Exchange Server Migration to Office 365: The Complete Guide

Momentarily, there is a tendency to migrate Exchange to Office 365. Exchange provides a simple platform for users to collaborate with; the administrator can maintain access. Still, Office 365 is an intelligent technology, while Exchange Server is a highly used technology. Microsoft does not offer a direct way to migrate seamlessly from Exchange to Office 365. So this guide will lead you through some of the possible ways to migrate Exchange to Office 365.

Who are the best reasons to use Office 365 legacy servers?

• Using Office 365, it does not need to take stress to keep up-to-date software versions. Microsoft is solely responsible for all care inadvertently and automatically – Due to which users will not have to go through server downtime or any other kind of situation.

• Office 365 services support to keep users reliable by protecting data is all left to the experts. There is no need to bear the burden of data loss due to data fraud situations, failures, or technical glitches.

• Office 365 email service is affordable and secure to work on any smart device anytime, anywhere without incurring any expenditure on infrastructure. All the advanced features add up to on-premises setup tips along with a whole range of other features once a user invests in a subscription with Office 365.

• Appropriating further storage, even no need for additional hardware providers, configuring everything, and everything just got laid out.

The above point makes it a trending task, and these are the prominent reasons for Exchange to Office 365 migration.

Methods to Migrate Exchange Database to Office 365

Two possible ways to migrate Exchange to Office 3656. It is listed below:

1. Manual method
2. Automated method using a professional Office 365 Migration tool

Manual method: 

Manually migrating Exchange to Office 365 can be done in two ways.

1) Migrate Mailboxes to PST

If migrating mailboxes of Exchange Server 2007 or earlier, users can use the export-mailbox command or the merge utility to export Exchange mailboxes to PST.

Command: “New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox <mailbox name>-FilePath “<destination file path>” 

2) Migrate Exchange Server Data to Office 365 with Native Utility

• Office 365 Cutover Migration:

It’s comfortable to use the Office 365 cutover migration method to migrate less than 2000 mailboxes at a time. The method’s drawback is that it is only supports Exchange Server 2003, 2007, 2010, and 2013.

• Staged Migration: 

More than 2,000 mailboxes can be migrated using this method easily. The downside of this method is that it is only supports Exchange Server 2003 and 2007.

• Hybrid Migration:

Using the Hybrid migration method, one can migrate only 150 mailboxes to 2000 mailboxes to migrate in small batches of Exchange Server 2010 and 2013.

The above methods are free and guise simple. But, they have many drawbacks and restrictions for Exchange to Office 365 migration.

Drawbacks of manual methods, why they are not preferred:

• Exchange administrators must have the technical expertise and detailed knowledge of Exchange Server data migration.

• The mentioned manual processes are time-consuming and ask for perfect migration expertise.

• There is a high probability of human error, which can cause corruption and the risk of data loss.

So it is better to use an automated method to avoid such problems to migrate Exchange to Office 365. And, Shoviv software provides an excellent Exchange to Office 365 migration tool.

Automated method using Shoviv’s Office 365 Migration Tool

This Office 365 Migration Tool migrates Exchange to Office 365 in a hassle-free manner. Live Exchange to Office 365 Migration enables the migration of Outlook profiles, Office 365 mailboxes, and EDB files to Office 365. With highly algorithms enhancements, it can accomplish Exchange to Office 365 migration proficiently and securely. This Office 365 migration tool provides a convenient GUI enhancement and many user-oriented features.

Excellent features of Office 365 Migration Tool are:

1.    This professional software allows users to add single/multiple mailboxes as a source of any size to migrate to Office 365. It can also process corrupted or inaccessible files to recover and export to Office 365.

2.    This software will display a preview of source mailbox data before the actual migration.

3.    With migration, the user can instantly save the mailboxes item in various formats such as MSG, EML, HTML, vCard, vCal, and RTF.

4. Incremental Export/backup option: The user needs to check on it. If there is any interruption in the process due to any reason, the process will continue without any repetition.

5.    This Exchange to Office 365 migration tool easily transfers the Public folder and Archive mailbox.

6.    Being one of the best migration tools for Office 365, there are efficient features like Email translation and folder mapping to migrate Exchange to Office 365 without any hitches. Users can also put on CSV files through email translation and folder mapping.

7.    Among Exchange to Office 365 migration, the software supports migrating Exchange mailboxes to PST format; Easy to access and port.

8.    There is a filter option based on various criteria – such as include/exclude message class and item date to process preferred emails.

Wrapping Up:

The above guide suggested some manual methods and a professional way for Exchange to Office 365 migration. We identify that manual processes are not suitable in all situations, and a professional Exchange to Office 365 migration tool seems fit to work to migrate Exchange to Office 365. Even non-technical and first-time users can achieve high-quality results using this professional method. One can check the efficiency by using the trial version of this software before investing. Also, the trial version will also process the first 50 items per folder with all the features.