When we talk about migration of Exchange mailboxes to Office 365, then there are multiple methods like cutover, staged, and hybrid migration. If you have used any of these methods, then you must be aware that all these methods require creating a batch of the mailboxes in a CSV file, configuring the Exchange settings for a smooth migration, and running the batch. This process takes time, and the administrator needs to monitor the migration process throughout the time continuously.
The Office 365 groups gives a rational place to multiple Office 365 accounts with whom you want to communicate, share, or send the information routinely. It amplifies the percent of collaboration between the users, teams, clients etc. If you are working on a special project where you need to share the documents, spreadsheets, project plans, etc. with your team member, then you should create the Office 365 groups.
Because the public folders are also created with the sharing purpose. So, the Office 365 groups are the natural destination for such data.
Before creating the office 365 group, you need to recognize the need of your organization as there is no Office 365 group that fits for all needs. Different team look for different level of collaboration, so you need to create the groups for the different applications also.
When you want to migrate public folders from Exchange to Office 365, then there are no direct methods, but you can perform the migration using Exchange Management Shell.
If you only want to migrate the public folder mailbox to Office 365, then you can do it directly as any other mailbox without making the changes. If you wish to replace the legacy public folder with Office 365 groups, then here is the procedure to follow.
The manual process to migrate the public folders is completed in multiple steps, and here we have provided the steps here –
There are multiple scripts which are essential in the migration process at multiple levels –
It helps to include the users and owners from the source Exchange.
It is an associate script for the first script.
It locks the public folder from any updates or changes while migration is in progress.
It is an associate script for the third script.
It unlocks the public folder’s properties and restores them to their original state.
It is associated script for the fifth script.
It activates the first, third, and fifth scripts to write logs.
Perform the steps to create a suitable migration environment –
Get-MigrationConfig
It will provide you with a list of all the features in Office 365. If the record has PAW in it, it means it is enabled.
Create a CSV file having two columns FolderPath and TargetGroupMailbox. The FolderPath will include the complete path of the public folder and TargetGroupMailbox will have the Office 365 Group SMTP address. You also should know that you can create only 500 entries in a single CSV file.
Before starting the batch migration, you should complete some prerequisites –
Provide the administrator credential (of the source Exchange Server) to $Source_Credential variable –
Provide the MRS Proxy Endpoint to the $Source_RemoteServer variable –
Create the migration endpoint with the following command –
Create a new migration batch –
As you have added the AutoStart parameter, the migration will instantly start.
So, this is the whole process of migrating public folders from on-premises Exchange to Office 365. But there are lots of patchworks which you need to fix before and after the process. Here are some conditions which the batch migration process should fulfill –
The whole process of migrating public folder data to Office 365 is time-consuming, error-prone, and requires expertise. If you want to reduce all your migration problems, then use Kernel Migrator for Exchange which can access public folders directly from its source and place them in desired Office 365 Groups. It also provides multiple filtering options which help you to select only the required data to migrate. Simply, this is the most desired Exchange Migration tool for Exchange administrators.