Using & Syncing Outlook 365 using the same pst on both PC & Mac devices

Question

Hi,

I am migrating from a PC to a Mac environment. I just purchased Office 365 Family. I have uploaded my main Outlook.pst to OneDrive. I have a few questions that I can't seem to find answers via Q&A.

1. How do I set up my main PST to be used from multiple devices? I thought uploading to OneDrive would allow me to access that or at least sync with the same named PST on the devices.
2. When I go to my online Outlook.com from a browser, my PST is not there. Yet, it is on my Outlook 365 app on my PC.
3. I am sure I do not understand how the PST is used and shared across multiple devices. Eventually, I want to only access my PST from my Mac and have it sycn with the same named file on OneDrive. What am I missing?
4. Once I accomplish this integration, I want to sync Outlook & my named PST to my iPhone & iPad via Office 365 (& Outlook 365).
   Please help!

Answer 1

Hi @Bob R ,

Welcome to our forum!

1. It is not recommended to store an active pst file in OneDrive. Because it will continuously try to upload the file and thus use a lot of network bandwidth. It is very likely that this will end up in an incomplete or otherwise corrupted online copy which will sync to another device and/or back to your computer and result in a complete loss of the pst-file.
2. An Outlook Data File (.pst) contains your messages and other Outlook items and is saved on your computer. If you have a Microsoft 365 or Exchange or Outlook.com account, you could try to import the pst file into your account via Outlook Desktop App, and it will be synced to server. Aslo Mac, iPhone and iPad will sync with the server.
   To import the pst file, refer to the following steps: Step1: Create a new folder, select it and click File
   Step2: Select Open & Export > Import/Export. This starts the Import/Export wizard
   Step3: Select Import from another program or file, and then click Next.
   Step4: Select Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next. Step5: Browse to the .pst file you want to import. Under Options, choose how you want to deal with emails and contacts, then choose Next.
   Step6: Choose Import items into the current folder. This imports the data into the folder currently selected.
   

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Answer 2

Are you using POP email accounts? That's the only context in which your request seems to make sense. If you switch to IMAP for your email, there is a common email repository stored on your email server, and all devices have access to all messages and folders.

If you switch to IMAP, you can upload all your existing messages to the folder system you create, so you won't lose any data.