Learn How to Migrate Your Organization Data to Office 365 Enterprise Quickly
Switching to Office 365 and leaving the old account data is often done by many users. Although the thought of having an empty mailbox in new account is nice, you never know when you will be needing any of your data. So, if you are opting for Office 365 and planning to migrate your organization data to Office 365 enterprise, then basic instructions in this article help you along the process. Here, we will be providing a solution by considering your current environment is MS Outlook.
However, if you belong to platforms other than MS Outlook, such as G Suite, Google Vault, Lotus Notes, Exchange Server, etc., then click here.
Methods to Migrate Your Organization Data to Office 365 Enterprise
If you are new to Office 365, then probably you are unaware of the workings of the Azure directory. Therefore, we will be providing more simplistic solutions such as IMAP using Outlook and automated tools.
If in case you are already familiar with Azure Directory or PowerShell commands, then see: How to Import PST to Office 365
Method #1: Using Outlook to Migration of Data
Migrating single-user account data to Office 365 enterprise can be done directly with the help of Microsoft Outlook itself. First, you need to export your Outlook file into .pst format and then import it into your new Office 365 account. Following the below step-by-step working of the approach:
Step 1: Export Data From MS Outlook
1. Open your desktop Outlook application and visit the File tab.
2. Navigate to the Open & Export section and then select the Import/Export option.
3. Choose export to a file >> Next >> Outlook data file (.pst) >> Next
4. Select the location where you wish to export the Outlook data.
5. Finally, select the mailbox that you want to migrate to Office 365 >> Finish.
Now that you have exported your organization’s Outlook data, you can proceed with the steps to migrate it into Office 365 account.
Step 2: Migrate Data Into Your Office 365 Account
1. First you need to synchronize your Office 365 account with MS Outlook. For that, you need to open Outlook >> GO to File tab >> Click on the Add Account option and fill in the details of Office 365 user account.
2. After that, visit File tab again >> Open/Export >> Import//Export option.
3. In the pop-up wizard, select “import to a file” option >> Next.
4. Now, select the “Outlook data file (.pst) option.
5. Browse the PST file need to migrate into Office 365, >> Next.
6. Select the Folder where you wish to import the file and Hit Finish.
Outlook will start importing the data into Office 365 account. Once finished, you will get a pop-up message.
The above steps are only to migrate single user data of the organization to Office 365 enterprise. Repeat the steps for all the users of an organization.
Method #2: Using Automated Solution to Migrate Data
In case there are multiple users that need to be migrated from your current organization to Office 365 enterprise, then it can be done with the help of the Office 365 PST Import tool from SysTools. This utility is specially designed for such migration tasks. It allows to simultaneous migration of multiple files directly into Office 365 user accounts. Following are the working steps to do that:
Step 1. Start by opting for Outlook as the originating platform and Office 365 as the target platform.
Step 2. Within the interface, specify the particular categories you plan to shift to Office 365 under Workload Selection.
Step 3. Employ the Date-Range Filter function to accurately bring in mailbox data based on preferred dates. Upon completion, proceed by selecting “Next.”
Step 4. Navigate to the Source screen. Indicate the folder pathway containing the Outlook PST files. Organize PST files within folders named after the respective O365 email IDs. For example:
– Establish folders in the root drive (e.g., E:/PST/user1@domainName.com/) and arrange the corresponding PST files within each designated folder. Replicate this structure for each user, assigning PST files to their respective folders (e.g., E:/PST/user2@domainName.com/, E:/PST/user3@domainName.com/, and so on).
– Designate the main folder “E:/PST/” within our tool as the Import Folder Path.
Step 5. Verify to confirm necessary permissions are granted for the files. Once verified, permissions will be authorized from the source platform. Select “Next.”
Step 6. Input the Office 365 admin email account and application ID for the destination. Validate these credentials. Upon validation, permissions will be granted to the admin account. Proceed by selecting “Next.”
Step 7. Users are added to the source account in multiple ways:
- Fetch Users – Automatically retrieves users from the Source.
- Import Users – Imports users via CSV.
- Download Template – Obtain a CSV file template for user creation.
Choose the appropriate method for user addition.
Step 8. The list of source users is displayed. Search for specific mailboxes and choose users for data import. Utilize the Show Selected toggle bar to simplify selective data import, displaying only the chosen users.
Step 9. For destination user accounts, two options are available:
- Utilize the User List Template: A sample CSV file for manually incorporating source users.
- Import Users: Import users via CSV.
Step 10. Validate to authorize the selected user source and destination accounts. Once validated, proceed by selecting “OK.”
Step 11. Finally, click the “Start Import” button to initiate the import procedure.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we have explained how to migrate your organization’s data to Office 365 enterprise. The solution is for organizations whose current platform is MS Outlook. For that, we have provided two solutions, one for single-user account data migration and another for multiple-user account data migration.
