PST Collection Tool Not Working – Solution to Import PST in Office 365

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Written By Ashwani Tiwari
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On September 15th, 2022
Reading Time 5 Minutes Reading

The PST Collection Tool or PST Capture Tool is provided by Microsoft to find PST files and to import them. But there many cases when it is reported completely or utterly broken. Why PST Collection Tool not working issue arises? This blog will discuss an easy solution to fix this issue from user end efficiently and effectively. Here explains a user query is taken from one of the Microsoft forum sites:

“I have been using Microsoft Outlook desktop version from a long time. Due to advanced features of Office 365 and its cloud storage facility, I decided to move my PST files to Office 365 account manually. I found PST collection Tool provided by Microsoft. To be honest, it was a horrific journey trying to use this product. It generated issues in each stage likely in Find mode, Collect mode, other documentation errors and even created an error on the location of PST files are saved. The found and gathered PST files that migrated to Office 365 is completely broken. The fact is, I’m shocked at how bad this PST Collection tool really is and the fact that, there is no information posted about it on the Internet.”

Fix – PST Collection Tool not Working

From the user query discussed above, it is clear that PST Collection Tool not working issue is common for the user who tries it. It clearly fails to perform the task of migrating discovered PST file data items into O365. The blog introduces a reliable alternative application to add Outlook data files into Microsoft cloud account. The SysTools Office 365 Import software is one of the best utility to migrate PST files to Office 365 account. Since PST collection tool is free utility provided by Microsoft, before going in detail with the alternative solution, we must know what is PST Capture Tool and why and how it fails.

pst collection tool not working

When PST collection Tool fails to function properly or when it fails to find PST files in the network or to or to move Microsoft email client data in Office 365 cloud account, there are two ways to resolve it.

  1. Find a solution to fix the issue
  2. Find an alternative Solution

Solution to Fix PST Collection Tool Errors

Resolving a built-in tool is not that easy. The only available solution is to uninstall and reinstall the PST Collection Tool. Still, the issues are persisting in it, then it is difficult to resolve it. You can check the error information in:

"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Exchange\PST Capture\Logs"

The PST collection Tool or PST capture Tool fails when the discovered PST files are ANSI format. If PST files are from old versions of MS Outlook, the user needs to convert those ANSI PST files to Unicode PST files. Try to use PST Capture Tool again after conversion of PST files. Still, if you found PST Collection Tool not working, go for the alternative solution to migrate Outlook data files to cloud account provided by Microsoft.

There are many third-party application available in the digital market. One of the best application is addressed here in this blog.

The Office 365 Import Tool – The Alternative Solution

When comparing PST Collection Tool and the commercial software, the second third-party application provides any advanced features. The software allows uploading multiple Outlook data files to Microsoft cloud account. It can import all personal storage folder table data items like email, contacts, calendars, Task to Office 365 user and admin account. The application also provides many other options like selective data migration, date filter options, maintains folder hierarchy etc. It provides incremental import option and software guarantee that data safety and security. And it can retain all its attributes even after migration. So Systools Cloud Data Import software can easily be used instead of PST Capture tool. So, this is the best alternative solution available when PST collection Tool, not working issues arise. Download the free demo edition of this software to know more about it. Understand the various functions and properties it provides.

For more information about the working and its steps, watch the video given. You can understand all functions and properties provided by the application in its full version; while watching this video.

Before concluding, for the users who are confused about the PST Collection Tool and its functions, go through the following section:

What are PST Collection Tool and Its Main features:

PST Collection Tool is the successor of PST Capture Tool. It is one of the best solutions to search and find PST files in the network and to import them in the O365 account. That is, it is is one of the best application provided by Microsoft to migrate Personal Folder file (PST) to Microsoft Cloud O365 accounts, On-premise Exchange 2010 environment, or to BPOS. Go through the main feature of PST Collection Tool:

pst collection tool

  • Find PST files on your network
  • Prevent users from creating new PST files
  • Prevent users from editing existing PST files
  • Copy PST files to a collection location
  • Import Outlook data items into O 365
  • Delete PST files

Verdict:

Saving data and information in the cloud is a trend today, and it is one of the important necessity today. Storing data in cloud storage will help you to protect the information from physical as well as digital attacks to a great extent. Here is the importance of Office 365. It provides a variety of features and functions to store all kind of data files and documents in its cloud. The Outlook PST files saved in the local system can be migrated to O 365 easily. Microsoft provides PST Collection Tool (PST capture Tool) at free of cost to discover and import personal folder file to cloud account. But there are many cases that, PST collection Tool, not working issues reported. The blog introduces a reliable commercial software to upload Outlook data files to Microsoft cloud account. It is one of the best application available in the market.

  author

By Ashwani Tiwari

Being a Chief Technical Analyst, I am aware of the technicalities faced by the user while working with multiple technologies. So, through my blogs and articles, I love to help all the users who face various challenges while dealing with technology.