With the release of Office 2013 and it's emphasis on OneDrive storage, I've had several people ask about moving their pst file to OneDrive, DropBox and similar services.
The answer: It won't work in most services and is not recommended in any service. Outlook puts a lock on the pst file when the pst file is open. OneDrive (and other cloud solutions) continually syncs the local folder. It won't be able to sync the pst because Outlook has a lock on it and as a result, the pst file could become corrupted and data loss occur.
DropBox does incremental backups (reducing the need to upload a large pst in full each time), however, you need to make sure you close Outlook and wait for all updates to be uploaded before shutting down the computer, otherwise accessing the pst from another computer could result in lost data or a corrupt message store. Always keep a backup copy of the pst. This is an unsupported scenario and Microsoft will not provide support for it.
While you could use OneDrive or another cloud service to store backup copies of your data files, its not recommended due to the large size of many pst files: uploading a large data file can take "forever". If you shut the computer down before its completely uploaded then try to open it from another computer, the pst may be corrupt.
There are online backup services that can backup pst files when Outlook is open and incrementally backup the pst, so only changes are saved. These are safe to use because they are designed to work with Outlook data files. However, unlike backing up a file to OneDrive or DropBox, you can't download the pst file to another computer or when needed. You need to restore it using the backup application.
When you use a backup service I highly recommend verifying the backup several days after setting it up, so your sure it's getting the pst files and also every few months to insure it's still working as expected.
Hi Diane,
I run a very small business that only nets a maximum of $10,000.00 per year. MS 365 Business is too expensive for me and I technically can't run MS 365 Home since I am running a small home-based business.
Since I periodically travel what would be the best way for me to carry my .pst on the road with me? Do I load it on a flash drive and bring it, or will any of the services work for me when I am travelling? I am the only user of these files so there would not be simultaneous openings and closings of documents or the .pst file.
Thanks,
John
Thank you again for your insightful and useful advice...
I have my old outlook pst file but it is very large. I'm instructed by some IT guys to not import but to connect to Outlook 365 and then validate and then move my old pst file to the OneDrive. I've googled how to connect and not import but can't find anything. Any suggestions on how to connect my pst file to my new Outlook 365 without importing the file? Thank You!!
Don't put it in onedrive. It can go anywhere on your hard drive - just open it in outlook using file, Open, outlook data file or file, account settings, data file tab - click New then select it.
Similar question. I use Outlook 2007 on my desktop (WIN 10). I would like to move the pst files (and any other needed files) to my personal cloud drive. Then I could access them from Outlook on my laptop also. Is that possible?
Using a pst file on a cloud drive is not supported - the cloud drive software will try to sync but can't because outlook has it locked. You would be better off importing it into Outlook.com (on the new server).
Can anyone advice me how to upload pst files on outlook.com or outlook.app for Mac on the Cloud? I want to use old pst file data to only see the old emails. I won't use the account for any new emails. I have about 5 pst files with around 60GB data. I am using Office 365. I don't have enough disk space on my Mac to import the emails on my Mac. Thanks.
You'd need to use outlook on a windows computer to import pst files into outlook.com.
Was your outlook.com account migrated to the new server yet? Importing will be easier once it's migrated.
Why not use your valuable space in OneDrive by creating an Outlook.com mailbox and configure your Outlook client(s) to use this mailbox through IMAP. All mails you drag/drop into folders in this Outlook.com mailboxes will be available on all your PC's, no need for PST files anymore. You have to be online all the time, but who isn't?
1. You shouldn't open data files stored in a folder that syncs to a cloud service - it can result in corruption and duplicated files (won't take long to eat up space with a 2GB data file duplicated 100 times.)
2. OneDrive is file storage, not email. You can set outlook.com up as an IMAP account but it will create a local data file and it should not be stored in the onedrive folder. however, if you use outlook.com, setting the account up as an exchange account is better.
Please see my Reply posted 22nd Jan 2015 for more information, but it seems that my message has not yet got through. My .pst file (now 406,409 KB) RUNS very successfully from my Dropbox folder on my various devices, and has done for several years. I've NEVER had a problem PROVIDED I make sure that it has updated itself if I'm switching devices (I have 4 devices in my main home). If I hover my mouse over the Dropbox icon in the taskbar, it helpfully tells me "outlook.pst is downloading". Of course I avoid using Outlook on more than the one device here at home. The main use of Dropbox is when I'm at my London flat. I've no idea about Google Drive, but Dropbox is fantastic because it identifies incremental changes made in the .pst and ONLY makes those changes. Therefore updating is achieved very quickly. Unless OneDrive has recently become more sophisticated, it uploaded and downloaded the entire file each time. In addition Dropbox also enables LAN sync which OneDrive didn't when I experimented with it. Perhaps someone would be able to tell me whether Google Drive and OneDrive now allow: 1. LAN sync 2. Make only incremental… Read more »
It's great that Dropbox now does incremental backup (they didn't when the article was originally written) but it is still risky and you should keep a backup copy of the pst. Just forgetting to close outlook and leaving a computer on before opening outlook on another computer can corrupt it as can shutting outlook and windows down before changes sync up then opening it on another computer.
If something goes wrong, Microsoft won't help - they do not support using cloud services for pst storage.
AFAIK, no, neither onedrive or google drive support LAN sync or incremental changes.
Ok after rereading your first sentence above, what if I only back up 1 time a week & close my google drive until I want to back up. When I back up my pst files I'll make sure outlook is closed? Would they still be corrupted?
As long as it's not to big for google drive, you can keep a copy in it (or any other cloud service). The problem arises when you move a pst there and open it in outlook.