3lL_Nlvpl08-unsplash.jpg) # Effortlessly Import PST to Outlook: A Comprehensive Guide [![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9a14f10ff1b1ec7d790d34f5b559e4d3de2d31b172e6ef266dfd8b479174d97b?s=192&d=mm&r=g)June Castillote](https://adamtheautomator.com/author/june/)8 April 20206 min. read Categories: [IT Ops](/category/it-ops/) Tags:[Outlook](/tag/outlook/) Table of Contents * [Requirements](#requirements) * [Attaching PST Files using Outlook](#attaching-pst-files-using-outlook) * [Attaching PST Files using PowerShell and the Outlook .NET API](#attaching-pst-files-using-powershell-and-the-outlook-net-api) * [Importing PST Files using the Outlook Import Wizard](#importing-pst-files-using-the-outlook-import-wizard) * [Importing PST Files Using the New-MailboxImportRequest PowerShell Cmdlet](#importing-pst-files-using-the-new-mailboximportrequest-powershell-cmdlet) * [Conclusion](#conclusion) * [Further Reading](#further-reading) When working with Outlook, there will inevitably come a time when you’ll need to import a PST. But, what is a PST? According to Microsoft, _“An Outlook Data File (.pst) contains your messages and other Outlook items and is saved on your computer.”_ If you’re an email user using Microsoft Outlook, some scenarios where importing PST is needed may include: * Re-hydrating your mailbox from PST after a computer replacement or OS reinstall. * You are importing a backup of a resigned employee’s emails into your Outlook profile. * Moving from one mail system to another. (e.g., [Outlook.com](http://Outlook.com) to Gmail). On the other hand, if your’re an email admin, you may need to import a PST into user’s Outlook when: * Restoring emails from a PST export. * Providing access to a terminated employee’s emails to another user. * Migrating email data from on-prem to the cloud. (e.g., Exchange Server to Exchange Online, Office 365) Regardless of the reason for importing the PST file, there are several ways to do it. And, in this article, you will learn the different possible ways to import Outlook data file PST. Then, you can decide which method of PST import is best for you. ## Requirements This article is a How-To, which means there are some requirements if you decide to follow along with the examples. * A computer with Windows 10. * An email account. The email account may be from any provider as long as the mailbox can be configured in Outlook. However, it is recommended for you to set up a dummy email account for testing. * Outlook 2019. An older version of Outlook, like Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2016 can be used as well. * A part of this article deals with an example using an Exchange Mailbox, so access to an Exchange Server will be needed if you need to follow along with the example. ## Attaching PST Files using Outlook Attaching PST files to Outlook allows you to just be able to access the contents of a PST as a separate Outlook data file in your Outlook profile. This means that the contents of the PST are not imported into your own mailbox. You can attach one or more PST files to Outlook and have access to them all at the same time. PST file locations may be local or remote (UNC). The procedure below assumes that you already have a mailbox profile configured in Outlook, and you will be attaching a PST file located in _C:\\PST\\backup.pst_. While in Outlook, click on **_File_** —> **_Open & Export_** —> **_Open Outlook Data File._** ![Open Outlook Data File](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131400.562.png) Open Outlook Data File Once the **Open Outlook Data File** window shows up, browse to the location of the PST file that you want to attach to Outlook. In this example, the PST file is in _C:\\PST\\backup.pst_. Then, once you’ve located the PST file, click **OK**. ![Selecting the PST file to attach to the Outlook profile](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131410.301.png) Selecting the PST file to attach to the Outlook profile After clicking the **OK** button, you will see that a new folder with the name **Outlook Data File** will appear in your Outlook’s folder pane. ![PST has been attached to the Outlook profile](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131418.154.png) PST has been attached to the Outlook profile Now that the PST is attached to Outlook, you can decide whether to copy the contents into your own mailbox or just leave them in the separate PST file. ## Attaching PST Files using PowerShell and the Outlook .NET API Using the _[Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook Namespace](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.office.interop.outlook)_, attaching one or more PST files to Outlook can be automated. This method is especially useful for admins who need to attach PST files to the Outlook profile of multiple users, perhaps during user logon or at a scheduled interval. The script below will enumerate all PST files found in the directory _C:\\PST_, then attach each PST file to the default profile configured in Outlook. ```powershell $PSTPath = "C:\PST" Add-type -assembly "Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook" $outlook = new-object -comobject outlook.application $namespace = $outlook.GetNameSpace("MAPI") Get-ChildItem $PSTPath -Filter *.pst | ForEach-Object { $namespace.AddStore($_.FullName) } ``` When you run the script above by pasting it into your PowerShell session, you should see a similar output, as shown in the demonstration below. ![Attaching PST files to Outlook using PowerShell](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pst01-1.gif) Attaching PST files to Outlook using PowerShell ## Importing PST Files using the Outlook Import Wizard Outlook has a built-in feature called the _Import and Export Wizard_. Running the import wizard is, by far, the most convenient way for users to [import PST](https://adamtheautomator.com/import-pst-to-office-365/ "import PST") into Outlook. It imports all or selected data from a PST file into the mailbox configured in Outlook. Suppose you already have an Outlook email profile configured, and your email admin provided you the PST file containing the emails you asked them to recover. Now, you need to import the recovered emails into your mailbox. This is where the _Import and Export Wizard_ will be useful. In this next example, the PST to be imported is in _C:\\Temp\\recovered.pst_. While in Outlook, click on **File** —> **Open & Export** —> **Import/Export**_._ ![Outlook Import Export](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131451.400.png) Outlook Import Export When the **Import and Export Wizard** window shows up, select the option to **Import from another program or file**. Then, click **Next**. ![Select the option to Import from another program of file](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131500.810.png) Select the option to Import from another program of file Then, in the **Import a File** window, select **Outlook Data File (.pst)**_._ Then, click **Next**. ![Select the option Outlook Data File (.pst)](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131516.261.png) Select the option Outlook Data File (.pst) When the **Import Outlook Data File** window shows up, click on **Browse**. ![Click the Browse button](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131524.172.png) Click the _Browse_ button Locate the PST file to import the emails from. In this example, the file is in _C:\\PST\\Recovered.pst_ and click **Open**. ![Select the PST file to open](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131532.930.png) Select the PST file to open Once you’re back to the **Import Outlook Data File** window, the **File to import** box shows the file pst and click **Do not import duplicates** to prevent duplicates from being imported. Then, click **Next**. ![Select the option Do not import duplicates](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131542.287.png) Select the option **Do not import duplicates** In the next window, you can choose to import from the top folder, including subfolders, or you can expand the top folder and select which subfolder to import items from. In this example, the top folder is selected and will include all subfolders. Once you’re satisfied with your selection, click **Finish**. ![Select import options](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131550.733.png) Select import options After clicking **Finish**, Outlook will proceed to import items. The time Outlook takes to complete the import will depend on the number and size of items being imported. The import duration may take several minutes to hours. ## Importing PST Files Using the `New-MailboxImportRequest` PowerShell Cmdlet Using the `New-MailboxImportRequest` PowerShell cmdlet is not exactly just importing PST files into Outlook. The `New-MailboxImportRequest` cmdlet is specifically for importing PST files into a mailbox hosted in Exchange Server. The result, however, is that the imported items will show up in Outlook. Only admins who have the [_Mailbox Import Export_ role in Exchange](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/Exchange/permissions/role-groups?view=exchserver-2019#add-a-role-to-a-role-group) can perform this operation. If the admin’s account is not assigned the _Mailbox Import Export_ role, the cmdlet will not be available. It is important to note that the `New-MailboxImportRequest` accepts the path of the PST using the `FilePath` parameter. However, the `FilePath` parameter only accepts UNC paths and does not accept local paths. So, even if the PST files are located locally, you must use their UNC file path instead. This next example will import the PST file _C:\\PST\\Recovered.pst_ located in the server _usexc001_ into the mailbox of \_june@ata.int.\_ The `Name` parameter is where you can assign a name to the import task you are creating. This can be any name that you want. In this example, the name of the import task is the same as the name of the mailbox. ```powershell New-MailboxImportRequest -Mailbox 'june@ata.int' -FilePath '\usexc001\c$\pst\recovered.pst' -Name 'june@ata.int' ``` The code above must be run inside the Exchange Management Shell, and once the code is run, the screenshot below shows the expected output. ![Creating a PST import request](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131600.095.png) Creating a PST import request As you can see from the output above, the initial _status_ of the import request will be set to _queued_. You can monitor the status using the `Get-MailboxImportRequest` and `Get-MailboxImportRequestStatistics` cmdlets. The code below gets the PST import status with the name \_june@ata.int.\_ ```powershell Get-MailboxImportRequest -Name 'june@ata.int' | Get-MailboxImportRequestStatistics ``` After running the command above, you should see the current status of the import request. See the screenshot below as an example. ![Getting the import request status](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-2020-05-27T131613.600.png) Getting the import request status As you can see, the above screenshot shows that the import request has been completed. And the next time you opened the mailbox in Outlook, the imported items from the PST file should become available. There are more parameters or options that can be used with the `New-MailboxImportRequest` to control the result of the PST import request. And, if you’re interested to learn more, you can visit this [link](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/exchange/mailboxes/new-mailboximportrequest?view=exchange-ps). ## Conclusion In this article, you learned the different ways to attach or import PST file to Outlook. You’ve learned how the PST files can be attached to Outlook manually using the features built-in to Outlook itself. You’ve also seen how PST files can be attached to Outlook using PowerShell utilizing the Outlook .NET API. The Outlook .NET API can also be used with other different programming languages like Visual Basic. This programmability provides flexibility for admins to how PST import can be automated. Additionally, you’ve also learned how email admins can import PST files into Exchange Server mailboxes using the `New-MailboxImportRequest`Exchange PowerShell cmdlet. Perhaps now, with the knowledge that I hope you gained in this article, you can create a more complex script to import multiple PST files to multiple user mailboxes automatically. ## Further Reading * **_[Introduction to Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost)](https://support.office.com/en-us/article/introduction-to-outlook-data-files-pst-and-ost-222eaf92-a995-45d9-bde2-f331f60e2790)_** * _[**New-MailbxImportRequest**](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/exchange/mailboxes/new-mailboximportrequest?view=exchange-ps)_ * **_[Manage role groups](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/Exchange/permissions/role-groups?view=exchserver-2019#add-a-role-to-a-role-group)_** Share this article [Share on X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fadamtheautomator.com%2Fimport-pst-to-outlook%2F&text=Effortlessly%20Import%20PST%20to%20Outlook%3A%20A%20Comprehensive%20Guide)[Share on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fadamtheautomator.com%2Fimport-pst-to-outlook%2F)[Share on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fadamtheautomator.com%2Fimport-pst-to-outlook%2F) ## Related Posts ![](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/how-to-schedule-an-email-in-outlook.jpg) ### [How to Schedule an Email in Outlook](/how-to-schedule-an-email-in-outlook/) Discover how to schedule an email in Outlook through several different ways with this in-depth ATA Learning tutorial! ![](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/How-to-Encrypt-Email-in-Outlook-with-Office-365.jpg) ### [How to Encrypt Outlook with Office 365](/encrypt-outlook/) Learn how to securely send and receive encrypted email with Outlook in this handy, step-by-step guide. ![](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/featured_image-4.png) ### [Migrate from EWS to Microsoft Graph API](/migrate-ews-microsoft-graph-api/) Move EWS mailbox automation to Microsoft Graph with a practical inventory, permissions, PowerShell SDK, and cutover validation checklist. ## Categories * [IT Ops](/category/it-ops/) * [Cloud](/category/cloud/) * [DevOps](/category/devops/) * [Home Ops](/category/home-ops/) * [Information Security](/category/infosec/) * [Software Development](/category/software-development/) ## Site * [Home](/) * [Tutorials](/tutorials/) * [Instructors](/author/) * [Advertising](/advertising/) * [Recommended Resources](/resources/) * [About Adam](/about-adam/) Copyright 2026© ATA Learning | [Privacy Policy](/privacy/)