How to Migrate Office 365 to Office 365? Step-by-Step

As per Microsoft’s official documentation (Annual Report), more than 345 million paid O365 seats are being utilised worldwide. TechRepublic has reported that tenant-to-tenant migration happens to be the top email challenge for most IT teams globally. This highlights the need of the process to migrate Office 365 to Office 365, which is now pretty common & quite necessary. However, proper planning is something you can’t rule out for a smooth sail!

Experts state, “Planning & preparation are key to a successful tenant migration.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The process to migrate Office 365 to Office 365 is needed during mergers, tenant restructures and/or domain changes.
• The manual mechanism is complex and quite risky too for big data.
• Data loss is an outcome of improper planning.
• The professional tool saves time and even reduces errors.
• Good preparation is something imperative for smooth migration.

Blog Outline

Many enterprises these days need to migrate Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 because of company mergers, tenant changes, and/or domain moves. Here, in this blog, we will be explaining why such a process is needed, the problems encountered with manual migration, and how an automated tool makes this job foolproof.

What Makes You Migrate Office 365 to Office 365?

Have you ever tried to open your email and then wondered what is going to happen if your organisation moves its Microsoft 365 account? This is when you need to migrate Office 365 to Office 365. Such a need usually arises without prior warning, and needs immediate, careful action. If you also have such questions in your mind, then you aren’t alone thinking this. Following questions have been asked by other users too:

Q: How to migrate Office 365 to Office 365 another account with no loss?
A: You can try to do this manually but for a safer approach, it is advised to use a professional migrator.

Q: Will my emails be lost during Office 365 to Office 365 migration?
A: Emails’ loss can happen with manual mechanism if you miss some crucial steps or cross the limits. An automated tool can be your answer!

Understanding M365 to M365 Migration

The major challenge that is faced while doing this migration is to handle big mailboxes, user mapping, permissions, & downtime. Users tend to face sync errors usually, miss folders, & partial data transfers when this procedure isn’t handled well. Enterprises who wish to migrate emails from Office 365 to Office 365 often tussle with time limits, planning, & technical complexities.

A Familiar-Sounding Instance

A mid-size firm had merged with another brand and then required to migrate Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 within a very tight timeline. Manual mechanism resulted in missing emails & folder mismatch. Later, a planned, structured approach led to the safety of their critical business communication.

When Do Firms Migrate Mailboxes from Office 365 to Office 365?

There are several causes why organizations have to migrate Office 365 to Office 365:

• Company mergers & acquisitions.
• Business reorganization.
• Domain name change.
• Tenant consolidation/restructuring.
• Data separation for security reasons.
• Moving the users to a new Microsoft tenant.
• Disaster recovery.

How to Migrate Emails from Office 365 to Office 365 Manually?

Microsoft presents a native way to migrate mailbox from Office 365 to Office 365, but doing these steps need you to have technical expertise.

First Phase: Preparation (Target Tenant)

Before moving your email data, it is necessary to set up the destination environment for receiving it.

• Domain Ownership Verification: You first have to add your custom domain (example company.com) to the M365 Admin Center of the new tenant. Note that this verification would initially fail as the domain is active in the old tenant; which is expected.
• Now, Create Users: You now have to manually create user accounts in the new tenant with the initial domain (example user@tenant.onmicrosoft.com).
• Then, Assign Licenses: You need to make sure all new accounts have the required M365 licenses assigned before initiating data migration.

Second 2: Email Data Migration

You can try this direct manual way using some native tools:

Manual PST Export/Import (This is ideal for one to five users) 

This method needs no server-side configuration but it is very much time-consuming.

1. First, Export: In the old Outlook profile, you have to use the Import/Export wizard for exporting mailbox data to a .pst file.
2. Then, Configure New Profile: Now, you need to create a new Outlook profile for the new tenant account.
3. After that, Import: After that, you must use the same wizard for importing the .pst file into the new mailbox.

Pros of Doing the Migration Manually

Some benefits can be enjoyed with this manual approach:

• You do not have to pay any software cost here.
• This is a Microsoft-supported process approach.

What Limits Manual Migration?

Check what limits this manual mechanism:

• The steps are very complex for the level of a non-technical user.
• There is a risk of data loss always with such a process.
• This procedure will take a lot of time.
• Such a mechanism isn’t ideal for big-sized mailboxes.
• Having technical skills is mandatory to carry out the steps successfully.
• This process is not scalable at all, which makes it unsuited for bulk moves.
• Error chances are pretty high.
• You cannot have complete automation here and need to put a lot of effort.

Software Features Set

Check the wonderful features of this amazing software:

• There is direct tenant-to-tenant migration.
• The folder structure is going to be fully maintained.
• There is totally secure login support.
• Selective mailbox migration is also possible.
• The software handles even big mailbox data smoothly.
• This Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 migration tool does the process accurately.

Know How This Utility Actually Processes

Check the Office 365 to Office 365 migration steps below that are easy even for non-technical users:

1. First, Download & Install: Obtain the tool & install this specialized software.
2. Next, Feed Source Login: Now, open this software and select Office 365 as the email source, subsequently entering credentials (username & password) for the source tenant.
3. Now, Folders Are Analysed: The software will analyze & display all mailboxes, folders, & subfolders.
4. Feed saving Option: Select “Office 365” as the saving option for the target tenant.
5. Then, Configure Credentials: You now have to enter the login credentials for the destination (target) O365 account.
6. You Can Filter Data (This Is Optional): Apply filters for selectively migrating some specific mailboxes or date ranges (if required so).
7. Now, Run Migration: Press the “Backup” button to initiate moving mailbox data from the source tenant to the target tenant.
8. Lastly, Monitor Progress: You can finally view the live status of the migration process happening until its completion.

Manual Ways Can’t Match the Worthy Professional Tool

Check how the professional tool beats the manual mechanism in all aspects:

Quick Answers for Common User Questions

Go through the questions and answers related to this migration:

Q: How to migrate Office 365 to Office 365 in a safe manner?
A: Making use of special software for M365 to M365 migration guarantees the safety of your critical email data.

Q: Can I really perform this migration without much IT knowledge?
A: Yes, a professional tool will simplify this process for you considerably.

Q: How long does the process take?
A: Well! The time largely depends on your mailbox size. To bring to your notice, the pro tool is much faster than the manual migration approach, so choose wisely.

Ending Thoughts – You Must Pick the Right Approach!

To migrate Office 365 to Office 365 without any stress, proper planning and good preparation is must. Along with that, you need to pick the right approach too, which is equally crucial! Manual mechanism is a big NO as it generates complexity, and a pro tool is a big YES owing to the ease of usage.