Complete Export of my emails

Question

Complete Export of my emails

Rahx Rivia 20

Hi,

I am trying to create a backup alongside my current Microsoft subscription. For this, I wish to download all mails I've ever received on this email address ([mod: PII redacted]@hotmail.com).

Can you please create a complete export of all the mails I have ever received/sent on this Email address?

So everything from the very first time I created the account in 2007. When I try this, I receive a 'unknown Error'. I tried this while using the Classic Outlook for windows.

When I get it to export, it only goes back to 2025. So it seems all the old emails are archived and cannot be easily exported.

Regards,

[Moderator Note: Personal Info Removed]

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Chloe-V 15,075 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Rahx Rivia,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Please note that our forum is a public platform, and we will modify your question to hide your personal information in the description. Kindly ensure that you hide any personal or organizational information the next time you post an error or other details to protect personal data.

I understand that you need to download the complete email history from your Outlook account, including very old messages dating back to the year 2007. When Outlook only exports messages from recent years (for example, starting from the year 2025), this usually happens because the older messages have not yet been fully synchronized to your computer. I have provided the detailed steps below to help you export your entire mailbox successfully:

1. Enable full mailbox download

Open Classic Outlook.
Select File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
Double‑click your Outlook.com account.
Ensure that Use Cached Exchange Mode is enabled.
Move the slider Mail to keep offline to All.
Select Next, restart Outlook, and wait until the status bar displays “All folders are up to date.” (For very large mailboxes, this may take several hours.)

2. Export the entire mailbox to an Outlook Data File

Select File > Open and Export > Import and Export.
Choose Export to a file > Outlook Data File (.pst).
Select the top level of your mailbox (the account name) and enable Include subfolders.
Select a local folder on your computer as the save location. Please avoid saving directly into a cloud‑synchronized folder such as OneDrive or Dropbox during the export.

Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators, contributors including external Microsoft employees cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas only.

Thank you for your understanding.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Chloe-V 15,075 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-27T06:40:48.3133333+00:00

Hi Rahx Rivia,

May I know if you have got any chance to check my answer? I am glad to help if you have any other questions.
Rahx Rivia 20 Reputation points

2026-01-27T14:45:03.78+00:00

Hi @Chloe-V ,

Thanks for the reply. However, this is the approach I already tried. The export does not go beyond 2025. So anything older isn't included. I also tried by scrolling back all the way to the very first day I had the account (was in 2007). I can see all the mails and their attachments. But when I then try to export, I get an 'Unknown Error'.

I contacted support and they said they couldn't help me and gave me a link. This link only had the option to create a community ticket (I somehow didn't realize this was really part of the community, so I mistakenly added my information to it).

I also created a ticket via the 'security/privacy board'. However, even there they are sharing the same link I initially found with the steps you laid out. So I'm kind of in a loop of sorts. I have a paid 365 account stating I have over 60GB of used space, but somehow it does not seem possible to actually show me all the mails contributing to that number.

If you have any other contacts/ideas, please let me know.

Regards,

[Moderator Note: Personal Info Removed]
Rahx Rivia 20 Reputation points

2026-01-27T14:50:25.3966667+00:00

p.s

The export only exports mails until the part where you can select "View more mails from Microfost Exchange".
Chloe-V 15,075 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-28T08:10:44.86+00:00
Hi Rahx Rivia,

Thank you for your quick response.

The message you saw, “View more mails from Microsoft Exchange”, indicates that Outlook is not storing all of your emails locally. Only a portion of your mailbox is cached on your computer, and older emails remain on the Exchange server. Because of this, Outlook for Windows can only export the emails that are currently cached. Emails that must be retrieved from the server on demand will not be included in a PST export.

To ensure Outlook downloads all emails before you export, please follow the steps below to disable Cached Exchange Mode, as shown in the images:

Steps to disable Cached Exchange Mode

In Outlook, go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings…

Select your Exchange or Microsoft 365 account, then click Change…

Under Offline Settings, uncheck Use Cached Exchange Mode

(In some Microsoft 365 Semi-Annual builds, it may appear as:

“Use Cached Exchange Mode to download email to an Outlook data file”)

Click Next, then Finish

Close Outlook completely and reopen it so it can download the full mailbox.

Note: Disabling Cached Exchange Mode may affect Outlook performance temporarily because all messages must load directly from the server.
Chloe-V 15,075 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-29T06:48:11.12+00:00

Hi Rahx Rivia,

Is there any update from you?

If yes, please feel free to let us know.
Rahx Rivia 20 Reputation points

2026-01-29T19:47:31.01+00:00

Hi @Chloe-V ,

Thanks! I was not able to log on yesterday. I will try this out now and get back to you in a bit.

Regards,

R

1 additional answer

Your answer

Chloe-V 15,075 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-27T06:40:48.3133333+00:00

Hi Rahx Rivia,

May I know if you have got any chance to check my answer? I am glad to help if you have any other questions.
Rahx Rivia 20 Reputation points

2026-01-27T14:45:03.78+00:00

Hi @Chloe-V ,

Thanks for the reply. However, this is the approach I already tried. The export does not go beyond 2025. So anything older isn't included. I also tried by scrolling back all the way to the very first day I had the account (was in 2007). I can see all the mails and their attachments. But when I then try to export, I get an 'Unknown Error'.

I contacted support and they said they couldn't help me and gave me a link. This link only had the option to create a community ticket (I somehow didn't realize this was really part of the community, so I mistakenly added my information to it).

I also created a ticket via the 'security/privacy board'. However, even there they are sharing the same link I initially found with the steps you laid out. So I'm kind of in a loop of sorts. I have a paid 365 account stating I have over 60GB of used space, but somehow it does not seem possible to actually show me all the mails contributing to that number.

If you have any other contacts/ideas, please let me know.

Regards,

[Moderator Note: Personal Info Removed]
Rahx Rivia 20 Reputation points

2026-01-27T14:50:25.3966667+00:00

p.s

The export only exports mails until the part where you can select "View more mails from Microfost Exchange".
Chloe-V 15,075 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-28T08:10:44.86+00:00

Hi Rahx Rivia,

Thank you for your quick response.

The message you saw, “View more mails from Microsoft Exchange”, indicates that Outlook is not storing all of your emails locally. Only a portion of your mailbox is cached on your computer, and older emails remain on the Exchange server. Because of this, Outlook for Windows can only export the emails that are currently cached. Emails that must be retrieved from the server on demand will not be included in a PST export.

To ensure Outlook downloads all emails before you export, please follow the steps below to disable Cached Exchange Mode, as shown in the images:

Steps to disable Cached Exchange Mode

In Outlook, go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings…

Select your Exchange or Microsoft 365 account, then click Change…

Under Offline Settings, uncheck Use Cached Exchange Mode

(In some Microsoft 365 Semi-Annual builds, it may appear as:

“Use Cached Exchange Mode to download email to an Outlook data file”)

Click Next, then Finish

Close Outlook completely and reopen it so it can download the full mailbox.

Note: Disabling Cached Exchange Mode may affect Outlook performance temporarily because all messages must load directly from the server.
Chloe-V 15,075 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-29T06:48:11.12+00:00

Hi Rahx Rivia,

Is there any update from you?

If yes, please feel free to let us know.
Rahx Rivia 20 Reputation points

2026-01-29T19:47:31.01+00:00

Hi @Chloe-V ,

Thanks! I was not able to log on yesterday. I will try this out now and get back to you in a bit.

Regards,

R

Answer 1

Rahx Rivia 20

Welp...

The option to "Use Cached Exchange Mode " was/is grayed out. So I moved the "Download email from the past:" to "ALL".

However, now I cannot even see the older mails before 2025. My inbox still shows the correct number of mails, but now I can't actually go back.

Is there something I am missing here?

It seems to be downloading now actually. It took about 10 minutes to actually start.

Thanks for the help! will wait this out and see if everything is downloaded :)

Chloe-V 15,075 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-31T07:19:28.82+00:00

Hi Rahx Rivia,

Thank you for the update. What you are seeing is expected behavior while Outlook is switching to download the full mailbox. When “Download email from the past” is set to All, older messages may temporarily disappear until the synchronization from the server fully completes.

Since you mentioned that the download has started after a short delay, the best next step is to keep Outlook open until the status shows “All folders are up to date.” Once the synchronization finishes, the older emails should become visible again and available for export.

Please update after the synchronization completes, or let me know if anything appears to be stuck, and I will be happy to assist further.
Rahx Rivia 20 Reputation points

2026-01-31T14:44:01.64+00:00

Hi @Chloe-V ,

Thanks for all the help. It worked and I was able to get everything working.

I'll get my NAS backup done and re-enable my MS storage to complete my loop.

Very fortunate to have you answer and help!

Regards,

R
Chloe-V 15,075 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-01T06:16:21.4166667+00:00

Glad to hear that the issue has been resolved and everything is now working as expected.

If you encounter any other issues or have further questions, feel free to let us know.