How to Migrate SquirrelMail to Office 365 Account – Easy Steps

When a business switches from SquirrelMail, it can maintain its historical data and, at the same time, use modern productivity tools such as Teams, OneDrive, and Outlook. This blog is to guide on how to effectively migrate SquirrelMail to Office 365. It will include a do-it-yourself option and an IMAP Backup Tool for successful migration.

Once widely used as a web client for your email inbox, SquirrelMail now feels limited in relation to current cloud platforms. And, as companies scale, there’s a greater need for collaboration, high-grade security, and integrations, all of which are offered by Office 365. Look at this query to find out the common user concerns:

“We have been using SquirrelMail for years, but it feels outdated and difficult to manage now. We’re moving everything to Office 365. How can we securely migrate our emails from SquirrelMail to Office 365 without any downtime?”

Why Migrate Mail from SquirrelMail to Office 365?

There are crucial factors that make this migration essential:

  • Sharing calendars, Teams meetings, working together on documents, etc., in O365 enables future collaboration.
  • Security enhancements (Phishing filters, DLP, and encryption) to address migration concerns are better in M365 than in SquirrelMail.
  • SquirrelMail is based on server size, and Office 365 is cloud-based. So, the latter offers scalability.
  • Continuity for business mergers, expansions, or remote work transitions is managed with Office 365.
  • Work on your data seamlessly anytime, anywhere, without being troubled by complexities.
  • O365 gets constant updates and has many subscription plans for different types of users, unlike SquirrelMail.

Which Methods Migrate SquirrelMail to Office 365?

Since this migration is from one email client to another, it’s obvious that the priority is to keep data secure! So, based on it, we will discuss a manual solution using IMAP and a professional migration utility, which helps migrate data securely and conveniently with accuracy.

Hands-On Way to Transfer SquirrelMail Emails to Office 365

As SquirrelMail supports IMAP, and Outlook is a part of the Office 365 ecosystem, you can use it as a mediator. Here are the steps to follow for the migration:

  1. First, ensure that all your emails are present within SquirrelMail.
  2. Next, start Outlook and choose to Add Account within it.
  3. Then, enter your SquirrelMail email and password and choose IMAP.
  4. Enter the server details for the IMAP server as follows (optional):
    • Incoming: mail.domain.com (Port 993 & SSL connection)
    • Outgoing: smtp.domain.com (Port 465 or 587 & SSL/TLS connection)
  5. Further, click Finish to complete syncing the SquirrelMail account to Outlook.
  6. After that, if your Office 365 account isn’t connected yet, connect it.
  7. Ensure the Exchange Server is active and all the folders appear.
  8. At last, drag emails from SquirrelMail folders and drop them in O365 folders.

Note: You can use Outlook as a mediator to transfer SquirrelMail to Gmail as well.

Drawbacks of the Manual Method

  • Slow process with high chances of error for large and bulky mailboxes.
  • No support to migrate contacts and calendars for many users at once.
  • Users must have technical expertise to perform this method.
  • Stable internet is also needed to ensure smooth IMAP connectivity.

Conventional Way to Migrate SquirrelMail to Office 365

Users struggling with the free transfers can use this reliable SysInfo IMAP Backup Tool for quick and efficient migration. This tool provides direct transfers for bulk mailbox data from several SquirrelMail accounts at once. Additionally, it offers many unique features and is easy to use for all new and expert users. Moreover, various users have found it useful during critical and urgent situations. Take a look at this real-world case:

“A consultancy firm with 50 employees used SquirrelMail hosted on their shared server. As their client data exchange grew, they faced storage limits, poor access, and frequent sync errors. They decided to process the SquirrelMail to Office 365 migration. Using the IMAP Email Backup Tool, they simply transferred all accounts, including attachments and folder structure, in just a few hours. By Monday, their employees were feasibly working in O365 without disruption.”

Steps to Migrate Mail from SquirrelMail to Office 365

  1. Launch the IMAP Backup Software and choose to log in to Single or Batch accounts.
  2. Further, enter the credentials or Import CSV to log in to your SquirrelMail account.
  3. After that, select the folders from the tree structure after preview that you have to migrate.
  4. Click Next and then choose the Office 365 email client from the list of saving options.
  5. Finally, apply filters, pick your destination mailbox, and tap Start Process.

Conclusion

The process to migrate SquirrelMail to Office 365 can be thought of as taking the data from an old, rented server and moving it onto a modern workspace powered by the cloud. SquirrelMail might’ve served us well in the past, but it has now become outdated and does not meet the demands of today. With Office 365, you are not only migrating your data to an email program. Instead, you are converting to a space that has the future of collaboration, secure communication, and business agility. The sooner we do this, the sooner we will have a unified email space, and the sooner your team benefits. And the best way to achieve it without hassle is by using an expert solution.

FAQs

Q. Can I directly transfer SquirrelMail emails to Office 365?

Ans- No, SquirrelMail does not support an export. You will either need an IMAP configuration or a SquirrelMail Migration Tool.

Q. How long will the SquirrelMail to Office 365 migration take?

Ans- It varies, depending on how large a mailbox you are working with and the number of accounts. Manual migration will take some time. An automated IMAP Migration Tool will be much faster and more efficient.

Q. Will all attachments, folder structure, and email data stay intact during migration?

Ans- Yes. If you use a smart IMAP Backup Software, your attachments, metadata, and folders will remain intact when you migrate SquirrelMail to Office 365.

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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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