Summary: Do you want to place or Migrate Emails from IBM Notes to the Microsoft 365 cloud? If so, then this post will be your supportive hand for accomplishing this task. Here, we will find out the efficient ways to migrate emails from IBM Notes to Microsoft 365.
Understanding Lotus Notes and Office 365
Lotus Notes, or IBM Notes, is a highly collaborative email client with amazing features. This email client uses the NSF file format to store all email messages, notes, contacts, tasks, etc.
Office 365 is offered by Microsoft, and this is a cloud-based email service with innovative Office apps. You will get online access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. with Office 365. Apart from this, Office 365 gives you access to read emails globally.
This is a major reason why users switch from Lotus Notes to Office 365. Let us now figure out other reasons to convert a Lotus Notes mailbox to Office 365.
Why Need to Migrate from IBM Notes to Microsoft 365?
Check the top reasons why users are migrating from Lotus Notes to Office 365:
Cloud-based accessibility: With Office 365, users get the facility to access data anytime & anywhere. Whereas Lotus Notes is a desktop-based application.
Low Cost: With Microsoft 365, users don’t have to bear high maintenance costs as there were in the case of Lotus Notes. Apart from this, Microsoft quickly handles updates and backups.
Smart Collaboration Tools: You will get various smart collaboration tools with Microsoft 365, such as SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, etc. These collaboration features are not available with IBM Notes.
Modern User Experience: When compared to IBM Notes, Office 365 provides a friendly and clean UI. Also, it offers MS Office apps like Excel, PowerPoint, Word, etc., to access online.
Possible Methods to Migrate IBM Notes Emails to Office 365
In this segment, we will check the possible ways to migrate IBM Notes email data to the Office 365 environment. This migration task is a 2-step process where you first need to convert the IBM Notes file to PST format and later import the PST to Office 365 account.
Pre-Migration Checklist
- Backup your Lotus Notes NSF file
- You require installation of IBM Notes and Outlook on your system
- Assign migration roles
- Check the size of mailbox (By default, Microsoft 365 PST import limit is 50GB/mailbox)
Method 1. Manual or Free Solution to Convert IBM Notes to Outlook
This method is a little time-consuming and risky. So, use it at your own risk. In this, you have to first move IBM Notes emails in a CSV file & then import this CSV file in Outlook.
- Open the IBM Notes program
- From the File menu, go to the Open – IBM Notes Application option
- Then, browse the required NSF file & hit on Open button
- Tap on the File option and hit the Export option
- In the opened dialog box, enter the file name, location, and pick CSV as the saving type. Then, hit the Export option.
In this way, the NSF file will be saved in CSV format at the provided location.
Now, import a CSV file with Outlook’s Import/Export feature. For these, go through the listed steps:
- Launch MS Outlook and tap on the File menu
- Hit Open & Export – Import/Export option in the next window.
- Now, go for the Import from another file or program option and hit the Next option.
- Pick the Comma Separated Values in file type and press the Next button.
- Browse the location of the CSV file and pick the required options accordingly.
- Select the folder where you want to save the data and click the Next button.
- In the “Import a file” section, select the given box and click the “Finish” button.
Limitations of Manual Conversion
- The process is very time-consuming
- The manual migration may harm the actual database
- Users find the manual solution tough to implement as the steps are unfamiliar, especially for non-technical users.
Method 2. Expert-Recommended Tool to Migrate IBM Notes to Office 365
For instant and secure migration, one should go for professional tools like Viceversatools NSF to PST Converter. This is a perfectly tested program to migrate Lotus Notes NSF files to Office 365.
Even non-technical users can easily work with this program. Moreover, the program ensures 100% data safety throughout the conversion process.
To use this software, you need the NSF file exported from Lotus Notes, and then simply add the NSF file to the program, and you will get a PST file as output. After this, import this PST file to Office 365.
Complete Steps to use the software to migrate IBM Notes to Microsoft 365 via PST:
- Install and open the suggested software on your Windows computer.
- Then, load the required Lotus Notes NSF file.
- In the preview panel, view folders & subfolders of the NSF file.
- Pick the PST format from the Export options.
- Filter data, if required, and set a location to save the PST file.
- To process the data, hit the ‘Convert’ button.
After this, you will receive a PST file. Now, to import this file to Office 365, you can use the Microsoft Network Upload or Drive Shipping method.
Factors to consider while choosing a solution to migrate IBM Notes to Microsoft 365
In this section, we will learn which factors users must consider while choosing a method for migrating IBM Notes emails to Microsoft 365. Or, you can say the benefits of choosing a professional tool over a manual solution.
Batch Conversion: For large mailboxes, users prefer a solution that offers batch conversion. So, in this case, the automated solution is the best one to migrate IBM Notes emails to Office 365 as it smoothly converts batch NSF files to Outlook PST.
Simple to Operate: The solution should be easy to understand, and this criterion is fulfilled by the professional tool, which is user-friendly. However, the manual solution is a little tricky and involves technical steps that are complex.
Data Security: Data safety is the major concern of users during data migration. Manual solutions can be risky if not handled properly, but the professional solution is completely tested & safe.
Time saving: Users always look for a solution that can save their time while migrating NSF to Outlook 365. By choosing the automated solution over the manual one, you can save your valuable time as the software quickly executes the migration.
Manual vs Automated NSF to PST Conversion – Which is Better?
If you compare manual and automated solutions to migrate IBM Notes to Microsoft 365 via PST, then you must look for the pros and cons of both solutions.
Pros of manual solution:
- It is free of cost
- Good for migrating a few emails
Cons of manual solution:
- Needs IBM Notes and MS Outlook installation
- Time-consuming
- Complex & not suitable for novice users
- Risk of data loss & corruption
- Not scalable for bulk data conversion
Automated Solution: The automated solution directly performs the conversion by preserving metadata and the actual database structure. Let us find its pros and cons:
Pros of the automated tool:
- Provide support for batch conversion
- Highly efficient and safe to use
- Handle large & encrypted NSF files
- No limitation for file size
- Include technical support
Cons of the automated tool:
- It is not free of cost
Wrapping Up
Hopefully, this article guided you to migrate emails from IBM Notes to Microsoft 365 via PST. We hope you will be satisfied with the solutions offered in it. You can use the methods as per your suitability. However, the simplest and quickest solution is the discussed automated tool. You can check it by installing the trial edition. For any problems, connect to our 24×7 technical support team.
Reference Source: Migrate from Lotus Notes to Microsoft 365
