Introduction

SiteGround is a web hosting company that has been in business since 2004 and has provided solutions for Web and Wordpress hosting, Cloud and WooCommerce hosting, and so on. Some of its security features include Wordpress security, distributed backups, enhanced security with SSL, and 24/7 monitoring. When it comes to web hosting, it offers various plans such as StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek, all of which include a free email service for creating professional email addresses for your website domain. This email account allows you to set up forwarders, autoresponders, and other features. Although this is adequate for small businesses with basic needs, it lacks advanced features when teams grow in size and would want to migrate to a more robust and feature-rich email platform such as Office 365. Let's take a look at the benefits of migrating to Office 365 from SiteGround and how to do it.

1. How to migrate from SiteGround to Office 365?

   It is possible to migrate from SiteGround to Office 365 by adding both your SiteGround and Office 365 accounts to Outlook, copying the folders from the source to the target, and allowing IMAP to sync your emails.

   Another option is to use EdbMails to connect to your SiteGround account, select the mailboxes, and migrate them directly to the Office 365 tenant. Let's take a look at both migration methods below.

   Steps to migrate SiteGround to Office 365

   • Step 1: Add your SiteGround webmail account on Outlook under the File tab
   • Step 2: Select the option for manual connection and choose account type as IMAP 
   • Step 3: Add your Office 365 tenant account on Outlook in the same manner 
   • Step 4: Select the emails from SiteGround webmail Inbox and copy it to Office 365
   • Step 5: Repeat the procedure for each folder from the source to the target 
   • Step 6: Login to your Office 365 webmail and check if the mails have been synchronized

   

   This method has the disadvantage of requiring you to manually drag and drop emails from each SiteGround folder to the Office 365 folder, which can be time-consuming if you have a large number of mailboxes to migrate on either side (This has to be done on a folder-folder basis). You can also add multiple SiteGround webmail accounts to Outlook, export the PST file for each one, and then import the PST file back into Office 365. (either using Azure AzCopy or from Outlook). However, even this method has the limitation of requiring technical expertise and being slow depending on your data.

2. SiteGround to Office 365 migration using EdbMails

   EdbMails IMAP migration can help you easily migrate SiteGround webmail (from Horde or Roundcube) to Office 365. You do not need to perform any of the manual procedures described above, and the migration is as simple as connecting to your source and target servers via IMAP. If you want to migrate only specific folders, for instance, the application comes with a built-in include and exclude filter option, as well as the ability to migrate specific emails based on Date, Sender, and so on. Let us now go over the steps for migrating with this tool.

    Download EdbMails and click 'Start Your Free Trial' to start using the trial version of the software.

   • Step 1: Get the email configuration details from SiteGround’s dashboard

     Navigate to SiteGround's client area > Email > Accounts. The email configuration details, such as incoming server, IMAP port, outgoing server, and SMTP port, can be found on the right side. Make a note of all of these details because you'll need them in the next step.

   • Step 2: Enter the HostName, Port Number and login credentials in EdbMails

     Launch EdbMails and click on the ‘IMAP migration (All IMAP clients)’ option on the main screen to proceed. Enter the details you obtained earlier such as HostName, Port Number and login credentials (username and password). If you need to connect to multiple mailboxes at once, ensure that you’re the global administrator and select the option ‘Multiple Server’ and follow the steps.

     

   • Step 3: Select the mailboxes and folders to migrate to Microsoft 365

     After successfully logging in, EdbMails displays them all on the left pane, along with the corresponding folders such as Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Notes, and so on. Select the mailboxes or individual folders that you want to migrate based on your needs.

     

   • Step 4: Connect to the target Office 365 tenant and start the migration

     The next step is to connect to your target tenant and map the mailboxes. Ensure that you login with global administrator credentials and have already created user mailboxes with licenses. Start the migration once the mailbox mapping is complete.

     EdbMails uses secure modern OAuth 2.0 authentication for Office 365 login and directs you to the official Microsoft’s login page for authentication.

   • Step 5: Configure the MX records on SiteGround to point to Microsoft’s servers

     To receive emails sent to your SiteGround domain in your Office 365 mailbox, you must configure MX records to point to Microsoft's servers. This allows you to keep your previous domain name while still receiving emails to your Office 365 account.

Summing up in a few words

SiteGround is an excellent web hosting provider. However, when it comes to email, Office 365 unquestionably takes the lead due to its features, accessibility, integration, and security. Many users would like to migrate their email from SiteGround to Office 365 while keeping their domain name and hosting with the former. Manual migration methods, such as copying emails from one Outlook account to another or using the PST upload option, are time-consuming and complex. EdbMails is a Microsoft partner and professional Office 365 migration tool that can seamlessly transfer all of your mailboxes from SiteGround without the need for complex manual procedures.