Office 365 Public folder to Shared mailbox migration
Migrating Office 365 Public folders to Shared mailboxes can simplify email management and enhance accessibility. Public folders, while effective for organizing shared information, can become complex and difficult to manage as your organization grows. Shared mailboxes offer a more straightforward and efficient solution for handling shared resources and communications, improving user access and potentially reducing costs.
EdbMails Office 365 migration software supports a smooth transition by efficiently managing a broad range of Public folder data including emails, calendar items, and contacts to shared mailboxes. The software is designed to handle large volumes of data while ensuring complete data integrity throughout the migration process. EdbMails provides a script-free migration solution making it easy for users with any level of technical expertise to migrate data without dealing with complicated manual scripts. The software also ensures data security with secure authentication via OAuth 2.0 and TLS encryption safeguarding sensitive information during the transfer. With easy-to-follow step-by-step wizard tutorials users can navigate the entire migration process effortlessly from configuration to completion. Furthermore, EdbMails offers multilingual support allowing users from diverse regions to use the software in their preferred language. With these features, EdbMails stands out as a comprehensive secure, and user-friendly solution for migrating Office 365 Public Folders to shared mailboxes.
This document outlines the steps for using EdbMails in your migration. It begins with planning, where you assess your needs and prepare your environment. It then covers pre-migration activities to ensure readiness. The migration process itself is detailed, focusing on transferring Public Folders to Shared Mailboxes. Post-migration activities, such as verifying data and optimizing mailbox performance, are also addressed, along with troubleshooting tips for resolving any issues. By following these steps, you can effectively use EdbMails to achieve a successful migration.
Planning Public folder to Shared mailbox migration
Before migrating Public Folders to Shared Mailboxes, it is essential to consider the migration requirements and prerequisites. Below is a checklist to help you identify and prepare your environment effectively.
- Prepare a complete inventory of items from your Public folders.
- Identify the size and number of Public folders you want to migrate
- Note that the Shared mailboxes have a mailbox limit of 50GB. If you want to migrate large Public folders to the target, consider splitting the Public folders or reducing their size.
- Determine whether you want to move everything at once or in stages
- Check your internet connection speed and network configuration.
- Consider the throttling and message size limits on Office 365
- Communicate the plan and the changes to your end users.
- Perform a test Office 365 migration before you start the actual one.
- Start the migration, verify the endpoint and add DNS records.
- Create new Outlook profiles and check if you are receiving mails correctly.
Office 365 Public folder to Shared mailbox migration : Pre-migration Activities
- Ensure that you have a global admin account for the automatic registration method to connect to the source and target Office 365 servers.
- Ensure that you meet the network and bandwidth requirements for the migration. See network and migration planning, performance factors and best practices for Office 365 Public migration
- Prepare your target Office 365 tenant. See tenant roadmap for Microsoft 365.
- Ensure to set admin permissions for source public folders
- Create Shared mailboxes on the target Office 365 tenant and set the required permissions
- Assign the Organization Management role group in Exchange online to the admin user on both the source and the target. It is an elevated permission that is required to migrate Public folders.
- If you have a custom email domain from your hosting provider to which you want to migrate and receive emails, you must add the custom domain and verify it on the target Office 365.
- Configure Office 365 to send and receive large messages
Follow the steps to increase the message size on Office 365 to 150MB.
Steps to migrate Office 365 Public folder to Shared mailbox
Step 1: Download and install EdbMails Office 365 migration softwareDownload EdbMails and install the application on any computer that is connected to the source and target environment. You can also perform the migration operation by installing EdbMails on a non-Exchange server computer.
See a detailed list of EdbMails system requirements for Office 365 migration.
- Launch the application and click ‘Login’ or ‘Start Your Free Trial’
- Select the ‘Office 365 Migration’ operation
In the 'Connect to Office 365 (Source)' window, choose the preferred method for secure OAuth-based modern authentication. The default 'Auto Registration' method requires Global Admin access. Alternatively, you can use a Global Admin account or any user account with full access rights if you want to use the Manual Registration method.
Select ‘Connect to Public folders’
Sign in on the Microsoft authentication page using a global admin account that has a mailbox.
Accept the permissions for the application to perform the migration operation.
Step 3: Select Public folders
Choose the public folders you wish to migrate and click ‘Migrate to Office 365’ to establish the connection with the target server.
Tip: If this is the first time you’re migrating with EdbMails, the migration is a full migration. On subsequent migrations from the same source to the target, the migration is incremental.
Step 4: Connect to target Office 365 serverChoose the same method that you have used for source server connection
Select ‘Connect to Shared Mailboxes’ and authenticate on Office 365 sign in page
Step 5 : Map Public folder to Shared mailboxes
Before mapping, ensure to create shared mailboxes on your target Office 365 servers and assign the required permissions. Choose the required option to map your public folder to shared mailboxes
Click here to know about user-defined mailboxes / folders mapping
Map your source public folder to the required shared mailboxes on the target server.
EdbMails offers folder and item filter options to customize the migration operation. These options allow you to migrate only data within specific date ranges, exclude standard and custom folders, and more.
Step 6: Start Office 365 public folder to Shared mailbox migration
After completing the mapping, click the ‘Continue’ button, enter the job name, and proceed. Once the migration is complete, a message will appear. You can click the ‘View Log’ button to check the migration report. Log in to your target server to verify the migrated items.
Office 365 public folder to Shared mailbox post-migration tasks
- Step 1: Update the MX records to point to Office 365
Start by adding your current domain to Office 365. If you haven't updated DNS records before, change the MX records to ensure emails can flow into Office 365 and be received properly. Also, configure the Autodiscover record to enable Outlook to connect easily to the migrated mailboxes.
- Step 2: Clear the Auto-Complete list in Outlook
- Step 3: Create a new Outlook profile after migration
- Ensure each user has the latest Outlook version installed to avoid compatibility issues.
- Set up Outlook profiles for each user in your domain if they experience connectivity problems with Office 365 mailboxes.
- Configure Outlook with the new server settings, including server address, username, and password.
- Test email functionality to confirm that users can send and receive emails successfully.
- Step 4: Remove the old Office 365 subscription plan
Once the migration is complete and you have confirmed the integrity of the migrated mailbox data, proceed to remove the Office 365 subscription plan from the source tenant, along with any associated domains.
- Step 1: Update the MX records to point to Office 365
Office 365 public folder to Shared mailbox migration troubleshooting
See Office 365 migration troubleshooting guide and Public folder troubleshooting for possible solutions related to migration errors. For more information on EdbMails Office 365 migration, see frequently asked questions (FAQs)
See solutions if you are not able to migrate Public folders due to insufficient permissions.
Benefits of EdbMails for Public folder to Shared mailbox migration
EdbMails Office 365 migration software automates the migration of Public folders to Shared mailboxes. Compared to the manual methods, EdbMails graphical user interface enables you to select and migrate folders, mailboxes and mail items easily without requiring PowerShell scripts or technical expertise.
- Easily perform Exchange online cross tenant migration without requiring technical expertise.
- EdbMails maintains zero downtime during the Office 365 Public folder to Shared mailbox migration
- The application preserves and replicates the source public folder structure on the target shared mailboxes.
- EdbMails is compatible with all Windows OS and Windows Server.
- Its incremental migration feature avoids duplicate items during subsequent migrations to the target server.
- EdbMails provides automated features such as mailbox/folder mapping, setting impersonation rights, which reduces the manual efforts.
- Migrate Public folders to Office 365 without size limitations.
- EdbMails is highly secure and uses modern authentication with TLS encryption for migration.
- Free trial to test the software functionality and free 24x7 technical support.
