Will mail be lost when moving to Microsoft 365?

Not if the order is right: first copy existing mail, then switch the MX record, then run a final sync. Mail that still arrives at the old provider during the switch is copied over that way too.

Do calendars and contacts move automatically?

Not with an IMAP migration; that only moves mail. Calendars and contacts are moved separately, for example via an export from Outlook or with a migration tool that supports them.

How long before new mail arrives in Microsoft 365?

That depends on the TTL of the MX record. By lowering it a few days in advance, the change is usually known everywhere within a few hours.

What do I do with info@ and other general addresses?

In Microsoft 365 these usually become a shared mailbox. That needs no paid licence and several colleagues can work in it at the same time.

When can I cancel the old email package?

Only after checking for a few weeks that all mail is in Microsoft 365 and nothing arrives at the old provider anymore. Do not accidentally cancel the website or domain name at the same time.

Moving business email from your hosting provider to Microsoft 365: how an SME does it without losing mail

The company email has run at the same web host for years, once bought together with the website. Staff fetch their mail with POP or IMAP, everyone keeps their own calendar on their phone and the mailbox regularly fills up. Anyone switching to Microsoft 365 mainly wants one thing: no mail lost during the move and customers noticing nothing. With good preparation, that works.

Why email at a web host becomes a risk

An email package at a web host works fine as long as little changes. But there is often no two-step verification, no serious central spam and phishing filter, no backup you can restore yourself and no shared calendar or shared mailbox. If you use POP, mail also lives on only one computer; if that breaks, the mail is gone. In Microsoft 365, mail, calendar and contacts are stored centrally in Exchange Online, everything works on laptop and phone at the same time, and you manage accounts and security in one place.

Preparation: take stock before anything moves

Which addresses exist? List all mailboxes, aliases, forwarding addresses and general addresses such as info@ and invoices@. In Microsoft 365, general addresses often become a shared mailbox rather than a paid account.
How much mail is there? Large mailboxes take more time. With POP, mail is sometimes stored only locally in Outlook and has to be imported from the computer.
Who manages the DNS? To switch you must be able to change your domain’s records. See our article on who holds the keys to your domain name.
What else sends email? Think of the website contact form, the accounting software, a web shop or the scanner. After the move these must send through the new route.

The move step by step

1. Prepare domain and accounts: you add the domain to Microsoft 365, verify ownership with a DNS record and create the users and shared mailboxes. Mail still flows through the old provider at this point.
2. Lower the TTL: a few days in advance you set the time-to-live (TTL) of the MX record low, so the change spreads quickly later on.
3. Copy existing mail: with an IMAP migration in the Exchange admin center or a migration tool, mail is copied per mailbox, including folders. This runs in the background while everyone keeps working.
4. Switch the MX record: at a quiet moment, such as Friday evening, you point the MX record to Microsoft 365. From then on new mail arrives in Exchange Online.
5. Final sync: a last round picks up mail that still arrived at the old provider during the switch.
6. Connect devices: staff sign in to Outlook and on their phone with their Microsoft 365 account. Old POP or IMAP profiles are removed so nobody accidentally keeps looking at the old server.

Calendars, contacts and signatures

An IMAP migration only moves mail. Calendar items and contacts stored at the old provider or locally on the computer are moved separately, for example by exporting them from Outlook and importing them into the new mailbox, or with a migration tool that supports them. Agree who takes care of this, because forgotten appointments only show up when someone misses a meeting. It is also a good moment to manage email signatures centrally.

After the switch: security and clean-up

SPF, DKIM and DMARC: update the SPF record for Microsoft 365, turn on DKIM and set up DMARC, so your mail does not land in spam and nobody can send mail in your name. See our article on SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
Two-step verification: turn on MFA for all accounts, ideally at the first sign-in.
The old package: cancel the old email package only when, after a few weeks, you are sure everything is in Microsoft 365 and nothing arrives at the old provider anymore. Make sure you do not accidentally cancel the website or the domain name too.

How Floor ICT handles this

Floor ICT takes stock with you of all addresses, mailboxes and systems that send email and draws up a runbook with a fixed moment for the switch. We prepare Microsoft 365, move the mail in the background, switch the MX record outside office hours and run the final sync. On the first working day we help staff with Outlook and their phones, and afterwards we set up SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MFA. Only once everything has demonstrably arrived do we advise cancelling the old package. That way customers notice nothing of the switch and no mail is lost.

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