Tip 1133: How to export 6 months of email to a PST file

This question came from an Exchange administrator but a filtered export is possible in with all email account types and all versions of Outlook.

Is there a way in Outlook 2013 to export only the last 6 months’ worth of mail? We are on a hosted Exchange solution with Office 365.

Yes, there is a way to do this in Outlook.  

Outlook uses the same filter dialog for Export as it uses for Views, Advanced Find, and Search Folders.

Begin the export process by opening the Import/Export wizard from the File menu, Open (or Open & Export) in Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2013. In older versions of Outlook, look for File, Import/Export.

1. Choose Export to a File
2. Choose Outlook Data File (pst) as the file type to export to.
3. If you are exporting the entire mailbox or data file, choose the top level of the mailbox then select Include subfolders.  Otherwise, select the folder you want to export.



4. Click the Filter button.
5. Select the Advanced tab.
6. Type or select the Received field, choose on or after as the condition then type the date or even just 6 months ago in the Value field.



7. Click Next then complete the export.

This will create a copy of the items, it doesn’t remove them from the mailbox.

Published April 14, 2014. Last updated on April 28, 2014.

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