How to migrate Exchange public folders to Microsoft 365 with CodeTwo

If your organization still hasn’t migrated its public folders from an on-premises Exchange Server to Exchange Online (Microsoft 365), now’s the time to act. Why the rush? Because the Exchange Web Services (EWS) protocol used for public folder migrations is scheduled for retirement in Exchange Online starting in October 2026 – and there’s no successor apparent in sight. In other words, migrating your public folders to the cloud may soon become impossible (see this article to learn more about EWS retirement and its impact on public folder migrations).

Best tools for migrating public folders to Exchange Online (Microsoft 365)

To migrate Exchange public folders to Microsoft 365 ahead of EWS retirement, you have two options to choose from: use a native solution or a third-party application like CodeTwo Office 365 Migration.

The native migration solution available in Exchange Server and Microsoft 365 is free of charge, but it comes with at least several significant limitations. Here are a few of them:

• Downtime is required for some migration steps, leaving your users with no access to public folders.
• The migration process is based on a set of PowerShell scripts you need to run in a correct sequence.
• You need to create CSV mapping files.
• There’s no user-friendly dashboard that would allow for real-time reporting.
• Manual work is required, especially when an error occurs.

You can compensate for all these limitations by migrating your public folders with CodeTwo Office 365 Migration. Here are a few examples of the program’s benefits:

• It’s easy to install, configure, and use, and can be managed by a single administrator from one place.
• It doesn’t require any downtime during the migration process. Migration can also be completed in batches according to a specified time filter.
• The migration process starts and stops automatically, saving the admin a lot of time and effort. There is also no need to play with PowerShell scripting.
• The program has a light graphical user interface, which allows managing all migration tasks, such as server connections, delta migrations, auto-matching of mailboxes or folder filtering.
• CodeTwo Office 365 Migration can also create reports that help monitor the whole migration process – simply generate overall, job, or mailbox reports directly from the panel or set up the program to generate them automatically and send them to you via email.

In this article, I will show you how to migrate Exchange public folders to Microsoft 365 (Office 365) with CodeTwo Office 365 Migration.

Tip: If you’re considering migrating Exchange public folders to a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox, CodeTwo Office 365 Migration can help with that as well. See this step-by-step guide for details.

Before migration

You need to install CodeTwo Office 365 Migration in your environment to perform this task. To download the program, visit this website, run the installer, and follow the wizard to install the program on your machine. To check system requirements for the program, click here.

Configure source and target server connections

Before you can start the migration of public folders using CodeTwo Office 365 Migration, you have to connect the application to the source and the target servers. To do it, follow the steps below:

1. Open the program’s Administration Panel from the Start menu.
2. Click the gear (settings) icon on the Defined source server connections card of the Dashboard tab.
   

   

3. In the Manage source server connections window, click the New button and select the Exchange Server connection option.
   

   

4. Then, follow the steps in the Exchange source server connection wizard to configure the connection.
5. Next, go back to the Dashboard tab and click the gear icon on the Defined target server connections card. Follow the wizard to configure the target server connection.
6. Once you have finished, you are ready to create a migration job that will move Exchange public folders to Office 365.

Migrate public folders to Microsoft 365 (Office 365)

Important: To perform migration of public folders, you need to have 100 licenses for CodeTwo Office 365 Migration. The program always uses 100 licenses, no matter how many public folders you want to migrate. Additionally, be sure to create public folders on the target server prior to migration – see this Knowledge Base article for instructions.

To migrate the contents of public folders from on-premises Exchange to Exchange Online (Microsoft 365), you need to create a migration job. Follow the steps below to set it up:

Create a migration job

1. Go to the Jobs tab, click New and select Migrate from Exchange Server. This way you open a new job wizard.
   

   

2. In the General step, provide your job name, leaving other options unchanged. Click Next.
3. Leave the default option selected in the Mailbox types step and proceed further.
4. Then, you need to select public folders in the Migrate mailboxes fulfilling the following conditions section.
   
   Note: By default, the All Active Directory users and Public Folders conditions are added in this section. As we want to set up this job exclusively for public folders, the All Active Directory users condition needs to be removed. To remove it, select it and click Remove. Then, click Next.
   

   

5. In the Target mailboxes step, the connection should be already configured (we covered this in the Configure source and target server connections section above). Click Next.

Match source public folders with the target ones

1. The next step is to match source public folders with the target ones. In the Match mailboxes step, click the Match mailboxes button.
2. In the window that opens, select Click to match target > Choose an existing user from the list.
   

   

3. In the Match target user/mailbox window, find your public folders mailbox, select it, and click OK.
   

   

4. In the Match mailboxes window, you should now see public folders matched.
   

   

5. Click Save in the top left corner of the window to save changes. Close the window. Then, go back to the migration job wizard window. Click Next.
6. In the Scheduler section, you can set up activity time for the migration job. In my example, I leave it untouched as I will run the job manually.
7. The next step is Time filter. By default, the Migrate all items regardless of their age option is checked. If you do not want to change anything here, click Next.
   

   

8. In the Folder filter step, specify folder types you want to migrate. Click Next.
9. In the Advanced settings step, you do not need to change anything. Click Next.
10. The final step is Job summary, where you can overview your settings. Once everything is set up correctly, click Finish.

Start migration of public folders

1. Now, go to the Jobs tab in the Administration Panel – you should find your migration job there. Click Start to run it.
   

   

2. Once the migration job is running, you can monitor the process directly in the program’s panel. In the Job migration progress, Job good news, and Job bad news sections, you will see migration statistics and alerts. After the migration is finished, you can also generate overall, job, or mailbox reports that illustrate the migration results.
   

   

And that’s it. With CodeTwo Office 365 Migration, public folders can be migrated to Exchange Online without PowerShell scripting, extensive manual work, or unnecessary use of company resources, making the entire migration process fast and easy.

But migrating public folders is only part of what the tool can do. Here are some of the other features of CodeTwo Office 365 Migration:

• Migration of mailboxes from Exchange SE, 2019, 2016, or 2013 to Microsoft 365 (Office 365),
• Migration between Microsoft 365 tenants,
• Migration from hosted Exchange (like Intermedia, Rackspace, or GoDaddy) or IMAP servers (like Google Workspace, Zimbra, or Kerio Connect) to Microsoft 365,
• Migration of public folders to a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox,
• Migration according to schedule – at once or in stages,
• Automatic delta migrations,
• And many more.

If you have any questions about the program’s functionalities, you can always contact our Customer Success Team, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Give the program a try

If you want to test CodeTwo Office 365 Migration in your environment, download a trial version from this website and test the program for 30 days at no cost. The only limitation is that you can migrate 10 items per folder.

Download CodeTwo Office 365 Migration

See also:

• Top 5 practical tools for Exchange Server from CodeTwo to make admin’s life easier
• How to migrate public folders to a shared mailbox