If you want to migrate Exchange to Office 365, you’re on the right blog. Even though the same company makes both email platforms, switching from an on-premises to a cloud-based platform is challenging. As a result, Exchange to Office 365 migration necessitates careful planning and a specialized Office 365 migration tool.
I’ll go over a couple of methods for migrating Exchange to Office 365 in a hassle manner. But first, let’s look at some benefits of Exchange to Office 365 migration.
Why Office 365 instead of Exchange Server?
- Users may access their emails from anywhere using any scalable device with Office 365.
- It also has the capability of supporting a more impressive number of mailboxes.
- Office 365 has more advanced security features than Exchange Server.
- It can also support a more significant number of mailboxes.
- Office 365 users don’t need to update it because Microsoft automates its care and updates.
This post describes several manual ways to migrate Exchange to Office 365. One uses an automated Office migration tool, while manual methods do not perform ideally.
Exchange-to-Office 365 migration methods:
Method 1: Export Exchange Mailboxes to PST:
If you are in Exchange 2007 or an early version, use the export-mailbox command or ExMerge software to export mailboxes to PST. If you are in Exchange 2010 SP1 or above editions, use the New-MailboxExportRequest PowerShell cmdlet to export mailboxes to PST. After extracting your mailbox PST, you can quickly integrate PST into Office 365 via Import wizard.
Method 2: Move mailboxes to Office 365:
Following are the procedures to migrate Exchange to Office 365 directly. Regardless, these procedures involve more planning, preparation, and consent.
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Cutover Office 365 Migration:
With fewer than 2000 mailboxes, a simple cutover exchange to Office 365 migration is the way to go. But it’s not a great idea to choose specific items to move using Exchange Server 2003, 2007, 2010, or 2013. It might work for you in some situations. But Microsoft only endorses using it to move just under 150 users due to the apparent number. The process requires significant accounts to migrate Exchange to Office 365.
Note: It is indicated that cutover migration necessitates a re-design to connect Outlook users’ profiles with Office 365.
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Staged Migration:
If you wish to transfer everything from Exchange to Office 365 in phases, a staged migration can help you. The staged technique can migrate all mailboxes and current users from Exchange 2003 or 2007 to Office 365. This method moves mailboxes in batches over a set period. This step uses a directory sync tool that copies your user accounts to the Active Directory database.
Users can transmit and accept emails that haven’t been moved yet with a staged Exchange to Office 365 migration process. Resource users will be the only ones who can see the calendars and delegates.
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Hybrid deployment:
You can connect Office 365 to on-premises Exchange and directory services with a hybrid deployment. It makes it easier to move Exchange to Office 365. It will sync and modify both of your user profiles. You can also synchronize passwords and set up a single sign-on for your users to log in. It helps to login into both environments with just one password. It’s important to note that it can move more than 2,000 mailboxes—this method support only users from Exchange Server 2010 and the most recent versions.
All of the above Exchange to Office 365 migration strategies are free. But, they only work with specific mailbox numbers and Exchange edition. These manual ways have the following downsides and limitations.
Native methods limitations:
- Manual mailbox migration requires complete expertise.
- The time it takes to complete the migration is hard to predict.
- Item filter, search, and process status preview are not options.
- It does not ensure the items are thoroughly in the correct mailbox.
- Because of some reasonably minor human error, the data may be at risk, and the procedure may fail.
We understand that manual methods do not provide the best results for Exchange to Office 365 migration. You can avoid problems using an automated method. Let’s know it is discussed in the following section.
Method 3: Specialized Office migration tool:
Shoviv software provides a powerful tool to migrate Exchange to Office 365 with excellence. Throughout the process, the user interface is straightforward and intuitive. You can use it to migrate multiple sources, including EDB files/Live Exchange/ Outlook storage/Office 365 mailboxes. This Exchange to Office 365 migration tool can be used by anyone, even somebody who isn’t tech-savvy. There’s no need to include any more hardware support. You just need to put your source Exchange and your target Office 365 login credentials.
This tool has a great feature called “incremental export.” The tool will let you resume the interrupted process if you check this option. It also prevents doing the same thing twice with the same target.
You can also use options like Search and Filter, which are more helpful. You can filter items out of or add items from the source mailbox based on different criteria.
Wrap up:
I hope this guide helped you figure out how to migrate Exchange to Office 365. For this migration, it doesn’t look like manual methods will work. The professional tool from Shoviv is a master solution. We’ve discussed some of the most excellent options about this tool, but it has many more. Anyone can use its free demo version to observe them. The demo version will only work on the first 50 items per folder. Choose this Exchange to Office 365 migration tool that takes care of your data, time, and expectations.
