Top 3 Methods to Migrate Outlook Mailbox to Office 365

No doubt Outlook is the most used email client by organizations. But the cloud is a need of the hour because of its several benefits. Due to this, organizations are moving from their desktop Outlook to the Microsoft 365 cloud platform.

Microsoft 365 is a complete package that every organization needs right now. It provides different apps such as Teams, SharePoint, Word, Excel, and many more to increase the collaboration between team members. Organizations can also enjoy the multiple benefits of Microsoft 365 Cloud services. So, before discussing the methods to export Outlook emails to Office 365 let’s deep dive into the benefits of Office 365.

Benefits of Migrating Outlook Emails to Office 365

1. Access Anywhere – By migrating Outlook emails to Outlook 365, you can access emails from any location with the help of the Internet.
2. Regular backups – Office 365 has its policies to take the backup of the data regularly.
3. Advanced Security – There are multiple advanced security algorithms to enhance data security. Due to this, the chances of data loss are reduced.
4. Improves Collaboration – Microsoft 365 comes with different collaborating apps such as OneDrive and SharePoint through which you can collaborate with the other team members and work on the same task easily.
5. Cost Effective – Office 365 works on the subscription model and you only need to pay for what you use. You can easily add or remove the users as per the requirement.
6. Advanced Spam Filters – In today’s world where most of the data breaches occur. Office 365 provides advanced spam filters to filter out malicious data.

How to Migrate Outlook Mailbox to Office 365?

It’s time to discuss the methods to perform migration. There are three different methods through which you can accomplish your task. One is the Outlook Desktop method. The second is the Network upload which requires so much technical knowledge. But, to move Outlook emails to Office 365, you need to create an Outlook data file from Outlook first.

Create PST File from Outlook

• Step 1. Run the Outlook application and go to File.
• Step 2. Then choose Open&Export >> Import/Export.
• Step 3. Select Export to a file and then Outlook data file >> Next.
• Step 4. Select the mailbox and browse the location to save the resulting file.
• Step 5. Click on the Finish button.

Now, the Outlook data file is created. So, let’s move to the methods in detail so that you can choose between them accordingly.

Method 1. Migrate Using Desktop Outlook

In this method, you need to configure the Office account to the Outlook. After setting up the destination Office 365 account in Outlook. You have to execute the below steps to export Outlook emails to Office 365.

• Step 1. Open File >> Open & Export then Import/Export.
• Step 2. Select Import from another program or file and Next.
• Step 3. Choose the Outlook data file and then Next.
• Step 4. Browse the file and Next.
• Step 5. Now, choose the option of importing items into the same folder and Finish.

This method is a good choice for moving the Outlook data file to Office 365 for a single user. But when there is a requirement to migrate the data of multiple users into Office 365, then this method becomes cumbersome and takes a lot of time.

Method 2. Network Upload to Migrate Outlook Mailbox to Office 365

After getting the Outlook data file, you can go with the second method which is performed with the Microsoft provided feature. Below are the essential steps that you need to follow.

• Step 1. Move to the Compliance.microsoft.com.
• Step 2. Select the Data Lifecycle Management then Microsoft 365 and Import.
• Step 3. After opening the Import tab, click on + New import job.
• Step 4. Select the option of Upload your data from the wizard.
• Step 5. Make sure to copy the SAS URL then Download and Install the Azure AzCopy tool.
• Step 6. Run the cmd on the local system and execute the command
  azcopy.exe copy “<Source location of PST files>” “<SAS URL>”
• Step 7. Use Azure Storage Explorer to verify the status of the files.
• Step 8. Prepare a CSV file, which specifies the location of the mailboxes.
• Step 9. Upload CSV file by hitting on + Select mapping file and Validate.
• Step 10. Click on the Save and Close.
• Step 11. Select or exclude the data based on data age and click on the Import data.

Limitations of Using Network Upload Method

• It is a time-consuming process to import large data.
• This approach is very complex due to this, the admins are also avoiding it.
• Requires uninterrupted internet bandwidth to migrate Outlook emails to Office 365.
• Chances of data loss are high.
• It is available in some of the countries only.
• Supports only the 2 GB Outlook data files.

Final Words

According to the query, what are the different methods to migrate Outlook mailbox to Office 365? We have covered all the methods in a detailed manner. The experts do not advise the manual methods of Network upload and Desktop Outlook because of their limitations. There are many automated software available in the market. You can also get help from them. hence the query is resolved.