Migrate Public Folders from Exchange 2007 to Office 365

Nowadays, more and more organizations are moving towards a cloud based environment from the on-premise emailing setup. But, looking for the best way to perform migration has been an area of interest for experts. Although, one cannot say that there is some bad way or a good way. It totally depends on the requirements of the organization which includes the size of the on-premise environment, a number of users to be migrated, the base messaging environment and some other aspects. So, we will be discussing multiple methods to migrate public folders from Exchange 2007 to Office 365 in this article. Users can choose the methods which best suits their requirements.

Ways to Move Public Folders from Exchange 2007 to Office 365

1. Cutover Migration – This process is used if an organization needs to transfer all mailboxes at once. This migration is suitable for the situation if the total number of mailboxes is less than 2000. Another aspect which matters is that the organization is using Microsoft Exchange 2013, 2010, 2007 or 2003.

2. Staged Migration – It is used to migrate mailboxes in a batch. This conversion process is advised to the users if the number of mailboxes which are to be migrated are more than 2000. This process is also apt for the conversion if the organization is using Exchange 2003 or 2007.

3. Hybrid Migration – This migration type is one of the smoothest of all the process but it is most complex as well. It enables organizations to maintain both on premises and online environment allow users to gradually migrate public folders from Exchange 2007 to Office 365. This technique should only be used if the organization is using Exchange 2010 or 2013 and the mailboxes are more than 2000 which is to be converted. The transfer process is carried out in small batches over the time.

4. IMAP based Migration – If the Exchange Server supports Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) then you can use this method to perform the conversion. Moreover, this method has some limitations such as it allows users to move items of inbox only. Other mailbox items which include contacts, calendars, tasks can’t be migrated. It doesn’t create a mailbox in Office 365, you have to first create a mailbox for each user before starting the migration process.

Most Suitable Method to Transfer Public Folders from Exchange 2007 to Office 365

In this article, we are discussing the conversion of Microsoft Exchange 2007, so Hybrid Migration is not suitable for us. Next, the IMAP method is also out because of its limitations. So, we are left with both cutover and staged migration and here we are discussing the steps to perform the cutover migration.

Cutover Migration

Step 1 – Plan

Microsoft Exchange Deployment Assistant (EDA) is the best utility which guides for all migration scenarios.

• Open EDA Website.
• Click on ‘Cloud Only’ option.
• Answer the questions which are related to end state goals and existing setup.
• Click Next.
• The Exchange Deployment Assistant will generate a step-wise guide.

Step 2 – Verify the Existing Setup

To perform this process, the Exchange 2007 should support Outlook Anywhere and Autodiscover. Use the guide generated in Step 1 to check that the existing setup is correct or not. Then use MS Remote Connectivity Analyzer to verify Outlook anywhere. Now, allocate all the required permissions to the mailboxes which are to be converted. If users will skip this step then the process to migrate public folder from Exchange 2007 to Office 365 will fail.

• Open RCA website.
• Select Outlook Anywhere test.
• Select Next.
• Fill all the required information.
• Type the verification code and click on Perform Test.

If the above process gives a warning message, then refer the guide and verify if any mistake is made.

Step 3 – Configure & Start Migration

• Launch the browser and log in to Office 365 Admin Center.
• Open Exchange Admin Center.
• Click Migration and then + drop-down menu. Now, Select Exchange Online.
• Choose Cutover Migration and then click Next.
• Enter the account details of the on-premises account.
• Click Next.
• Enter the name of the New Migration Batch.
• Select Next.
• Choose a recipient for the migration at the end of the process. You can select several accounts here.
• Select ‘Automatically start the batch’ or ‘Manually start the batch’ as per your requirements.
• Click on New option.

Performing the above-mentioned steps will create the migration batch and will set its state to syncing. The time consumed to complete the entire process totally depends on the number of mailboxes and the amount of data.

Step 4 – Complete the Migration

When the process completes and all mailboxes are moved, then the selected recipient will get the report.

• Transfer Public Folders.
• Allocate Office 365 license to all users.
• Verify that all DNS records are updated and point towards O365 services.

Note – There can be some DNS replication involved but you should keep running the batch for 72 hours to enable the replication process.

• Configure the desktop machines to use O365 services.
• When you are sure that the DNS replication process is completed and all emails are converted, then stop the migration job.

Automated Solution to Migrate Public Folders from Exchange 2007 to Office 365

As the manual method have some limitations such as it is so time-consuming and complex. It requires some technical expertise who have some knowledge in this area as the whole task can be a tedious job for beginners. Any mistake in the entire process can cause damage to the data as well as data loss. Therefore, to perform hassle-free migration, it is always recommended to use advanced software i.e. SysTools EDB File File Repair Tool which can perform the migration process in a reliable and efficient way.

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The Quick & Advance scan of this Granular Exchange Recovery Tool removes the corruption from Exchange database file. To recover minimal corruption from the EDB file click on the Quick scan and for the highly corrupted Exchange database select Advance scan. This option also recovers permanently deleted data items and mailboxes. Users can use this scan mode to recover permanently deleted mailbox Exchange 2010, 2013, 2016.

After recovery, users can extract mailbox from offline EDB file and export to the Office 365, Live Exchange Server and HTML, MBOX, PDF, MSG, EML, PST file formats. The software support different types of mailboxes – disconnected, archive, shared, legacy, users and data items such as notes, tasks, calendars, mails, journals, contacts. User can migrate selectively or multiple these Exchange data to the provided export option.

Also Read: Efficient Way to migrate offline Exchange 2010 mailbox to Office 365

Any user (Technical & Non-Technical) can use this utility as it provides graphical user interface which makes the work of user easy and save their time as well as effort to perform migration of Exchange 2007 public folders. The utility provides the export report which contains the success and fail counts of migrated Exchange data.

Key Features Of Automated Software

1. Support Exchange EDB and STM file
2. Preview mailbox data items before conversion
3. Convert EDB to EML and various file formats
4. Preserve actual folder structure and keep metadata intact
5. Remove email (SMIME/OpenPGP) encryption from EDB mailboxes
6. Date filter option export Exchange mailbox data within a specified date range
7. Suitable with all versions of MS Outlook, Windows OS, & Exchange Server

Conclusion

Migrate public folders from Exchange 2007 to Office 365 is not a difficult task. Moreover, you can perform this task easier if you have fewer Exchange mailboxes. But, if you have a huge amount of data to be converted and want to perform this conversion process quickly then you can use the above-mentioned automated wizard which can help you to perform this migration in a simplified manner without any hindrance.