Migrate Public Folders to Office 365 Effortlessly – Elevate Your Collaboration!

Here, we are going to explain the solutions for public folder migration to Office 365. We are going to cover both manual & automated solutions. Apart from that, the benefits of these methods are also there to make a better choice. The reasons for such operation are a key element to getting in-depth knowledge, that’s why we start our discussion from the same.

User Query & Reasons to Migrate Public Folders to Office 365 Account –

Let’s explore the reasons for such an operation with the help of a generic user query of a real user eagerly finding a solution. 

“Hi, my name is Alex & I’m from South Carolina, U.S. I’m trying to perform Exchange On-Premise to Office 365 migration as our organization is shifting from On-Premise infrastructure to Cloud infrastructure. Even after several attempts, I’m unable to get the expected results. There are multiple drawbacks to the manual method & that is why I need a genuine solution. Please suggest a reliable solution if any.”

As the above user query states how difficult it is to execute migrate public folders to Office 365 without the right knowledge & technical skills. 

Now, understand the reasons for such an operation that you can find below –

• Migrating to an On-Premise Infrastructure due to up-gradation of technology.
• Exchange not receiving external emails also becomes the reason for migration.
• To get access to your files from anywhere in the world at any given point in time.
• Privacy & security are much better in the Office 365 ecosystem that protects your data.
• Office 365 offers identical UI regardless of the system that helps users in operations.

Exploring the Differences Between Public Folders and Office 365 Groups!

Here we will learn the core & general differences between these platforms i.e. Public folders & Officd 365 Groups –

General Comparison –

Core Comparison –

Let’s have a Quick Look at the Ways of Public Folder Migration to Office 365!

For this task, #4 solutions are available to migrate public folders to Office 365, and the following sections describe each method clearly and neatly. So, just go through them and initiate the transition effortlessly –

Method #1. Reliable Automated Solution

Now we are well aware of all the loopholes present in the manual solutions. That’s why many users face critical challenges in between operations. To counter such situations we must look at the modern solution i.e. Experts Recommended Public Folder Migration Tool. It is the best way to get customized results as per your needs.

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Such marvelous tools are a perfect choice for users to get accurate results without any data loss or file corruption issues. The best thing about this solution is it’s free to download & easily export mailbox to PST from offline EDB file. Download the tool for free & follow the below-mentioned steps with the respective images to migrate public folders to Office 365 efficiently.

Step-1. Download & Launch the Tool and then Click on the Add File button. 

Step-2. Now, a new window is open, in which two options are available to upload files i.e. Select file & Search file.

Step-3. Afterward, choose any of the two options for scanning i.e. Quick & Advance.

Step-4. Hit “Yes” to save the scanning result.

Step-5. Verify your data in eight different formats as shown in the screenshot.

Step-6. Click on the Export button and select Office 365 as the destination platform.

Step 7. Finally, initiate the transition by clicking on the “Export” button.

Astounding Features of the Best & Reliable Automated Software!

Various benefits can help users reduce their efforts to accomplish the target results. This smart solution is available to us after understanding all the pain points of users. This is why it can eliminate all the errors with ease. Let’s explore the advantages that you can enjoy by choosing this to migrate public folders to Office 365 –

• It can simply execute the entire operation while maintaining data integrity & security. There is no chance of any threat to damaging data files. It can even recover purged Emails Exchange 2019 & other versions.
• Time is money & that is why this software aims to get the work done in the minimum time possible. Its advanced algorithms simply complete the work in the least possible time with maximum accuracy.
• Another benefit that users get is plenty of filters that can reduce the workload of users. Category & Date Filters make it easy for users to migrate selective information that no other solution offers to migrate public folders to Office 365.
• Bulk migration is a piece of cake with this method. Other solutions usually fail when it comes to bulk data migration. However, this solution fluently manages the transition of bulk data files of the Exchange server.
• With this, you can repair multiple EDB Exchange database (if they are corrupted) & then migrate them to their destination location.

Method #2. Use the Exchange Management Shell (PowerShell)

This sounds technical but effective, running PowerShell commands is not an easy thing for every user. So, it is suggested to opt for this only when you are aware of technical errors associated with this solution –

Requirements to migrate public folders to Office 365:

• Exchange Management Shell access
• Administrative permissions on both the on-premises Exchange and Office 365 environments

Create a Migration Endpoint:

New-MigrationEndpoint -Name "YourEndpointName" -ExchangeRemoteMove

Create a Migration Batch:

New-MigrationBatch -Name "PublicFolderBatch" -PublicFolder -SourceEndpoint "YourEndpointName"

Start the Migration Batch:

Start-MigrationBatch -Identity "PublicFolderBatch"

Monitor the Migration:

Get-MigrationBatch | Get-MigrationUser

Complete the Migration:

Complete-MigrationBatch -Identity "PublicFolderBatch"

Method #3. Microsoft Public Folder Migration Script

Using the public folder migration Scripts will help us initiate the task. The following points will help you in this –

Phase 1. Prepare the Source Environment

1. Identify Public Folders:

Get-PublicFolder -Recurse | Select-Object Name, Identity

1. Create a CSV File:

Get-PublicFolder -Recurse | Select-Object Name, Identity | Export-Csv -Path "C:\PublicFolders.csv" -NoTypeInformation

Phase 2. Prepare the Target Environment

Using Exchange Admin Center (EAC) create a public folder in Office 365, then only you can create a transition endpoint –

New-MigrationEndpoint -Name “OnPremPublicFolderEndpoint” -ExchangeRemoteMove

Phase 3. Use the Microsoft Public Folder Migration Script to Migrate Public Folders to Office 365

• First, save the commands from the Public Folder Migration Scripts & Mail-enabled Public Folders – directory sync script. 
• For PowerShell scripts, you have to click on SourceSideValidations.ps1. 
• Now, scan Exchange by running this SourceSideValidation.ps1 script within the PowerShell. Fix any issue using –

.\SourceSideValidations.ps1

• Connect to Exchange Online:

Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName <software@yourdomain.com>

• Execute the Migration:

.\PublicFolderMigration.ps1 -SourceMailbox "<SourceMailbox>" -TargetMailbox "<TargetMailbox>" -PublicFolderMailbox "<Office365PublicFolderMailbox>"

• Monitor the Migration:

Get-PublicFolderMigrationStatus

Method #4. Export Public Folders as PST via Outlook

For this solution, you need an Outlook application then only you can proceed with the migration –

• To start, in Outlook 2010, go to File > Open > Import, or for Outlook 2013, 2016, or 2019, navigate to File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
• Select the option to Export to a file > Outlook Data File (.pst) > select the Public Folder to export. 
• Then click ‘Browse’ to pick a location to save the PST file and click Finish to complete the export.
• Now to import the files, download the Public Folders Migration Scripts and run the command to generate a CSV file:

.\Export-PublicFolderStatistics.ps1 MyServerName.csv

• Next, map your source Public Folders to Office 365 with the command:

.\PublicFolderToMailboxMapGenerator.ps1 MailboxSize ImportFilePath ExportFilePath

• After mapping, create a Public Folder in Office 365 based on the mapping file, and use the New-PublicFolder cmdlet to set up the folder.
• Finally, import the PST files into Office 365 using the Outlook Import/Export Wizard, and through EAC assign permissions to the Public Folder.

Bring it All Together!

Now that we understand various aspects of this migration task, it’s time for the final say. We all know these operations can be hectic. This is because of the involvement of core technicalities. Therefore, automated software is a better approach. Whereas, on the other hand, the manual methods to migrate public folders to Office 365 are quite complex.

Hence, the main key point of this operation is to select a wise method or tool. The specified automated tool is an excellent example that you must consider. This solution is not just a user’s favorite but also IT experts also recommend this based on their own experience.