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Written By
Simran Bhatia -
Approved By
Sonika Rawat -
Updated on
August 11th, 2025 -
Read Time
7 minutes
Summary: Whether you are an IT administrator managing a population of users that is ever-expanding, or simply managing mail. The ability to migrate Public Folder to Shared Mailbox is both timely and practical. When migrating public folders, you are transferring not only data but also permissions, structure, and user access. That is intact with zero data or service interruptions, paramount for a good experience and successful operation. Let’s make this a little easier for you with relevant solutions, including an Office 365 Backup Tool.
In the past, public folders were often a choice for sharing email, calendars, and contacts with other users in their organization. However, in a modern collaborative, cloud-based experience, public folders have served as a hindrance in many ways to users. Shared mailboxes are, instead, much more user-friendly, have adherence capabilities for compliance, and integrate very well in Office 365.
There are a lot of practical benefits to making or suggesting this transition from public folder back to shared mailbox:
Folder Size and Permission Complexity Matter
Before migration, review your public folder structure. Larger public folders (20+ GB) and folders with nested permissions often fail when manually exported.
Use the Get-PublicFolderStatistics and Get-PublicFolderClientPermission cmdlets to assess the folder structure and review any potential permission collisions in advance.
In addition, keep in mind:
Finally, even if you are establishing hybrid migrations, merely transitioning from a legacy on-premises Exchange-based infrastructure. Or just streamlining your infrastructure, public folder to shared mailbox migration should be a very simple part of your process.
Everyone is stuck in the same loop of moving folders from one Office 365 mailbox folder to another. But not anymore, as this section elaborates on two top-notch solutions that make the migration quick, smooth, and effective. Here, find the manual and professional tool step-by-step guide and use them as per your requirements and availability.
Microsoft Outlook has a supported method to follow using the Import/Export wizard. We have divided it into two sections for a clearer understanding.
Note: Use Outlook attached to the on-prem Exchange to extract your data.
Further, to migrate Public Folder to Shared Mailbox, import the PST manually:
You have completed the process to migrate public folders to Office 365 shared mailbox. But isn’t it too tricky and complex? Yes, it is.
Other Drawbacks of the Manual Method
But any user can easily overcome these and perform a swift and hassle-free migration with a dedicated utility.
When the manual process becomes challenging (especially for larger enterprise migrations), the best option is the SysInfo Office 365 Backup Tool. It allows you to migrate from public folders to shared mailboxes directly, while preserving permissions, folder structure, and timestamps. In addition, it’s useful for detailed migration reports and for handling errors, while maintaining security and compliance. Moreover, it is free of the system environment, i.e., ideal for both Mac and Windows.
Do You Know?
Apart from the ability to convert public folder to shared mailbox, this tool can export Office 365 to CSV and many other formats.
To understand how it helps all technical and non-technical users, take a look at this case scenario:
Real Case“We had over 80 GB of public folder content with complex permission layers. Using the sysInfo Office 365 Email Backup Tool, we preserved every hierarchy level and mailbox mapping. What would have taken days manually was completed over the weekend with zero user complaints on Monday.” — IT Head, Delhi MNC
Migrate Public Folders to Office 365 Shared Mailbox: Steps
The ability to migrate public folder to shared mailbox is more than just a technical decision. It’s a decision to upgrade toward a flexible cloud-first communications solution. So, while manual methods will get by in smaller environments. Organizations that have broad regulatory, performance, or scale considerations would be better served with a professional tool.
Ans- Yes, but only with a professional Office 365 Mail Backup Tool. Manual methods won’t retain permissions.
Ans- Yes. The tool, like Microsoft 365 Backup, which supports CSV-based mappings and auto-discovery, makes large-scale or multi-mailbox migration simple.
Ans- Of course, yes. When you migrate public folders to Office 365 shared mailbox with the Office 365 Backup & Restore software, opt for the Free Server Space filter. It will free the public folder’s data after the migration completes.
About The Author:
Simran Bhatia is a technical content writer engaged in writing clear, concise, and SEO-optimized content. With a background in computer science and a passion for writing, I thrive to deliver complex technical content in simple layman terms.
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