How to Export your Microsoft 365 Data

If you’re about to lose your university Microsoft 365 license, you can back up your email, contacts, and files before your account is deactivated. Once your license is reclaimed, you’ll lose access to Outlook, OneDrive, and other online services, and your mailbox data will be deleted. There is still no native “one‑click” or direct Microsoft‑supported conduit from a Microsoft 365 mailbox straight into a Gmail account (especially personal Gmail).

Export Your Email

If you still have access to the Outlook desktop app (which you should have while your license is active), you can create a backup:

1. Open Outlook with your school account.
2. Go to File → Open & Export → Import/Export.
3. Select Export to a file → Outlook Data File (.pst).
4. Choose your mailbox (and subfolders) to include.
5. Save the file to your computer.

Tip: Large mailboxes may take hours to export. You can also manually forward important emails to a personal account before starting the export.

 Export Contacts

1. In Outlook, go to File → Open & Export → Import/Export.
2. Choose Export to a file → Comma Separated Values (.csv) or vCard (.vcf).
3. Save the file to your computer.

Back Up OneDrive Files

1. Go to onedrive.com and select the files/folders you want.
2. Click Download and save as a ZIP file to your computer.
3. Alternatively, transfer files to a personal OneDrive account or another cloud service (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.).

Update Linked Accounts

Before your account closes, update any accounts or services using your university email (e.g., banking, social media, subscriptions) to a personal email.

Important Reminders

• Start early — large exports can take time.
• Only back up what you’re allowed to keep — avoid restricted or sensitive university data.
• Shared files should be transferred to another owner before your license is re-assigned.