How to Migrate Outlook.com to Office 365 Account?

Quick Answer: Migrating email from Outlook.com to Office 365 can be done manually by setting up both accounts in the classic desktop version of Outlook and manually moving the folders. Or it can also be done using the Backup Tool. IMAP migration through the Exchange admin center will fail, because Outlook.com stopped supporting Basic Authentication on September 16, 2024, and now requires OAuth 2.0 (modern authentication) for sign-in.

Do you want to upgrade the email experience and get a complete package of productivity tools? Migrate from Outlook.com to Office 365, which is a more robust and feature-rich platform. Since it is one of the most common queries on popular forums, we will provide different approaches to perform this migration.

This detailed guide will show you how to move your email from Outlook.com to Office 365, with all the benefits, methods of migration, and step-by-step instructions so that you can smoothly move to another account.

Why Migrate from Outlook.com to Microsoft 365?

The simple answer is that Outlook.com provides a decent email service. However, Microsoft 365 takes it to the next level.

• MS Office 365 has a broad range of features besides email. It includes high security features, more mailbox space, multiple other applications, and features to collaborate with others like Teams.
• With a Microsoft 365 business account, you can have a custom domain (name@yourcompany.com), allowing your communications to look professional and improve your branding.
• You’ll have more advanced security features like malware protection, spam filtering, and data encryption.
• With this transition, forget about space-consuming storage. A free Outlook.com mailbox has 15 GB of storage, while Microsoft 365 business plans give each user a 50 GB mailbox (100 GB on some enterprise plans). Microsoft 365 offers mailbox storage space provided by Outlook.com. This means you can store more emails, attachments, and files without running out of space.
• Microsoft Office 365 integrates with other productivity tools like Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint. This collaboration will enhance productivity.
• Microsoft provides a comprehensive support channel, ensuring assistance whenever users encounter any issues.

These are more features users will get while performing the transition. Now, let’s find out the different methods to migrate Outlook.com to an Office 365 account.

How to Manually Move Outlook.com to Office 365

When setting up an IMAP migration in the Exchange admin center (Migration > Add migration batch), you will be asked for your Outlook.com password. However, since September 16th 2024, Outlook.com no longer allows signing in with just your password (basic authentication) from other apps and services. The steps below will guide you through using the classic Outlook desktop application. This will sign you in using Microsoft’s secure sign-in page and will work.

1. Launch the desktop Outlook app (Microsoft 365)
2. Go to File > Add Account, enter your Outlook.com email address, and sign in on Microsoft’s sign-in page.
3. Add your Office 365 account in the same way and wait for both mailboxes to sync.
4. Right-click on the folder in your Outlook.com mailbox and select Copy Folder.
5. Drag and drop to where you want it stored in your Office 365 mailbox and click OK.
6. Select the emails you wish to move and go to Move > Copy to Folder.
7. Do this for all the folders and check the number of items in both mailboxes.

Drawbacks: Slower than usual when copying large folders and can cause problems when sync is disrupted. Must be done folder by folder manually. There is no option to filter by date or sender, and it only works in classic Outlook for Microsoft 365 or Outlook 2021

Transfer Emails from Outlook.live.com to Office 365

1. Start the software and follow the steps below.
2. Enter the Outlook.com email address and press Login.
3. Press the Accept button to allow the tool to access your mailbox.
4. Choose the desired folder from the left panel.
5. Select the Office 365 option in the Select Saving Option. An Office 365 tab to enter your ID and password will pop up.
6. Navigate to the Filter option to selectively migrate emails.
7. Tap the Start Backup button to initiate the transition.

Benefits of Using a Tool over the Manual Method

• The tool to migrate Outlook.com to Office 365 will do all of this automatically.
• The tool has an easy-to-use interface.
• This can help prevent data loss and corruption, saving you money.
• You can filter your data and only migrate what you need to save you time and space.
• Batch migrations mean you can migrate multiple mailboxes at once.
• If you do this manually, then there are chances you will make mistakes in the configuration. If you don’t set up everything correctly or have issues during the transfer, then you could lose or corrupt your data.
• Our migration tool will ensure that your data is transferred reliably. All your data will be fully and accurately transferred.

FAQs

Q) Are Office 365 and Microsoft 365 the same?

A) Yes. In April 2020, Microsoft changed most of its Office 365 plans to Microsoft 365. As the mailboxes in Exchange Online are the same, the steps above work for both.

Q) Can I use IMAP migration when migrating Outlook.com to Office 365?

A) No. IMAP migrations require logging into the account with a password, but Outlook.com will no longer allow you to log in using just a password since September 16th 2024. The best option is to use the desktop migration option in Outlook or an automation tool.

Q) Will I lose my emails in Outlook.com when migrating?

A) No. Both methods will copy your emails across, so they will remain in Outlook.com until you delete them.

Q) Why is Outlook.com asking me to enter my Outlook.com account password when I add the account?

A) It means that your version of Outlook or configuration of the email account uses the basic authentication method, which has not been supported by Outlook.com since September 16, 2024. Add the account using the automatic account setup instead of IMAP/POP.

Conclusion

Migrating Outlook mailboxes to the Microsoft 365 platform will be a great leap for users’ productivity. By following the few steps mentioned in this guide, you can easily accomplish the task. Choose any of the methods from this write-up. Using the demo edition of the tool will help users to try out the software. Later, you can purchase the Pro edition to migrate emails from Outlook.com to Office 365.