SmarterMail to Office 365 Email Migration
SmarterMail provides email plus collaboration features such as calendars, contacts, tasks, and other server functionality. This EdbMails page specifically covers the IMAP email migration path from SmarterMail to Microsoft 365.
Through standard IMAP, the migration scope is supported email messages, attachments, mail folders, folder hierarchy, and common message properties. SmarterMail contacts, calendars, tasks, chat, rules, and other non-mail data are not transferred by this IMAP workflow and require separate planning if they are needed in Microsoft 365.
The EdbMails IMAP Migration Tool supports single and bulk mailbox connection, mapping, selective migration, concurrent processing, incremental follow-up runs, and reports.
SmarterMail's IMAP listener settings are configurable. SmarterTools documents port 143 for IMAP and port 993 for IMAP over SSL/TLS by default, but administrators can customize bindings. Verify the actual server address, port, encryption mode, and account policy before migration.
Use this provider-specific guide together with the main IMAP to Office 365 migration page.
User Query
“My company is planning to migrate from SmarterMail server to Office 365 cloud, but we don't have much information on how to do so yet. It would be extremely helpful if someone could provide us with a step-by-step guide on how to proceed. I've also looked into a few methods for importing a PST file. However, we do not want to use those PST upload methods. Thank you very much.”
Why Organizations Move SmarterMail Email to Microsoft 365
- Move self-hosted or hosted SmarterMail email to Exchange Online.
- Centralize user, license, security, mailbox, and mail-flow administration in Microsoft 365.
- Use Exchange Online alongside Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and other Microsoft 365 services. The IMAP migration itself transfers email only.
- Use a staged migration with follow-up passes before the final mail-flow cutover.
SmarterMail email to Office 365 Migration Plan
- Inventory SmarterMail mailboxes, mailbox sizes, folders, aliases, active users, and required non-mail workloads.
- Separate IMAP email data from contacts, calendars, tasks, chat, rules, and other collaboration data that need a different workflow.
- Confirm the source IMAP server address, port, SSL/TLS mode, mailbox credentials, and connection limits.
- Create/provision Microsoft 365 users/mailboxes and assign licenses.
- Add and verify the custom domain if it will be retained after cutover.
- Review bandwidth, source connection limits, Microsoft 365 throttling, and message-size policies.
- Run a pilot mailbox and verify the target before the production batch.
SmarterMail to Office 365 Migration Prerequisites
SmarterMail source
- Confirm the IMAP server address, port, connection security, username, and password required by the SmarterMail deployment.
- SmarterTools documents IMAP port 143 and IMAP over SSL/TLS port 993 as defaults, but SmarterMail port bindings are configurable.
- For bulk migration, prepare the EdbMails sample CSV and validate a small set of users first.
- Check mailbox quotas, message sizes, firewall rules, and source IMAP connection limits.
Microsoft 365 target
- Create/provision the target mailboxes, assign licenses, and add/verify the custom domain where required.
- Use the current EdbMails OAuth-based Microsoft 365 connection / app-registration workflow.
- Review target throttling and message-size limits and run a pilot before production migration.
- To connect a single SmarterMail mailbox, select ‘Single User / Account Migration’, choose ‘Connect to IMAP Server’, and click ‘Next’.
SmarterMail to Office 365 Post-migration Tasks
- Step 1: Update the MX records to point to Office 365
Update the MX records for your domain to direct email traffic to the target Office 365 server, ensuring that messages are delivered to the correct domain-based mailboxes. Additionally, configure the Autodiscover DNS record so Outlook can locate and connect to the Microsoft 365 mailboxes.
- Step 2: Create a new Outlook profile for users in the new domain
Configure and recreate the Outlook profile for each user in your domain if Outlook has problems connecting to Office 365 mailboxes.
- Step 1: Update the MX records to point to Office 365
Troubleshooting Guide for SmarterMail to Office 365 migration
For troubleshooting, visit Knowledge Base.
For more queries, check Frequently Asked Questions or contact support.
Benefits of EdbMails for SmarterMail to Office 365 Email Migration
- Direct email migration workflow
Move supported SmarterMail email data to Microsoft 365 without requiring an intermediate PST export as the migration path.
- Bulk mailbox migration
Load multiple source accounts through CSV and process several mailboxes concurrently, subject to environment limits.
- Selective migration
Choose required mailboxes/folders and use supported IMAP filters to control the email migration scope.
- Incremental follow-up runs
Process eligible new or changed email items after the initial pass for staged cutover.
- Reports and verification
Use migration reports plus target-side checks to verify representative folders, messages, attachments, and item counts.
- Free trial
Use the trial to migrate up to 30 items from each folder and validate a representative mailbox.
