Applies to: Exchange Server 2013

Topic Last Modified: 2012-07-11

Use the New-MailboxImportRequest cmdlet to begin the process of importing a .pst file to a mailbox or archive. You can create more than one mailbox import request per mailbox and each mailbox import request must have a unique name. Microsoft Exchange automatically generates up to 10 unique names for a mailbox import request. However, to create more than 10 import requests for a mailbox, you need to specify a unique name when creating the import request, or you can remove existing import requests with the Remove-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet before starting a new import request with the default request <Alias>\MailboxImportX (where X = 0–9).

By default, the import checks for duplication of items and doesn't copy the data from the .pst file into the mailbox or archive if a matching item exists in the target mailbox or target archive.

For information about the parameter sets in the Syntax section below, see Syntax.

Syntax

New-MailboxImportRequest -FilePath <LongPath> -Mailbox <MailboxOrMailUserIdParameter> [-AssociatedMessagesCopyOption <DoNotCopy | MapByMessageClass | Copy>] [-ConflictResolutionOption <KeepSourceItem | KeepLatestItem | KeepAll>] [-ExcludeDumpster <SwitchParameter>] [-ExcludeFolders <String[]>] [-IncludeFolders <String[]>] [-IsArchive <SwitchParameter>] [-SourceRootFolder <String>] [-TargetRootFolder <String>] [-AcceptLargeDataLoss <SwitchParameter>] [-BadItemLimit <Unlimited>] [-BatchName <String>] [-CompletedRequestAgeLimit <Unlimited>] [-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]] [-DomainController <Fqdn>] [-LargeItemLimit <Unlimited>] [-Name <String>] [-Priority <Lowest | Lower | Low | Normal | High | Higher | Highest | Emergency>] [-SkipMerging <SkippableMergeComponent[]>] [-Suspend <SwitchParameter>] [-SuspendComment <String>] [-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]] [-WorkloadType <None | Local | Onboarding | Offboarding | TenantUpgrade | LoadBalancing | Emergency>]

Examples

EXAMPLE 1

This example imports a recovered .pst file on SERVER01 into the user Ayla's primary mailbox. Only data in the .pst file's Inbox is imported. The data is imported into the RecoveredFiles folder of the target mailbox for Ayla.

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New-MailboxImportRequest -Mailbox Ayla -FilePath \\SERVER01\PSTFiles\Recovered.pst -TargetRootFolder "RecoveredFiles" -IncludeFolders "#Inbox#"

EXAMPLE 2

This example imports a .pst file into Kweku's archive folder. The TargetRootFolder isn't specified; therefore, content is merged under existing folders and new folders are created if they don't already exist in the target folder structure.

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New-MailboxImportRequest -Mailbox Kweku -IsArchive -FilePath \\SERVER01\PSTFiles\Archives\Kweku\Archive2012.pst

EXAMPLE 3

This example imports all of the .pst files on a shared folder. Each .pst file name is named after a corresponding user's alias. The command creates an import request for all the .pst files and imports the data into the matching mailbox.

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Dir \\SERVER01\PSTshareRO\Recovered\*.pst | %{ New-MailboxImportRequest -Name RecoveredPST -BatchName Recovered -Mailbox $_.BaseName -FilePath $_.FullName -TargetRootFolder SubFolderInPrimary}

Detailed Description

You need to be assigned permissions before you can run this cmdlet. Although all parameters for this cmdlet are listed in this topic, you may not have access to some parameters if they're not included in the permissions assigned to you. To see what permissions you need, see the "Import Export" entry in the Recipients Permissions topic.

You need to grant read/write permission to the group Exchange Trusted Subsystem to the network share where you want to export or import mailboxes. If you don't grant this permission, you will receive an error message stating that Exchange is unable to establish a connection to the PST file on the network share.

Parameters

Parameter Required Type Description

FilePath

Required

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.LongPath

The FilePath parameter specifies the network share path of the .pst file from which data is imported, for example, \\SERVER01\PST Files\ToImport.pst.

You need to grant read/write permission to the group Exchange Trusted Subsystem to the network share where you want to export or import mailboxes. If you don't grant this permission, you will receive an error message stating that Exchange is unable to establish a connection to the PST file on the network share.

Mailbox

Required

Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.MailboxOrMailUserIdParameter

The Mailbox parameter specifies the mailbox or mail-enabled user into which to import contents. You can use the following values:

  • Alias

  • SMTP address

  • Display name

AcceptLargeDataLoss

Optional

System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter

The AcceptLargeDataLoss parameter specifies that a large amount of data loss is acceptable if the BadItemLimit is set to 51 or higher. Items are considered corrupted if the item can't be read from the source database or can't be written to the target database. Corrupted items won't be available in the destination mailbox or .pst file.

AssociatedMessagesCopyOption

Optional

Microsoft.Exchange.MailboxReplicationService.FAICopyOption

The AssociatedMessagesCopyOption parameter specifies whether associated messages are copied when the request is processed. Associated messages are special messages that contain hidden data with information about rules, views, and forms. By default, associated messages aren't copied. This parameter accepts the following values:

  • DoNotCopy   The associated messages aren't copied. This is the default option.

  • MapByMessageClass   This option finds the corresponding associated message by looking up the MessageClass attribute of the source message. If there's an associated message of this class in both source and target folders, it overwrites the associated message in the target. If there isn't an associated message in the target, it creates a copy in the target.

  • Copy   This option copies associated messages from the source to the target. If the same message type exists both in the source and the target location, these associated messages are duplicated.

Note:
Content filtering doesn't apply to associated messages.

BadItemLimit

Optional

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Unlimited

The BadItemLimit parameter specifies the number of bad items to skip if the request encounters corruption in the mailbox. Use 0 to not skip bad items. The valid input range for this parameter is from 0 through 2147483647. The default value is 0. We recommend that you keep the default value 0 and only change the BadItemLimit parameter value if the request fails.

Note:
If you set the BadItemLimit parameter to more than 50, the command fails, and you receive a warning stating: "Please confirm your intention to accept a large amount of data loss by specifying AcceptLargeDataLoss." If you receive this warning, you need to run the command again, this time using the AcceptLargeDataLoss parameter. No further warnings appear, and any corrupted items aren't available after the process is complete.

BatchName

Optional

System.String

The BatchName parameter specifies a descriptive name for importing a batch of mailboxes. You can use the name in the BatchName parameter as a string search when you use the Get-MailboxImportRequest cmdlet.

CompletedRequestAgeLimit

Optional

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Unlimited

The CompletedRequestAgeLimit parameter specifies how long the request will be kept after it has completed before being automatically removed. The default value of the CompletedRequestAgeLimit parameter is 30 days.

Confirm

Optional

System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter

The Confirm switch causes the command to pause processing and requires you to acknowledge what the command will do before processing continues. You don't have to specify a value with the Confirm switch.

ConflictResolutionOption

Optional

Microsoft.Exchange.MailboxReplicationService.ConflictResolutionOption

The ConflictResolutionOption parameter specifies the action for the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication service (MRS) to take if there are multiple matching messages in the target. This parameter takes the following values:

  • KeepSourceItem

  • KeepLatestItem

  • KeepAll

The default value is KeepSourceItem.

DomainController

Optional

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Fqdn

The DomainController parameter specifies the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the domain controller that writes this configuration change to Active Directory.

ExcludeDumpster

Optional

System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter

The ExcludeDumpster parameter specifies whether to exclude the Recoverable Items folder. You don't have to include a value with this parameter. If you don't specify this parameter, the Recoverable Items folder is copied with the following subfolders:

  • Deletions

  • Versions

  • Purges

ExcludeFolders

Optional

System.String[]

The ExcludeFolders parameter specifies the list of folders to exclude during the import.

Folder names aren't case-sensitive, and there are no character restrictions. Use the following syntax:

<FolderName>/*   Use this syntax to denote a personal folder under the folder specified in the SourceRootFolder parameter, for example, "MyProjects" or "MyProjects/FY2010".

#<FolderName>#/*   Use this syntax to denote a well-known folder regardless of the folder's name in another language. For example, #Inbox# denotes the Inbox folder even if the Inbox is localized in Turkish, which is Gelen Kutusu. Well-known folders include the following types:

  • Inbox

  • SentItems

  • DeletedItems

  • Calendar

  • Contacts

  • Drafts

  • Journal

  • Tasks

  • Notes

  • JunkEmail

  • CommunicationHistory

  • Voicemail

  • Fax

  • Conflicts

  • SyncIssues

  • LocalFailures

  • ServerFailures

If the user creates a personal folder with the same name as a well-known folder and the # symbol surrounding it, you can use a back slash (\) as an escape character to specify that folder. For example, if a user creates a folder named #Notes# and you want to specify that folder, but not the well-known Notes folder, use the following syntax: \#Notes\#.

Note:
Wildcard characters can't be used in folder names.

If the TargetRootFolder parameter isn't specified when the Recoverable Items folder is imported, the recoverable item content is placed in the Recoverable Items folder of the target mailbox or archive.

IncludeFolders

Optional

System.String[]

The IncludeFolders parameter specifies the list of folders to include during the import.

Folder names aren't case-sensitive, and there are no character restrictions. Use the following syntax:

<FolderName>/*   Use this syntax to denote a personal folder under the folder specified in the SourceRootFolder parameter, for example, "MyProjects" or "MyProjects/FY2010".

#<FolderName>#/*   Use this syntax to denote a well-known folder regardless of the folder's name in another language. For example, #Inbox# denotes the Inbox folder even if the Inbox is localized in Turkish, which is Gelen Kutusu. Well-known folders include the following types:

  • Inbox

  • SentItems

  • DeletedItems

  • Calendar

  • Contacts

  • Drafts

  • Journal

  • Tasks

  • Notes

  • JunkEmail

  • CommunicationHistory

  • Voicemail

  • Fax

  • Conflicts

  • SyncIssues

  • LocalFailures

  • ServerFailures

If the user creates a personal folder with the same name as a well-known folder and the # symbol surrounding it, you can use a back slash (\) as an escape character to specify that folder. For example, if a user creates a folder named #Notes# and you want to specify that folder, but not the well-known Notes folder, use the following syntax: \#Notes\#.

Note:
Wildcard characters can't be used in folder names.

IsArchive

Optional

System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter

The IsArchive switch specifies that you're importing the .pst file into the user's archive.

LargeItemLimit

Optional

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Unlimited

The LargeItemLimit parameter specifies the number of large items to skip if the request encounters such items in the mailbox. Use 0 to not skip any large items. If any number above 50 is specified, the AcceptLargeDataLoss parameter must also be specified. The default value is 0. We recommend that you use the default value of 0 and increase the LargeItemLimit only when large items are encountered.

Name

Optional

System.String

The Name parameter specifies the name of the specific request for tracking and display purposes. Because you can have multiple import requests per mailbox, Exchange precedes the name with the mailbox's alias. For example, if you create an import request for a user's mailbox that has the alias Kweku and specify the value of this parameter as PC1toArchive, the identity of this import request is Kweku\PC1toArchive.

If you don't specify a name using this parameter, Exchange generates up to 10 request names per mailbox, which is MailboxImportX (where X = 0–9). The identity of the request is displayed and searchable as <alias>\MailboxImportX.

Priority

Optional

Microsoft.Exchange.MailboxReplicationService.RequestPriority

The Priority parameter specifies the order in which this request should be processed in the request queue. Requests are processed in order, based on server health, status, priority, and last update time.

SkipMerging

Optional

Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.SkippableMergeComponent[]

The SkipMerging parameter specifies steps in the import that should be skipped. This parameter is used primarily for debugging purposes.

SourceRootFolder

Optional

System.String

The SourceRootFolder parameter specifies the root folder of the .pst file from which data is imported. When specified, the folder hierarchy outside the value of the SourceRootFolder parameter isn't imported, and the SourceRootFolder parameter is mapped to the TargetRootFolder parameter. If this parameter isn't specified, the command imports all folders.

Suspend

Optional

System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter

The Suspend switch specifies whether to suspend the request. If you use this switch, the request is queued, but the request won't reach the status of InProgress until you resume the request with the relevant resume cmdlet. You don't have to specify a value with this switch.

SuspendComment

Optional

System.String

The SuspendComment parameter specifies a description about why the request was suspended. You can only use this parameter if you specify the Suspend parameter.

TargetRootFolder

Optional

System.String

The TargetRootFolder parameter specifies the top-level mailbox folder that the imported content is placed in. If you don't specify this parameter, the command imports folders to the top of the folder structure in the target mailbox or archive. If the folder already exists, content is merged under existing folders, and new folders are created if they don't already exist in the target folder structure.

WhatIf

Optional

System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter

The WhatIf switch instructs the command to simulate the actions that it would take on the object. By using the WhatIf switch, you can view what changes would occur without having to apply any of those changes. You don't have to specify a value with the WhatIf switch.

WorkloadType

Optional

Microsoft.Exchange.MailboxReplicationService.RequestWorkloadType

This parameter is reserved for internal Microsoft use.

Input Types

To see the input types that this cmdlet accepts, see Cmdlet Input and Output Types. If the Input Type field for a cmdlet is blank, the cmdlet doesn’t accept input data.

Return Types

To see the return types, which are also known as output types, that this cmdlet accepts, see Cmdlet Input and Output Types. If the Output Type field is blank, the cmdlet doesn’t return data.