How to Migrate Office 365 to IMAP Server? A Detailed Guide
Summary: A financial institution is currently using Office 365 to manage its operations. Now, they are worried about keeping their data safe and moving their email to a private IMAP server. They are searching for the perfect solution to migrate their Office 365 data to an IMAP server. In this blog, we’ll guide readers on how they easily and securely migrate Office 365 to IMAP server. Also, we’ll describe the steps associated with a professional Office 365 Backup Tool and a manual method.
I have many Office 365 email accounts, and I’m planning to move my emails to an IMAP server. Some of these mailboxes are quite large, and I don’t want to lose any important emails during the transfer. Is there any way to safely migrate Office 365 emails to an IMAP server? Also, retaining my whole data or access.
Edward McEnzy
Why Users Decide to Migrate from Office 365 to IMAP Server
Users choose to move their Office 365 to an IMAP server for several reasons. Such as:
- IMAP servers, especially self-hosted, are more affordable than Office 365.
- Users migrate to IMAP servers to keep a separate copy of their emails for backup or long-term storage.
- Moreover, it works smoothly across multiple email apps and devices, offering flexibility.
Reliable Methods to Migrate Office 365 to IMAP
In this weblog, we’ll discuss two methods for migrating Office 365 data into an IMAP server.
- Manual Approach: Using the Outlook email client.
- Specialized Backup Tool: Trusted and tested for migrations.
Manual Steps to Move Office 365 to IMAP
First, users will set up their Office 365 account and IMAP account in MS Outlook to link these accounts. Once done, users will drop emails or folders from their Office 365 inbox to the IMAP account.
Clean and quick steps to migrate your Office 365 to IMAP server:
Step 01: How to link your Office 365 account with an IMAP account in Outlook
- First, Open Microsoft Outlook and navigate to the File tab > Account Settings > Account Settings.
- Then, click New to add an account, then enter your Office 365 login ID credentials.
- After that, Outlook will automatically detect the IMAP settings.
- Again, head towards File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
- Similarly, click New to add the destination IMAP account and enter the email address, and choose Manual setup or additional server types.
- Then, select IMAP and enter your server details:
Incoming mail server: imap.yourserver.com Port: 993 Encryption: SSL (Enter the Outgoing mail server (SMTP) settings as per your provider.)
- At last, enter the correct username and password. Click Next, then Finish.
Step 02: Move desired emails from Office 365 to IMAP
- Here, from the Outlook left panel, expand your Office 365 account.
- Then, choose the folder you wish to migrate to the IMAP account.
- Next, select all emails or your desired ones and right-click and choose Copy to Folder (or Move to Folder if you don’t want to keep a copy).
- In the end, choose the destination folder under your IMAP account.
Automated Steps to Migrate Office 365 to IMAP
The MacSonik Office 365 Backup tool is specifically developed to ease and speed up the email migration. The tool comes with rich features, an easy-to-use interface, and strong performance. Therefore, it provides a seamless, safe, and trouble-free email migration experience. Additionally, the mail filter, backup with or without attachment feature, makes it the ultimate solution for individuals and businesses. Eventually, users can easily migrate Office 365 to IMAP Server emails using any IMAP-supported email account.
Steps to initiate migration
- To start, install and run the backup tool on your Desktop.
- Now, Sign In with your Office 365 login ID and Password, and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Then, select the source Backup Options as Mailbox, Online archive, or Public folders, and then click Next.
- Next, from the tree-structured Mailbox preview of your Office 365 account. Check the necessary folders that need to be backed up. Click Next.
- From Here, from the Save/Backup/Migrate As menu, choose IMAP option, and enter your IMAP account credentials.
- Finally, Apply Filters, select the required folder path to save, click Next, then click Convert.
Conclusion
In essence, the blog discusses the best and simplest methods to migrate Office 365 to IMAP server. Users can choose between the typical and automated methods, whichever suits them best. But to minimize their work and speed up the process, we recommend they use the Office 365 Backup Tool. To add, the features this tool provides allow users to filter and sort the emails for backup. Whereas, in the typical method, users will have to do it manually for each email.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ans: To set up IMAP in Microsoft 365, use outlook.office365.com (port 993, SSL) for incoming mail and smtp.office365.com (port 587, TLS) for outgoing mail. Log in with your full email address and, if MFA is enabled, use an app password instead of your regular one.
Ans: Users can use a manual method for migration, but because of some limitations available, we don’t recommend it. The most effective and secure way to migrate Office 365 to an IMAP server is the MacSonik Office 365 backup tool. Our Office 365 backup solution is specifically designed to help users extract and transfer mailbox data from Microsoft 365. Moreover, it migrates specific folders, date ranges, or users as per your requirements. Also, retain the original mailbox structure during the complete migration process.
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