The necessity of email communication is increasing day by day. That’s why email platforms are getting updated quite quickly. As a consequence, users feel the necessity of migrating from one email client to another.
In this article, we will discuss how you can migrate your emails from IMAP to Office 365 using manual methods and professional tools i.e., Regain IMAP Backup and Migration Tool. To know the process properly, keep reading!
IMAP mail server vs. Office 365
Basically, IMAP isn’t an email client. Rather, it’s an email-communicating protocol. Several well-known email clients (like Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, etc.) support the IMAP protocol. Actually, the IMAP server allows users to access their emails and attachments without downloading them to the local device. Instead, you can access data from anywhere on the email server.
On the other hand, Office 365 is a well-known email client that comes with all the modern features. Besides email communication, you can access Excel, Word, PowerPoint, One Note, and many more features in Office 365.
If you already have any email clients connected to the IMAP server, then you can also connect the IMAP mail server to Office 365 and easily migrate to Office 365.
Why migrate IMAP email to Office 365?
- Office 365 provides a suite of advanced tools (like Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, and others). These tools make the workflow faster.
- With robust security features, Office 365 protects against cyber threats, data breaches, and unauthorized access.
- Being a cloud-based platform, Office 365 offers scalability and flexibility to accommodate the changing needs of organizations.
- Office 365 helps organizations comply with industry regulations and standards by offering built-in compliance features such as eDiscovery, legal hold, archiving, and retention policies.
- As a cloud-based service, Office 365 receives regular updates, feature enhancements, and new capabilities from Microsoft.
Things to know before you migrate your IMAP mailbox to Office 365
Before migrating IMAP mailboxes to Office 365, there are several important factors to consider to ensure a smooth and safe migration. Here are the key things you should know before initiating the migration:
- If your user mailbox is quite large in size, try to have patience during the migration period. Because it may take a little bit extra time.
- The migration procedure is quite critical. So, try to read it more than one time, or you can watch any video tutorials.
- Try to keep a backup of your mailbox on your IMAP server. It will help you in the event of any kind of data loss.
- Ensure that you have the appropriate Office 365 licenses and subscriptions for the number of users and mailboxes being migrated.
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How do I migrate from IMAP to Office 365?
With the help of the Microsoft Exchange Admin Center, you can migrate from IMAP. But the process is not quite easy. To properly make migration, try to follow the steps as follows:
- First, login to your Microsoft 365 Admin Center account, then scroll down, and at the left bar, click on “Exchange.” It will redirect you to a new tab, Open Exchange Admin Center.
- On the left bar, select “Migration.”.
- At the top-left bar, click on “Endpoints.”.
- On the “Endpoints” window, click on “Add.”.
- In the “Select the Migration Type” field, select “IMAP.”.
- Enter any name in the “Migration Endpoints Name” field. On the “IMAP Server” field, enter the IP provided by your mail server. Check out all the fields and fill them out according to the correct details.
- You can select “SSL” on the “Encryption” field and check the box for “Accept untrusted certificates.”.
- After you fill- out the details, click on “Create,” and soon you will see the “Created Successfully” window. In case you get any error messages, try to select “None” on the “Encryption” field.
- Now click on “Add Migration Batch.”.
- Type any name in the “Give migration batch a unique name” field. On the “Select the mailbox migration path” field, select “Migration to Exchange Online” and click “Next” at the bottom of the page.
- Select “IMAP Migration” in the “Select the Migration Type field” and click “Next.”.
- Just click on “Next” on this “Prerequisites for IMAP Migration” window.
- Now choose the Microsoft Endpoints that you created earlier.
- Click on “Browse” and add a csv file with the credentials (email address, username, and password) of all the users.
- On “Select configuration settings,” you don’t need to select anything; just click on “Next.”.
- Add at least one email address to track the migration status and click on “Save” at the bottom of the page.
- Lastly, you can view the status of the migration. The migration will take some time. It completely depends on the size of the mailboxes.
Note: When it comes to Office 365 migrations, the manual method can be tedious and often requires technical assistance. Instead, consider leveraging the Regain IMAP Backup and Migration Tool for a smoother process. This tool offers an intuitive interface and powerful features, making Office 365 migrations easy. Seamlessly transfer emails, contacts, calendars, and other data from IMAP servers to Office 365 with ease. Save time and effort by avoiding the complexities of manual migration. Trust Regain IMAP Migration Tool to simplify your transition to Office 365. You can use this utility to migrate IMAP email to new server.
Conclusion
Though with IMAP, users can easily access their email messages without downloading them, with the evolution of technologies, users want more features. Therefore, Office 365 has become popular among users and organizations as it provides all the advanced features.
Any IMAP mail server-to-Office 365 migration is nowadays quite a common phenomenon. Because of the Exchange Admin Center, you can perform the migration easily. But try to keep a backup of your mailboxes to prevent accidental data loss. You can also take the consulting services if required.
