How to Open/View EDB File with Free EDB Viewer Tool?

Extensible Storage Engine Database (EDB) file is created by the MS Exchange, which stores the mailboxes and public folders in an organization. The EDB file stores all mailbox items such as emails, attachments, contacts, calendar items, notes, etc. It also stores deleted mailbox items, which can be restored if a user deletes them accidentally.

You can open the EDB file in MS Exchange by mounting it. However, if the database is offline, you cannot open or access the mailboxes. In such cases, you can either mount the database to the Exchange server or use a free EDB viewer to open and view the mailboxes and mail items stored in the EDB file.

Why Admins need to open/view EDB file?

There are many reasons why an admin would need to open or view an EDB file, but here are the most common reasons.

• An administrator would need to inspect the contents of an EDB file following an investigation of an issue with the Exchange Server. If the database is not mounting, emails might be missing or any other database inconsistencies with the server itself.
• There could be cases of data recovery after an accidental/malicious deletion of data and the administrator would need to recover a set of emails or resources from a backup or from the deleted items.
• Migration and consolidation purposes would require the administrator to extract the data to migration data between Exchange Servers or even to migrate to Office 365.
• Cleanup processes would be needed from time to time where some mailboxes, public folders, or shared mailboxes are not needed anymore an these would be exported to PST so that the resource in Exchange Server can be deleted. Such archives or server backups are needed and restored in case there is the need in the future.
• There could be other processes which would not be related to technical faults or technicalities. For compliance purposes, audit data and other information would need to be reviewed and accessed to ensure data integrity while monitoring user activity so that security incidents investigations can be carried out.
• Administrators would need to extract data from EDB files so that they can perform data analysis and reporting which will gain vital information for the upkeep and maintenance of the server with email usage patterns, storage trends and compliance metrics, which will help them to prepare for the next IT budget for expansion.

Manual Method to Open or View EDB file

There is no method to manually open an EDB file as it must be accessed by an Exchange Server interface or Management Shell via PowerShell. One can use the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) to export a mailbox to PST and this would be portable and viewable by Outlook.

Alternatively for more export features and scripting, one can use the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) and use the New-MailboxExportRequest to export as the below example.

Drawbacks of Manual Methods

Using the manual method, one must ensure that the Exchange Server is running as it should be along with the database being mounted, otherwise, the data will not be exportable. When exportin with the Exchange Admin Center (EAC), you can only export one-by-one and there isn’t any granularity or export criteria. Although the PowerShell method does offer more features where one can select specific folders or date range, it’s complex to create and familiarize oneself with the parameters.

One also needs to consider the fact that this would require manual intervention, so this means that there is a larger margin of human error and mistakes can be made.

In the manual method we have the limitation that the database must be mounted, and the Exchange Server is running, as well as limited export features. So, to view the data, one must first export and then open it with Outlook, which could be a lengthy and a time-consuming task.

A free EDB viewer such as Stellar Converter for EDB comes handy when the Exchange server is down or unavailable. It saves the user from rebuilding and investing time and effort in setting up an Exchange server just to view the EDB files.

Further, this tool lets you convert the EDB file to Outlook importable PST format for quick and easy migration of mailboxes from one Exchange server to another or one Outlook account to another.

Steps to Open/View EDB File with Free EDB Viewer Tool

To open and view EDB files, you need to download the free EDB viewer tool, i.e., Stellar Converter for EDB. You can install it on Windows 10, 8.1, 8, & 7, or Windows Server 2016, 2012, & 2008. Then follow these steps to open and view EDB file without Exchange,

• Launch Stellar Converter for EDB on the server or PC and select the Hosted Exchange for online (mounted EDB) or Offline EDB option to view dismounted EDB file

• Click 'Browse' to select the dismounted (currently offline) EDB file that you want to view

• Click 'Next' to scan the EDB file. It will list all the mailboxes and mail items that you can preview, including deleted mailboxes

Save EDB Mailboxes to PST

After the preview, you can save the EDB data to PST format and then view the mailbox items anytime by importing it into MS Outlook. You can also import the PST to a different Exchange server or Office 365 after activating the software.

The steps to save EDB mailboxes to PST are as follows,

• After scan and preview, select the mailboxes that you want to save as PST and click on 'Save'
• From the save options, choose Export to PST and click 'Next'

• Click 'Browse' to choose a save location and then click 'OK'

Export Offline EDB to Live Exchange Server

• Enter the Exchange 2019 admin credentials,
• Select the Exchange version from the drop-down menu
• Enter Server Name, Admin Mailbox, & Password
• Click the checkbox for AutoMap. The AutoMap function auto-connects the users with their specified mailboxes on Live Exchange server
• Click 'OK'
• This opens a new window where you can manually map the Source Mailbox with Destination Mailbox
• Post mapping, click on '' This starts exporting the mailboxes from the EDB file to Exchange server
• After the export completes, the software displays a message 'Export process completed successfully'

Similarly, you may also export the Exchange Mailboxes to Office 365 account or save the EDB data in other formats, such as EML, MSG, RTF, PDF, & HTML.

Why Use Free EDB Viewer Tool to Open/View EDB Files?

A free EDB viewer tool, such as Stellar Converter for EDB, helps you open and view all kinds of EDB files, whether created by Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003, 2000, or 5.5 version. Also, it has the following features:

• Opens and previews the mailboxes and mail items from EDB files
• Displays and recovers the deleted mailboxes and mail items
• Allows you to view hosted (online) and offline EDB file, without dismounting or mounting the Exchange database files
• Opens and views EDB file of any size - No file size limit
• Reads the EDB file and displays its contents in a tree-structure, which makes it easy to navigate through several mailboxes and mail items
• Advanced filters to filter mails based on date, source, destination, etc.
• Options to navigate between Mails, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, Search, and Journal views at the bottom of the left pane with a mouse click

Further, Stellar Converter for EDB is recommended by several MVPs and IT administrators. It helps Exchange admins to efficiently migrate the mailboxes from one Exchange server to another in a few clicks, archive EDB data and supports all Exchange versions.

Conclusion

When Exchange is not available, and you want to open and view offline EDB files, a free EDB viewer tool such as Stellar Converter for EDB can be extremely useful. It lets you open EDB file and view mailboxes without setting up an Exchange server or mounting the database file.

By using this free EDB viewer tool, you can also view and recover accidentally deleted mailboxes and mailbox items, such as emails, attachments, contacts, calendar, notes, tasks, etc. Further, you can save the EDB to PST and other formats, such as MSG, EML, RTF, HTML, and PDF, or export the mailbox items to Live Exchange or Office 365 accounts directly.

By converting the EDB file to other formats, you can open and view the EDB data via email client apps such as Outlook, MS Office, or even a web browser.