Working with archived files – exporting from the archive in .pst or .zip format

TECH-ARROW’s contentACCESS Portal continues to push the boundaries in providing customers a flexible and agile tool to manipulate their archive with. In addition to the standard offerings, contentACCESS Portal includes a number of non-standard features above and beyond other archives as part of our offer. These features set us apart and let our users take advantage of their archives to its fullest potential.

One of these features is our ability to export emails and files back out from the archive in either .zip or .PST format, while maintaining the archive’s integrity and security. This process gives our customers a number of options for continuing to work with their archived information, as well as a crucial way of providing requested documentation in the case of eDiscovery requests. If you find yourself in a situation where you are asked to provide relevant documents or digital evidence for criminal proceedings, you must expect that these will include data from email accounts, social profiles, databases, internal systems and applications, digital images, website content and all other electronic information that may have been generated.

Here, we will demonstrate the process of exporting archived files and how it fluidly interacts with the rest of contentACCESS’ functions and features. The process is simple, as is the user interface.

How to best and most efficiently use contentACCESS’ export process

The first step in exporting files is navigating to the powerful contentACCESS Portal search system.

The search allows you, through the tags on the right-hand side, to better define what precisely you are looking for. For example, in the case of an eDiscovery request, it might be the email string from one particular sender. Our search system allows the user to quickly and efficiently define the filter criteria and ensure that they receive the most immediately relevant results.

In either case, after the search has been completed, on the top of the list of matching items identified in the archive you will find three dots. Their associated menu presents you with several options – the two relevant ones being “Export selected message(s) as a PST file” and “Export selected message(s) as a ZIP file.” Note that exporting to PST files (files with the .pst extension, designating Outlook Personal Storage Files) is only possible for lists that only contain items from the email archive.

Selecting one of the options will open the following dialogue windows. After making your selection regarding the name of the file, which items in the results to export, and under which tenant to register the export under, confirming your choices will create a new export task.

The export task will then populate under the tasks list, accessible via a dropdown menu on the top right corner. From here, you can select the option to download the file. In the case of a ZIP file, the download will contain not only a folder of the downloaded items but also an automatically generated , which will provide a summary of the items.

The Excel manifest file also contains links (visible only once one has entered edit mode) which allow the user to navigate to the desired file provided the .zip folder was extracted. In this way, you can rapidly find individual items in your export even in the case of multiple files and efficiently filter the list by attachments, sender or recipient as necessary.

Ensuring archive safety without sacrificing efficiency – only with TECH-ARROW

At the same time, the ability to export files can be configured by the system administrator to ensure company data is held secure. Administrators can set roles for individuals or groups in their company that restrict their ability to export documents, helping to maintain security and prevent the theft or leakage of internal company data. In this way, archived files can be pulled out of the archive for further use if it becomes desirable while still ensuring company-wide safety and control. This allows for a quick but flexible approach to working with archives, avoiding the necessity of submitting export requests to a centralized system administrator team and increasing the efficiency of your company.

Is your enterprise ready to take the next step in archiving? TECH-ARROW can offer free consultations with our team to determine which of our products are best for you. Contact us to schedule yours today.

Take the best steps to protect your data – with TECH-ARROW.

Microsoft 365 archive

by Matúš Koronthály