By providing the advantage of productivity tools, collaboration tools, and 24*7 support Office 365 has become the most used cloud-based platform today. At present many users are opting for Exchange Online over HCL Notes. Plus, they are seeking a solution to migrate Lotus Notes Mailboxes to Office 365 to enhance their productivity and gain robust security advantages.  

In this guide, we will explore the most credible solution to ensure a perfect transition. In the following section first, we are going to learn the advantages of Exchange Online over IBM Notes.

Why Opt for Cloud-Based Services( Office 365) Instead of Lotus Notes?

Microsoft 365 offers various benefits to its users and with this, you can easily access your data from anywhere as it stores it in the cloud. If you are wondering why users are moving to Office 365 then the following are the key reasons behind it:

  1. Lotus Needs needs specific time to manage NSF files because it is stored in various paths. On the other hand managing data in M365 as it stores information in selective destinations. 
  2. Using Office 365 can minimize the cost of hardware since it is a cloud-based platform and supports to be operated with any device. 
  3. M365 offers many services like MS Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive for Business, etc, and these services proved to be very effective during the pandemic. That is the main reason, why users want to migrate Lotus Notes Mailboxes to Office 365.
  4. With various subscription plans provided by Exchange Online, you have the option to choose which suits you the best according to your needs.

These are the main reasons why should users opt for cloud-based services. Next, we will learn the step-by-step instructions to transfer data from Lotus Notes to Office 365. 

Manually Migrate Lotus Notes Mailboxes to Office 365

With the help of IMAP Connector, you can proceed with the transition manually. First, you have to make sure that you have a backup of your crucial data because there is a risk of data loss. Then, after safeguarding the information, you have to follow the steps which are as follows: 

  • Set up new mailboxes in Office 365 for each user who uses IBM Lotus Notes.
  • Enable the IMAP TCP/IP port for each user by doing the following:
  • Open the “Domino Administrator” in Lotus Notes.
  • Go to the configuration tab.
  • Open the server document that deals with IMAP services.
  • Click on Ports > Internet Ports > Mail tab.
  • In the IMAP column, turn on the “TCP/IP port value status.”
  • Save the changes and close the application.
  • Lastly, use the IMAP connector to sync mailboxes between Exchange Online and HCL Notes.

We learned the simple instructions of the traditional technique, but it seems quite complicated and error-prone. Plus, this approach has some drawbacks also like the limit of 1GB to be migrated at the same time, data loss, needs a perfect internet connection. Therefore, to avoid any type of hurdles during the task, in the next part of the phase, we will discover an alternative method.

Efficiently Transfer Data from Lotus Notes to Office 365 

By using the automated solutions you can simply migrate Lotus Notes mailboxes to Office 365. For the same, you have to opt for Lotus Notes to Office 365 Migration, which is provided by SysTools. This is a highly recommended utility for professional use. 

It can move your entire data from IBM Notes including Emails, Contacts, and Calendars to M365 hassle-free, which the conventional approach lacks. This utility supports several versions of HCL Notes such as 10.0, 9.0.1, 9.0, 8.5, 8.0, 7,0, 6.5, and 6.0. 

To know more about this you can try its free version and if you like this. Then you can get the complete version and gain the benefit of the more advanced functionalities. If you are curious to know the guidelines for this to migrate Lotus Notes Mailboxes to Office 365, they are as follows:

Steps to Move Entire Information from HCL Notes to Microsoft 365

Step 1. Install and open the specified solution.

Step 2. Choose Lotus Notes as the source platform and Office 365 as the destination.

Step 3. Select the data types to migrate, such as emails or contacts.

Step 4. Use the Date Filter for selective migration based on dates.

Step 5. Enter Admin Email and Lotus Notes Client Password. Browse and locate your Lotus Notes files.

Step 6. Organize NSF files in folders by user like:

D:/NSF Files/admin2@sourcedomain.com/ (put all NSF files of admin4)

D:/NSF Files/admin3@sourcedomain.com/ (put all NSF files of admin5)

D:/NSF Files/admin4@sourcedomain.com/ (put all NSF files of admin6)

Etc…

Set the ‘Source Folder Path’ in the tool (e.g., “D:/NSF Files/”).

Step 7. Click on Destination, provide Admin Email and Application ID, and validate permissions.

Step 8. Use Fetch Users to add users from the source account.

Step 9. Enter Destination Email, validate, and authorize permissions.

Step 10. Click Start Migration to initiate the process.

Bring It All Together

At present, most of the users are searching for a way to migrate Lotus Notes mailboxes to Office 365 because the end of the reason. Therefore, this guide is specially made to explain the simplest instructions for the transition. 

Within this, you will explore both manual and automated techniques. It is suggested to opt for the mentioned smart solution for hassle-free migration since the traditional approach has many limitations.