Office 365 offers a range of maintenance and hassle-free business email accounts. For this reason, organizations prefer Public Folder Migration o365 . During the Exchange to Office 365 migration, user mailboxes and Public Folders stored in the Exchange database are moved to Office 365.
Public Folders vs Office 365 Groups – What’s the Difference?
Public Folders in Exchange contain important information and data related to the organization and workgroup. In on-premises Exchange, Public Folder is the native mailbox and thus, a user is required to Migrate to Office 365 from Public Folder.
Like Public Folders in Exchange, Office 365 has Groups where a set of selected Office 365 users can collaborate and share through common resources, such as Outlook Inbox, Calendar, etc.
Methods to Migrate Public Folders to Office 365 Groups
Despite proper planning, users and admins may get stuck with Public Folder migration due to its large size. Thus, migrating Public Folders to Office 365 via manual methods takes time and may lead to longer than expected downtime. In contrast, a specialized Exchange migration software ensures quick and easy migration of Public Folders with practically nil downtime.
Method 1: Use Microsoft Public Folder Migration Script
You can use the Public Folders Migration Scripts from Microsoft to migrate Public Folders to Office 365. The steps are as follows:
-Download Public Folder Migration Scripts and save these scripts at the same location on your local system where you will run PowerShell.
-Then download Mail-enabled Public Folders – directory sync script. It contains two files, download both as shown in the screenshot.
-Also, download SourceSideValidations.ps1 PowerShell script. Save it at the same location where you saved earlier scripts. -Run SourceSideValidation.ps1 script in PowerShell to scan the Exchange and check if there is any issue. Fix the issue with the recommended method, if it shows any.
-Make sure that there are no orphaned Public Folder mail objects.
-Make sure that there are no duplicate Public Folder objects.
-Confirm the SMTP email address for Public Folders on Active Directory.
-Then follow this detailed guide at Microsoft suggested reference library to complete the Public Folders migration from Exchange to Office 365.
Method 2: Export Public Folders as PST via Outlook
You may also export the Public Folders from Outlook to PST by using the Outlook Import Export wizard. However, it is not recommended for Public Folders with size 30 GB or more. The steps are as follows:
-In Outlook 2010, navigate to File > Open > Import.
-In Outlook 2013, 2016, or 2019, navigate to File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
-Select Export to a file and then click Next.
-Select Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.
-Select the Public Folder from the list and click Next.
-Then click the checkbox to Include Subfolders of the selected Public Folder.
-Click ‘Browse’ to select a save location where you want to export PST file.
-Click Finish. This exports the Public Folder as PST file at the specified location.
Now, you can import this PST into Office 365 manually by following these steps:
-Download Public Folders Migration Scripts
-Map source Public Folders to Office 365.
-Create a Public Folder on Office 365 based on mapping file.
-Then by using New-Public Folder cmdlet, create a topmost Public Folder in each Public Folder mailboxes.
-Then import PST files into Office 365 by using Outlook Import Export Wizard.
-Finally, assign Public Folder permissions by using the Exchange Administration Center (EAC).
To learn about Migrate File Server to SharePoint Online visit O365CloudExperts.