Migrate Email from Gmail to Office 365 – Expert Solutions

Do you want to migrate email from Gmail to Office 365? Gmail is a popular and widely used email client, for both personal and business uses. However, due to the advanced features and capabilities of Office 365 in handling enterprise-level tasks, many organizations wish to switch platforms. Luckily, you do need not to search much. Here are two quick and step-by-step solutions for migrating from Google to Office 365. Well, the easiest of two is using a remarkable Gmail Backup Tool. We will address this in the later part of the blog.

Office 365 is a competent productivity suite. Both Office 365 and Gmail are widely used. But the key difference between them is Office 365 offers numerous tools for communication, collaboration, task management, etc. Whereas Gmail is primarily a free email service with 15GB of storage space. However, individuals and organizations opt to migrate email from Gmail to Office 365 based on their unique requirements.

Benefits of Using Office 365 Over Gmail

As mentioned earlier, people export Gmail to Office 365 accounts for advanced functionalities of Office 365. When comparing Microsoft 365 to Gmail, the former is the clear winner. Let us see why:

1. You can effortlessly integrate with other MS Office applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
2. Facilitates efficient collaboration with the help of SharePoint and OneDrive.
3. Outlook ensures a user-friendly and business-class email service with features like a shared calendar, contacts, and tasks.
4. You can customize the platform and expand functionality based on your specific needs.
5. Additionally, it has robust security features such as Data loss prevention, threat intelligence, and multi-factor authentication.
6. Furthermore, it provides a comprehensive platform for chat, video conferencing, and collaboration.

Thus, all these features improve communication and simplify teamwork within an organization. Since you better know why export Gmail to Office 365 account, let us take a look at the operation.

Migrate Email from Gmail to Office 365 via IMAP Migration

The first procedure involves manual steps of IMAP Migration. As the name suggests, we will migrate Gmail data to Office 365 using the IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). This process is generally used when migrating from one email service provider to another. However, this procedure has certain restrictions too, that we will discuss later on.

The manual steps to transfer emails from Gmail to Office 365 are further divided into five parts. Here are they:

Part 1: Domain Verification

The first and foremost step while migrating Gmail to Office 365 involves, verification of the ownership of your domain. Follow the steps below:

1. Open the Admin Center of your Office 365 account.
2. Go to the Settings menu, expand, and select the Domain option.
3. Click on +Add Domain, enter the domain name, and click Next.
4. Opt for the Add a TXT record instead option. Tap Next to proceed.
5. Copy the TXT value and click on the Verify option to verify it with your host provider.

Part 2: Create a User Account and Add it to Office 365

Another step to migrate email from Gmail to Office 365 is creating a User account. You have the option to add either one user account at a time or multiple email accounts simultaneously. To add an individual user, please follow the steps provided below:

1. Start your Office account and go to the Admin Center.
2. On the right panel, click on Users > Select Active Users.
3. Click on +Add a User to add a single user account to Office 365. (Note: to add multiple user accounts, click Add Multiple Users.)
4. Next, fill in the required general user account information such as First Name, Last Name, Domain, Password settings, etc.
5. In the Assign Product Licenses pane, choose the appropriate user license and specify its location. Then, click Next.
6. Moving to the Optional Settings pane, expand the Role option to determine and assign an appropriate role to this user.
7. In the Profile Info tab, add any additional information to the user account such as Contacts, addresses, etc. Click Next.
8. Once you have reviewed all the settings, click Finish adding and then Close.

Part 3: Generate a List of Gmail Mailboxes for Migration

If you are transferring multiple user mailboxes, it is important to prepare a CSV list of all user information. Before you begin to migrate email from Gmail to Office 365, Google offers a sample CSV file. So, you have to create a list of mailboxes in the identical format. Proceed with the following steps:

1. Open and Sign In to the Google Workspace Admin Console.
2. Once logged in, click on the Users section. Select the list of users available in the Google admin center.
3. Copy the email addresses of the users whose mailbox data you intend to migrate.
4. Next, open the Microsoft 365 admin center and select the Users option.
5. Open Excel. Create an Excel Sheet with columns A, B, and C, and enter your Email Address, Username, and Password in respective columns. Enter single mailbox information per row.
6. After the list is complete, save the sheet in CSV file format.

Part 4: Connect Office 365 With the Gmail Server

*Note: This part is compulsory only if you are a Classic Exchange User. Users of the new version can jump directly to Part 5.

Create a Migration Endpoint in the Exchange Admin Center to smoothly export Gmail to Office 365 account. The migration endpoint establishes a connection and facilitates the seamless transition of mailboxes. Follow the subsequent steps to create the migration endpoint:

1. Open the Classic Exchange admin center.
2. Click on the Recipient option and then select Migration.
3. Next, click on the More option (⋯) and choose Migration Endpoint.
4. Click on New(+) to create a new migration endpoint.
5. Next, select IMAP as the migration endpoint type.
6. Enter IMAP Server as imap.gmail.com on the IMAP Migration Configuration Page. Click Next to proceed. (Note: Ensure that you do not make any changes to the other details such as Authentication, Encryption, and Port).
7. The connection check begins as you click Next. Once the connectivity is established, the Enter General Information page opens.
8. Define a Migration endpoint name and click the New button.
9. Click Close.

Part 5: Create a Migration Batch in Classic Exchange Admin Center

This procedure facilitates the exporting of a group of mailboxes. By utilizing the migration batch, you can export multiple user accounts.

1. Begin by opening the Admin Center in Microsoft 365.
2. Move to the Exchange option and select Recipient. Then, click on Migration.
3. Thereafter, click on the New icon (+). Further, choose Migrate to Exchange Online in the ‘Select the mailbox migration path’ field. Also, provide a unique name to the Migration batch. Press Next.
4. Select the IMAP Migration option as the Migration type and proceed by clicking Next.
5. Select the Users page opens. Press Choose File to select the CSV file from which you wish to migrate email from Gmail to Office 365.

(Note: If the file fails to meet the requirements, an error message will be displayed on the screen. The CSV file should not be empty, should have comma-separated formatting, contain a minimum of 50,000 rows, etc. In such cases, you must rectify the issues.)

1. Next, you will see the details of the users listed in the file. Verify the information and click Next.
2. Create a migration endpoint with the necessary details as mentioned earlier and click Next.
3. In the IMAP Migration Configuration, leave all the details in their default settings and click Next.
4. Within the Move Configuration page, provide a name (without spaces or special characters) for the migration batch. Click Next.
5. Finally, you will reach the Start the Batch page. Choose Automatically Start the Batch and click on New to initiate migrating from Google to Office 365.

Hence, this is a manual process to migrate email from Gmail to Office 365. However, there are many shortcomings in this process.

Drawbacks of Manual Process

There are several limitations associated with the manual process.

• Firstly, you cannot transfer contacts and calendars using the IMAP migration method.
• The maximum limit set to Export Gmail Emails to Outlook PST is 50,000 emails.
• Additionally, each email to be migrated should not exceed the size limit of 35 MB.
• And most importantly, this is a very lengthy and time-consuming process to execute.

Therefore, to avoid this long procedure, we suggest using a professional tool to transfer emails from Gmail to Office 365.

Quick Way to Migrate Email from Gmail to Office 365

Download the DRS Gmail Backup Tool for quick and easy migration of Gmail data. It is a top-notch way to migrate any number of emails from Gmail to Office 365. Well, the tool has various embedded features that facilitate quick and smooth migration. Here, we will discuss steps to export Gmail to Office 365 account using this tool:

1. Download and Install the tool on your PC. Run it.
2. To migrate only emails, choose Gmail. Login to your Gmail account.
3. Check the Gmail mailbox preview and select only important data to migrate.
4. Opt for Office 365 as the destination email client from the list.
5. Login to Office 365 and add additional features if required.
6. Click on Convert to export Gmail to Office 365 account.

This was a straightforward way to migrate Gmail. You can use this tool to backup/migrate Gmail data to many other email clients and file formats.

Conclusion

Hence, this was a comprehensive blog to migrate email from Gmail to Office 365 account. As you can see, a manual process is a hectic task to perform and tricky for any non-technical user. Therefore, the best way to execute Gmail to Office 365 migration is using a proficient and quick tool.

Related Post: Gmail Storage Full After Deleting Email.