Greetings! Last month, we discussed Ransomware, which remains a threat. This month: Email migrations.
As Always, Happy Computing!
— Tom Grundig
Email Migrations
Email services are arguably the most important service for office functions. It is reasonable for someone to decide to switch email service providers, but doing so can be a bit tricky. In the past, this was done by manually exporting and/or downloading email data from each user account and importing and/or uploading it to the new service. This process takes a lot of time and has a tendency to not work perfectly every time.
This process can be faster and more simple with more than one user when it’s not necessary to have all email data within the email account. First, the new email accounts are setup and forwarding from the old email account to its respective new account is setup. Then an archive of all email data from all users is created, download, and kept. Then the contacts from each email account are exported and imported into the new accounts.
Email Forwarding
Setting up forwarding like this enables the use of the new email account while all email being sent to the old address are being received at the new address. This allows for a smoother transition of letting people know to now send to the new address. However, there is still a considerable amount of setup for each user.
Each new email address must have contacts, settings, signatures, and forwarding setup when moving email providers. However, if you’re planning on moving to one of the larger email providers, such as Microsoft’s Office 365, there are programs and services that automate the process and make the switch seamless.
The service Grundig IT uses for migrating email accounts to Office 365 is Skykick. This transfers all email data associated with the old addresses to the new service, with settings and other data.
The most convenient thing Skykick does is transfer data entirely in the background with no effect on the user. Once the data has finished transferring, the email service will automatically cutover.
If a date is set for cutover but data isn’t done transferring, it continues until it finishes. The newest data transfers first so the user has all the most recent email available at all times. Prior to the cutover, end users will receive an email with instructions on how to use Skykick’s Outlook Assistant. The assistant automates the process of setting up the new email account in Outlook.
At this point, the end user should change their password. When changing their password, it is a good idea to review the password’s complexity. Most people will stick to a certain password because it’s familiar, memorable, or liked.
