Migration from IMAP source to Office 365

Add a custom domain to the target Office 365 tenant account and verify it.

Learn more about creating additional/custom domains in Office 365

Make sure that Office 365 licenses are assigned to all user accounts that will be used as the target mailboxes. You can set the program to create the mailboxes and assign the Office 365 licenses automatically. Learn more

Alternatively, check out this article to learn about different ways of creating Office 365 mailboxes in bulk.

Verify the following:

• You have a list of all credentials for mailboxes you want to migrate via IMAP - here is why
• Know your IMAP server address or IP, port and SSL connection support - for example, for Gmail those are: imap.gmail.com, port 993, enabled SSL
• IMAP access is enabled on the source server - see here how to do this for Gmail and Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) accounts

When migrating data from an IMAP server, the program can be installed anywhere, e.g. on a workstation outside source and target domains.

The following additional components will also be installed, as they are required for CodeTwo Office 365 Migration to run properly:

• .NET Framework 4.6.1 or higher (required on all systems),
• Windows PowerShell 3.0 (required on all systems).

The installation wizard will guide you through the whole installation process. After the installation is finished, remember to activate the program. 

Once you start the program, you will see the Dashboard view. Click Create a new migration job link on the How to start card. Select the source server type: IMAP. The create IMAP migration job wizard will open. Set the name of the job and click Next to proceed to the Source mailboxes step. If this is your first migration job, you will need to configure a connection to the source IMAP server. Click Add new source connection and a wizard will open. You need to go through these steps:

• Server connection - in this step, you need to choose your IMAP source and some connection settings.
• Throttling - there you can customize the software behavior if you stumble upon throttling issues on the IMAP source server.
• Configuration - this process configures your connection based on the settings provided in the previous steps.

After successfully configuring the source connection, you will get back to the Source mailboxes step of the migration job wizard. Now you need to define which mailboxes you want to migrate.

• Prepare a CSV file that contains source mailbox credentials as listed below. Do not worry that much about CSV format. CSV import feature lets you adjust the software to the file format used, e.g. you do not need to use a specific fields delimiter - use the one you like, you will be asked by the CSV import feature what kind of delimiter was used in the file.
  • Login - required
  • Password* - required
  • First Name - optional
  • Last Name - optional
  • Display Name - optional
• Click Import CSV and select your CSV file.
• Configure the software to properly import data from your CSV file.

* Or app password, if you are migrating from Google (Gmail or Google Workspace). Learn more

After successfully configuring the source connection and choosing source mailboxes, click Next to configure the target Office 365 connection. In the Target mailboxes step, choose Add new target connection from the Target server drop-down menu. A simple wizard will open:

• Office 365 cloud (legacy setting) – choose Office 365 global, as you can no longer migrate your data to the Office 365 Germany cloud (Microsoft retired Microsoft Cloud Deutschland on October 29, 2021).
• Application registration – decide how you want CodeTwo Office 365 Migration to be registered the Azure AD of your target Office 365 tenant: automatically by the program (global admin account credentials will be required) or manually by yourself. If you select the second option, you will be asked to provide the application registration details in the next step.
• Application details – enter the necessary application information. Additionally, you need to enter an email address of any user from your target Office 365 tenant. This account is used to gain access to the tenant's information, such as name, domain, etc. 
• Configuration – this process registers CodeTwo Office 365 Migration in your Azure AD (if you have selected the Automatic registration option in the Application registration step) and configures the connection to the target Office 365 tenant.

Once the configuration ends successfully, you will see green check marks. If any errors appear, see Troubleshooting.

After your connection is established, click Finish and proceed to the next step (Match mailboxes).

Matching the source mailboxes with the target mailboxes can be done automatically, by using the built-in automatch feature, or manually. We suggest that you start off by matching mailboxes automatically and modify the automatch settings if not all the mailboxes were matched in the first run. Use the manual option only if there are any mailboxes left unmatched after several automatch runs with a different configuration of the automatch mechanism.

To match mailboxes automatically, click the Match mailboxes button. In the window that opens, click Automatch > Automatch all mailboxes or select the mailboxes you want to match and click Automatch > Automatch selected mailboxes. Configure the automatching mechanism and click Automatch to start the matching process. If not all the mailboxes were matched, modify the automatch mechanism and run it again. Repeat this as many times as necessary.

Read more about the default configuration of the automatch mechanism and how to customize it

If any source mailbox is left unmatched despite several attempts to match it automatically with different automatch settings, match it manually.

Note that you can set the program to create target users and mailboxes in your Office 365 tenant, whether you’re matching mailboxes manually or automatically. Learn more

When you have matched all your mailboxes, save your configuration and close the matching window. Continue with the migration job wizard. The next steps will allow you to configure additional options.

You can configure the following additional options:

• Scheduler - allows you to set the job to be automatically started in the desired time periods, so you do not have to control it manually.
• Time filter - is used to exclude items that are older or newer than a particular date.
• Folder filter - may completely exclude specific folders from the migration process.
• Advanced settings - this step lets you define how many mailboxes should be migrated at the same time and set the maximum size of items to be migrated.

Simply click Start on the ribbon to begin the process.

If you notice any missing items in the Target mailbox restart the migration using the Run delta migration option.

Once the migration is finished and you have noticed that some new items appeared in the migrated Source mailbox, just restart the migration using the Run delta migration option. Please keep in mind that this feature migrates only new items, not the modified ones. Delta migration can also be used to resolve issues with any items that failed to migrate on the first attempt.

You need to change your MX records to enable mail flow to the new server.  Additionally, you should also set up Autodiscover record to facilitate connecting migrated mailboxes with a mail client (e.g. Outlook). To change these DNS records manually, follow the steps below:

1. Log in to your Microsoft 365 admin center (Office 365 admin center).
2. Go to Settings > Domains, select your domain and click DNS Management.
3. Choose I’ll manage my own DNS records and click Next.
4. Select Exchange checkbox and click Next.
5. On this page, find the details regarding MX records and CNAME records (Autodiscover) that you need to use at your domain registrar. For specific instructions on how to configure DNS records in your domain registrar, visit this Microsoft page.
6. Once the DNS records have been configured, click Verify back in Office 365. Please note that it may take several hours for the changes to propagate.

To avoid possible DNS conflicts, it would be a good idea to disconnect your domain name from the source IMAP server. Consult your domain name registrar in you need more information on how to do so.