PST Capture Configuration Options

Once the Central Service component is installed we can open the configuration console and start exploring what's available. The interface is quite simple. Here we find all we need to manage the tasks this application is designed to handle, seeking PSTs, transferring them to the Central Service and importing to Exchange.

To get to the configuration options go to Tools | Settings. Here the settings are grouped in seven categories. Unsurprisingly the first of these is the one that takes us to the environment Microsoft likes best, Exchange Online.

Online Connection - If running Exchange on the Cloud enter the credentials and server to connect to.

Message Import - Specify how the imported items are to be merged into the destination mailboxes. The basic choice is between creating a separate folder tree under the user mailbox and merging directly the imported items in the current mailbox folder structure.

Keeping the imported items in a separate folder tree is normally considered to be the safest approach. This is especially true since here we are configuring global settings that may apply to many users. At the end of the article we see what the folder structure looked like after an import with the default settings shown here.

Archive mailbox - If using the Exchange 2010 Archive Mailbox functionality, then this will normally be the best destination for these imports.

Non-mail items - By default only emails are imported but we can choose to import other items as well.

Staging Area - Basically this is the temporary disk location where PSTs are saved until the Central Service completes the import. Keeping an eye on this directory during an import, you will see PST files being created here and deleted automatically.

Import tolerance - Here we specify the number of errors the import process should allow before aborting the operation.

General - Here we have a mix of settings. At the top we have the port number the Central Service listens to. Agents installed on user machines will need to have the same port number, we highlighted this in Installing PST Capture, when discussing the Agent installation.

Following that we have the refresh intervals PST Capture works with. Agents will check for changes at the Central Service every few minutes as specified here.