Read time: 11 minutes
You started with the GoDaddy Office 365 mailbox because your domain is registered there. Things were going smoothly till your team grew from 5 members to 100, and suddenly you realized your current environment does not provide robust data governance and domain-wide role-based authorization. To fix this, you decide to migrate from GoDaddy Office 365 to Microsoft Office 365.
Quick Steps to Move Office 365 from GoDaddy to Microsoft:
Step 1: Buy a Microsoft license as per your user mailbox size and provision users.
Step 2: Create a migration batch to migrate from GoDaddy Office 365 to Exchange Online.
Step 3: Update your MX, CNAME, and SPF records at GoDaddy to point to Microsoft.
Download Kernel IMAP to Office 365 migration tool to migrate Office 365 mailbox data from GoDaddy to Microsoft 365 in few simple steps.
What are the Benefits to Move Office 365 From GoDaddy to Microsoft?
Moving to an enterprise-ready SAAS platform (Microsoft 365) offers:
- Restriction-free access to all the Microsoft 365 Admin Center functionalities. No more GoDaddy’s custom overlays in SharePoint.
- Strong integration to third-party apps using the Microsoft Entra ID, GoDaddy’s native login flow sometimes breaks.
- Faster updates. You don’t wait for the GoDaddy Office 365 version update. Get the latest features months early.
- License as per your requirements. Skip buying irrelevant GoDaddy bundles and only pay for the apps you want.
Things to Do Before You Move GoDaddy Office 365 to Microsoft
After executing multiple GoDaddy migrations to Microsoft 365, I know how to increase your chances for an error-free switch.
- Find the default admin account and get the login credentials for it.
- Audit your primary mailbox, Shared Mailboxes, Distribution Groups, and Teams Channels to help with mapping later.
- Disable Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) to avoid login failure. Or create App Passwords for users for post-migration login.
- Back up any add-on data you are currently using with GoDaddy’s Microsoft 365 plan. You will have to import it manually.
- Set a lower value for Time to Live (TTL) in GoDaddy’s MX and TXT records. It will help to reduce the time DNS updates take on the internet.
Manual vs Automated Method to Move Office 365 from GoDaddy to Microsoft 365
Read this table to find out which method will work best for you.
|
Feature |
Manual Method |
Automated Tool |
| Ease of Use | Moderate | Easy |
| Data Scope | Only Emails or Folders | Entire Mailbox |
| Filters | Basic | Advanced |
| Real-Time Tracking | No | Yes |
| Move to Public Folder | No | Yes |
Methods to Migrate Office 365 from GoDaddy to Microsoft Error-Free
You can either do the email transfer manually with Microsoft Admin Center or with Outlook. Moreover, for complete mailbox item migration, use a professional IMAP to Office 365 migration tool.
Method 1: Move from GoDaddy to Microsoft using the Admin Center
Step 1: Navigate to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center page and log in.
Step 2: From the left panel, click the Exchange option.
Note: If the Exchange option is not visible, click Show all options.
Step 3: Click Migration > Add migration batch.
Step 4: Give a unique name and select the Migration to Exchange Online value as the migration path. Click Next.
Step 5: Select migration type as IMAP and click Next. Read the prerequisite and click Next.
Step 6: Select Create a new migration endpoint, click Next, and setup the endpoint.
Note: Use these settings to configure the endpoint
- IMAP Server: outlook.office365.com
- Authentication: Basic
- Encryption: SSL
- Port: 993
Note: In case of any confusion, refer to the official Microsoft 365 IMAP settings guide.
Step 7: Download a CSV file. Enter user information (email address, username, password) in the file and upload it by clicking on the Import CSV file option.
Step 8: Choose if you want to apply filters. Click Next to proceed.
Step 9: Provide the user’s details who will receive the report. Configure the migration to run automatically (schedule) or manually. Click Save to save the migration batch.
Microsoft will add the migration batch to the queue, and it will be completed in a few hours. I would like to remind you that this method to migrate Office 365 from GoDaddy to Microsoft will only move emails and folders. Your calendar entries, contacts, folder rules/permissions will be skipped. If you want these, you must manually import them later.
Method 2: Move Emails Using Outlook
In case your GoDaddy Office 365 account is new, and you have fewer than a thousand emails, Outlook can help. I prefer it for a small-scale migration involving only a single user mailbox. Steps for migrating from GoDaddy to Microsoft 365 with Outlook are:
Step 1: Configure both the source (GoDaddy Office 365 account) and the destination (target Microsoft 365 account) in Outlook.
Step 2: Go to the GoDaddy mailbox folder and select the data items you need to move.
Step 3: Right-click, select Move > Copy to Folder.
Step 4: Select the Microsoft 365 mailbox folder and click OK.
Note: You can also drag and drop the emails, but this will remove them from the source GoDaddy mailbox.
If you move 100+ emails together, the move may look stuck, but don’t panic; it is still running. Wait and let the process be complete. If you want to verify whether the emails are migrating, you can log in to OWA with your target account and see real-time emails appearing in the folder.
In addition to the copy/paste method, you can also export the GoDaddy mailboxes from Outlook as PST. Later, you can import the PST to Office 365 using either Outlook or the Exchange Admin Center.
Method 3: Move Complete GoDaddy Office 365 Mailbox Items with a Professional Tool
If your requirement is to move all your mailbox components, including contacts and calendar entries, then you must use a professional IMAP to Office 365 migration tool. Personally, I prefer using a tool because it shows real-time data move, which is missing with the manual method.
For this migration, you can use the Kernel IMAP to Office 365 migration tool. It’s fast, easy to use, and does the job without throwing errors. The steps to move Office 365 from GoDaddy to Microsoft with the tool are:
Step 1: Install the tool and open it. Click on the Let’s Connect button under the IMAP to Office 365 tile.
Step 2: Click the Add button under Add Source and select Use Modern Authentication while login option.
Step 3: Use your GoDaddy admin credentials and IMAP settings to connect to the source.
Step 4: Add the destination. Click Add, choose the modern authentication option, and enter the required credentials.
Step 5: To add a single mailbox as a destination, choose the Single Mailbox option and enter the email ID. To add multiple mailboxes, choose the List all Mailboxes option and click Get User Mailbox(es). Then, select the mailboxes and click Add.
Step 6: Map the mailboxes manually or automate the mapping with a CSV file. When done, click Set Filter and Migrate.
Step 7: Choose the destination (Mailbox, Archive Mailbox, Public Folder) for each mailbox and click Migrate.
Step 8: Set filters for selective migration and click I am OK, Start Migration.
Step 9: The tool will begin to migrate GoDaddy Office 365 to Microsoft Office 365.
Step 10: When migration is done, you will get a completion message. Furthermore, you can click the Save report to CSV and download a detailed migration report.
Move GoDaddy Office 365 to Microsoft | Post-Migration Steps
After moving from the GoDaddy-managed version of Microsoft 365 to a direct “Standard” Microsoft tenant, do this:
- Run a last email sync if you used Microsoft Admin Center to move emails.
- Instruct your team to create a new Outlook profile and configure the Microsoft account.
- Turn on MFA for all users through the Microsoft Entra ID.
- Change your GoDaddy’s MX, CNAME, and SPF records and make them point to Microsoft.
- Once you are 100% sure that all emails are migrated, decommission the GoDaddy Office 365 account.
Author’s Verdict
I’ll be honest, I took the manual approach to move Office 365 from GoDaddy to Microsoft. I thought I was being a hero by doing it manually and saving money. The emails moved over perfectly, but there were no calendar or contacts. All my team’s scheduled meetings, Zoom links, and clients’ contact phone numbers were missing. I spent the next three days manually exporting and importing PST files for twenty different users.
If you want to avoid all this trouble, use a professional IMAP migration tool. However, if your requirement is fulfilled with only emails and folders, the native method will work just fine for you. Ultimately, choose the method that suits your organization’s needs the most.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ans: This is because of the DNS Propagation delay. Wait for24 to 48 hours. When the new DNS records are updated on all the servers, new emails will start to be delivered to your Microsoft account.
Ans: For a few PST files, use Outlook. But for 50+ PST files, use the Network Upload method to import the PST to your Office 365 account.
Ans: No. When you migrate from GoDaddy Office 365 to Microsoft Office 365, your domain registration stays exactly where it is. In your case, this will be GoDaddy’s registrar side.
Ans: You can go with the Microsoft 365 Business Premium or Office 365 E3/E5, they both provide a 100GB primary mailbox. Also, keep in mind that manual IMAP migration can only move a maximum of 500,000 items from a user’s mailbox. To avoid this limit, use a dedicated IMAP migration tool.
