Microsoft 365 - How To
      Back to home
      1. Help Center
      2. Microsoft Office 365
      3. Microsoft 365 - How To

      Export Content Search Results

      After a Content Search is successfully run, you can export the search results to a local computer. When you export email results, they're downloaded to your computer as PST files.

      Step 1: Prepare search results for export

      The first step is to prepare the search results for exporting. When you prepare results, they are uploaded to a Microsoft-provided Azure Storage location in the Microsoft cloud. Content from mailboxes and sites is uploaded at a maximum rate of 2 GB per hour.

      1. Go to https://protection.office.com.

      2. Sign in using your work or school account.

      3. In the left pane of the Security & Compliance Center, click Search > Content search.

      4. On the Content search page, select a search.

      5. In the details pane, under Export results to a computer, click Start export.

      6. On the Export the search results page, under Output options, choose one of the following options:

        • All items, excluding ones that have unrecognized format, are encrypted, or weren't indexed for other reasons

        • All items, including ones that have unrecognized format, are encrypted, or weren't indexed for other reasons

        • Only items that have an unrecognized format, are encrypted, or weren't indexed for other reasons

      7. Under Export Exchange content as, choose one of the following options:

        • One PST file for each mailbox: Exports one PST file for each user mailbox that contains search results. Any results from the user's archive mailbox are included in the same PST file. This option reproduces the mailbox folder structure from the source mailbox.

        • One PST file containing all messages: Exports a single PST file (named Exchange.pst) that contains the search results from all source mailboxes included in the search. This option reproduces the mailbox folder structure for each message.

        • One PST file containing all messages in a single folder: Exports search results to a single PST file where all messages are located in a single, top-level folder. This option lets reviewers review items in chronological order (items are sorted by sent date) without having to navigate the original mailbox folder structure for each item.

        • Individual messages: Exports search results as individual email messages, using the .msg format. If you select this option, email search results are exported to a folder in the file system. The folder path for individual messages is the same as the one used if you exported the results to PST files.

      8. Click the Enable de-duplication checkbox to exclude duplicate messages. This option appears only if the content sources of the search include Exchange mailboxes or public folders.

      9. Click the Include versions for SharePoint documents checkbox to export all versions of SharePoint documents. This option appears only if the content sources of the search include SharePoint or OneDrive for Business sites.

      10. Click the Export files in a compressed (zipped) folder checkbox to export search results to compressed folders. This option is available only when you choose to export Exchange items as individual messages and when the search results include SharePoint or OneDrive documents. This option is primarily used to work around the 260 character limit in Windows file path names when items are exported. See the "Filenames of exported items" in the More information section.

      11. Click Start export.

        The search results are prepared for downloading, which means they're being uploaded to the Azure Storage location in the Microsoft cloud. When the search results are ready for download, the Download exported results link is displayed under Export results to a computer in the details pane.

      Step 2: Download the search results

      The next step is to download the search results from the Azure Storage location to your local computer.

      As previously explained, you can increase the download speed by configuring a Windows Registry setting on the computer you use to export the search results.

      1. In the details pane for the search that you started the export for, under Export results to a computer, click Download exported results.

        The Download exported results window is displayed and contains the following information about the search results that will be downloaded to your computer.

        • The number of items that will be downloaded.

        • The estimated total size of the items that will be downloaded.

        • Whether indexed or unindexed will be exported. Unindexed items are items that have a recognized format, are encrypted, or weren't indexed for other reasons.

        • Whether versions of SharePoint documents will be downloaded.

        • The status of the export preparation process. You can start downloading search results even if the preparation of the data isn't complete.

      2. Under Export key, click Copy to clipboard. You use this key in step 5 to download the search results.

      3. Click Download results.

      4. If you're prompted to install the eDiscovery Export Tool, click Install.

      5. In the eDiscovery Export Tool, paste the export key that you copied in step 2 in the appropriate box.

      6. Click Browse to specify the location where you want to download the search result files.

        Due to the high amount of disk activity (reads and writes), you should download search results to a local disk drive; don't download them to a mapped network drive or other network location.

      7. Click Start to download the search results to your computer.

        The eDiscovery Export Tool displays status information about the export process, including an estimate of the number (and size) of the remaining items to be downloaded. When the export process is complete, you can access the files in the location where they were downloaded.

       

      Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/export-search-results?view=o365-worldwide