How to do IMAP Migration in Office 365 - Step-by-Step Free Tutorial

Differences: IMAP and O365

What is the Need to Migrate IMAP Emails to Office 365?

Switching from the current IMAP service provider to Office 365 is beneficial in multiple ways. Some of the significant reasons are as follows:

• Easy integration with other applications, highly secure, and portable.
• Provides large storage space for emails and other mailbox items.
• Also, it offers custom email addresses, is regularly updated, and has backup options.
• Moreover, Office 365 is a feature-rich application with search functions and more.
• In addition, you can take a backup to avoid accidental loss while you Fix IMAP Server Not Responding Error.

How to Transfer IMAP Emails to Office 365?

Users can easily move emails from the IMAP-enabled email server to Office 365 using the Internet Message Access Protocol. This can be done with the manual method. Alternatively, for an instant transfer, they can opt for a professional tool. But before beginning, some prerequisites must be ensured:

• Around 500,00 mailbox items can be migrated from one user email account to another.
• The maximum size limit for an email message is 35MB.
• Only the email mailbox or other email folders can be shifted. However, one cannot migrate other items like contacts, calendars, tasks, journals, to-do’s, etc.

Migrate IMAP Emails to Office 365 Manually

We will perform this method with the help of 0365 Exchange Admin Center and Windows Powershell. To shift user mailbox emails utilizing IMAP in Office 365 administrator, follow the below-given steps:

1. Firstly, create users in the MS Office 365 account and assign licenses to them respectively.
2. Now, go to your IMAP email and select the mailbox data to migrate. Ensure to verify your domain
3. Next, set up your admin credentials and give full access to IMAP mailboxes.
4. Test the server connection with the command: Test-MigrationServerAvailability -IMAP -RemoteServer -Port [143 or 993] -Security [None, SSL, or TLS]
5. Afterward, you need to create a CSV file including the following details given below for all user mailboxes.
   
   • Email Address
   • Username and
   • Password
6. Further, create a migration endpoint to establish a connection between the O365 account and the source IMAP account.
   
   • Command to create endpoint: New-MigrationEndpoint -IMAP -Name[...] -RemoteServer [imap.containermailserver.com]: 993/SSL
   • Command to verify the configuration: Get-MigrationEndpoint | Format-[List EndpointType, RemoteServer, Port, Security]
7. Subsequently, create a migration batch to transfer mailboxes. Run the command: New-MigrationBatch -Name [...] -SourceEndpoint [IMAPEndpoint] -CSVData ([System.IO.File]:: ReadAllBytes(“C:\Users\Administrator\Path\Name.csv”)) –AutoStart Once this process is complete, verify the transfer.
8. Later, change the DNS record named MX record to route your mails to Office 365 account.
9. Once the routing is successful, delete the migration batch to stop synchronization. Use the command: Remove-MigrationBatch -Identity [Name]

Manual Method Limitations

• Incorrect application of instructions could lead to permanent data loss.
• The approach is lengthy, time-consuming, and tricky.
• Suitable for a minimal number of email messages.
• There is a high need for technical expertise and assistance in this method.

Migrate IMAP Emails to Office 365 Using Expert Solution

If you are exploring an easy approach, then this technique may be an ideal choice for you. The SysInfo IMAP Backup Tool is expertly intended to move IMAP messages to the Office 365 mailbox. The interface provides the benefit of exporting single or multiple IMAP messages without prior technical knowledge. Moreover, this tool offers numerous filters to sort data based on date range, manage duplicates and attachments, and so on. Additionally, it has some exclusive features, that make this software reliable, such as:

• High compatibility with Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, Vista, XP, etc.
• Export IMAP emails to Outlook PST, PDF, MBOX, and other file formats.
• Migrates IMAP to Gmail, Yahoo, Office 365, and various email clients.

Steps to Migrate IMAP Emails to Office 365

1. Launch the tool on the system as administrator
2. Select Single/Batch Mode depending on the IMAP accounts you want to use.
3. Next, enter your IMAP account credentials and hit Log In.
4. Expand the tree structure and select files to migrate. Click Next.
5. Further, select Office 365 from the drop-down menu to save data.
6. Now, click Login and complete browser authentication for your 0365.
7. Once it is completed, go back to the tool, select User ID, and click Next.
8. Afterward, choose the mailbox where you want to export and hit Next.
9. Select the filters that you want to apply and lastly, click Convert.

Conclusion

The above methods are an easy-to-use solution to migrate IMAP emails to Office 365 decisively. Considering the manual approach limitations, it may give conflicting outcomes. Hence, it is advised for an individual to use a secure professional tool to get adequate results. Ensure that in such scenarios, you always maintain a backup.