Migrate Email from Zimbra to Office 365 without Compromising Security

Zimbra is a very popular email server and web client application worldwide. Zimbra is well-known for its cloud product, but Office 365 is significantly much more popular. For a better experience, most users are looking to migrate their Zimbra items to Office 365. Different users state different reasons to migrate email from Zimbra to Office 365.

It is well understood and accepted that no comparison can be made between the two applications because Zimbra is just as helpful as Office 365. Zimbra, like Office 365, is accessible from anywhere, but it lacks the level of functionality, flexibility, integration, and wide range of capabilities that Office 365 offers. Other MS Office applications, such as MS Word, MS Excel, MS Publisher, OneNote, PowerPoint, etc are also accessible with Office 365.

Why & How to Migrate Zimbra to Office 365?

Zimbra is an email client with a limited feature set that can only be used for basic email communication. Zimbra can best be described as a modest email manager that lacks the functionalities of an email suite. Small enterprises can collaborate in this way, but larger organizations get little value from Zimbra.

Office 365 is a comprehensive bundle of applications that can meet all of a large organization’s needs. Its Various subscription plans cover cloud storage, networking, communication, and collaboration, among other things. Zimbra lacks all of these features, and larger businesses are unable to take advantage of them. Businesses must eventually migrate their email to Office 365. However, there are no manual migration solutions from Zimbra to Office 365. As a result, you can utilize a professional alternative to transfer emails to a new platform.

Basic Pre Migration Phases

Data migration is an operation that users can not perform before preparing in advance. This operation has risks and in order to avoid this risk, following these pre-migration steps is necessary.

• Planning Phase
  This is the first step for any organization that wants to migrate email from Zimbra to Office 365. Moreover, users need to make a list of data that they want to migrate. This can save valuable time for businesses as they don’t need to migrate unnecessary data. Capacity planning, risk mitigation, etc all decisions are made here in the first phase.
• Execution Phase
  In this phase, users need to start implementing the decisions made in the first phase. Preparing source & destination accounts, ensuring if the valid subscription plans are there in Office 365. Making the staff aware of the changes that they have to adapt as soon as possible.

Also Read: How to Migrate Data Between Microsoft Teams?

Manual Solutions to Migrate Email from Zimbra to Office 365?

When we talk about manual solutions, it’s important that we understand that manual solutions are not recommended by IT experts. This is due to various reasons. Anyways, there are two ways by which users can migrate Zimbra mail to Office 365. These are not direct solutions but a set of two or more processes combined together to get the desired results.

Drive Shipping & network uploading are the two ways to manually transfer your data from Zimbra to Microsoft’s Office 365 suite. Users need to create PST files of all the data that they wish to transfer to the destination.

Later on, in the drive shipping method, they need to copy these files in a hard disc. Encrypt it with BitLocker & then physically ship it to Microsoft. On the other hand, in the network uploading method, there are numerous steps users need to perform. The Azure AzCopy tool of Microsoft is used here & generating SAS URL is a compulsory step.

Limitations of Using the Manual Method

Manual methods are not the optimum choice due to several reasons that we are going to discuss below. These limitations are a major reason why it’s complex to migrate email from Zimbra to Office 365 for users.

• The manual method does not allow users to migrate selective data to the destination. They have to migrate entire data files which flood the destination mailbox with unwanted data.
• It does not maintain the folder structure & timestamps in the destination accounts. This makes it fairly difficult for the end-user to find the relevant data files.
• Manual method leaves a gap for data integrity issues. There are many cases observed from around the world where users end up losing their data. Moreover, there is always a chance of file corruption in the manual method.
• We all know that migrating files using the manual method is quite complex. In addition, this process is also time-consuming due to the involvement of multiple steps present in the process. Organizations have experienced reduced efficiency as a result.

What is the Best Solution to Solve User Query?

Now we have the last question remaining: what is the best solution? If the manual solution is not optimum then what could be the best way to operate this task with ease? If you are eager to learn how to migrate Zimbra to Office 365 then opt for the modern approach.

So, the best & reliable method is opting for an automated tool. Users need to download the Most Trusted IMAP Migrator for a smooth data migration experience. This automated solution is developed by experienced IT technicians after deeply studying all the challenges that users face. Evidently, this tool is very well capable of countering these challenges. If your Zimbra mail is configured with IMAP protocol, you can migrate your data to Office 365 in minimal time.

Migrate Email from Zimbra to Office 365 -Automated Solution

If you are looking for a step-by-step tutorial of the modern approach, then here it is. Follow these simple & quick steps to get results with lightning speed. Download the advanced utility, activate the license & then go through these 5 steps respectively.

Step-1. Select Source platform as IMAP & Destination as Office 365.

Step-2. Click on the Email checkbox & apply the date filter if required for selective migration.

Step-3. Select the source IMAP Server from the list & validate permissions.
[Enter source IMAP Server URL & Port number if you’ve selected the Other option.]

Step-4. Enter destination platform’s admin credentials & validate permissions.

Step-5. Add users using the available options like Import users & Download template.

Step-6. Provide Source app password & then validate users & then click on Start Migration.

Mind-Blowing Features of this IMAP Migrator

Now that you’ve learned how to migrate Zimbra to Office 365, it’s time to know the features that you can enjoy from this modern solution.

• Offer Delta Migration Option for a fast migration operation.
• Date Filter feature for performing a selective data migration.
• Generate Summary or Detailed Report at the end of the operation.
• Feature to Set Priority for accounts to migrate them prior from others.
• It supports the migration of multiple IMAP accounts due to the Concurrent Migration feature.
• Make users Able to Migrate their data files from All the IMAP Email Servers to their destination.
• This utility is compatible with all the latest versions of the Windows Operating System.

Wrap-Up

This blog is about solving the user query to migrate email from Zimbra to Office 365, as Zimbra mail provides IMAP protocol. The blog describes various factors that play an important role in this complex operation.

Users must understand the advantages of using the IMAP Migrator. all of their queries can be resolved & they can get their expected results. The significant factor to pay attention to is the pre-migration steps. Users have to make a strong foundation with a well-structured plan for a successful data migration operation.

Also read: Best Way to Upload PST File to Office 365