For the last few weeks, we have been migrating copies of all your Google mail to Microsoft's Exchange Online. Over the weekend we completed all of the initial migrations. As a result, the firm is planning to move to Exchange tonight (Mon. Aug. 28) at 7:00 PM.
What Will Happen
At present, all of your mail is in two places: both in your Google mailbox and your Exchange mailbox. This evening at 7PM, we will perform a final synchronization of the two mailboxes.
At the same time, I will change the MX records with our DNS provider. In plain English, that means that I am telling the entire internet that if they send an email anyone using the margolisedelstein.com domain, that mail should go to Microsoft rather than Google. The sync will continue running all night, just in case an email still gets sent to Google.
There should be no interruption in email service. Any incoming mail should get sent either to Google or Microsoft depending on when it hits the system. You can send messages from Google up until 7PM and can begin sending messages from Microsoft at 7PM and after.
Configuring your PC
If you have run Outlook Assistant on the computer where you have Outlook installed, it should migrate your account automatically. You can simply continue using it. The Assistant should also bring over any personalized settings you made in Outlook.
Our migration consultant recommends leaving Outlook turned on tonight during the migration. However, if you don't have it on for some reason, it's not going to be a problem. You just may have to wait a few minutes as Outlook Assistant makes the adjustment the next time you open Outlook.
The firm would like everyone to use the Outlook client for email. Outlook already installed on your computer when you downloaded Office 365. If you have not installed Office 365, you really need to do that TODAY. If you have not yet used Outlook, I recommend waiting until tomorrow to configure it. You can simply start it as a new account using Microsoft Exchange.
If Outlook Assistant does not work, or you have no existing account, and you need to configure Outlook yourself. It should be very simple. Simply create a new user in Outlook. You are connecting to Microsoft Exchange Online. Your login name is your email address. Your password is your Office 365 password.
Configuring Mobile Devices
If you have an Android or Apple phone or tablet, the firm recommends you use the Microsoft Outlook App for your mail going forward. To set that up, simply enter your email address and Office 365 password when prompted.
If you have a Gmail app that you are no longer using, or any other mail program on your device, you may want to delete it to avoid confusion.
Checking Mail Online
If you like to check mail online, you can always do so through your Office 365 account. You can also go directly to http://outlook.office365.com and sign in there.
Other Configurations
In addition to email, your labels should come over as folders and keep everything filed as you had it before. Your contacts will also come over, though they may not show up in autocomplete. Your calendars will also migrate.
There are a few things that may not come over correctly and that you may need to set up again. While calendars will come over, any calendar sharing you had set up will not. You will need to share your calendars again with anyone you want to have access. Also, if you crated and filters to handle the automatic disposition of emails coming into your mailbox, you may need to recreate those again. If you used any third party tools to share folders or perform other functions, they may no longer be available at all.
If you had links to Google Drive documents, either in emails or calendar items, they will only work until Google Drive goes down in late September.
Your Old Google Account
Your account at Google will remain up and running for a few weeks. The purpose of this is to give you time to make sure everything migrated correctly, and that you have cleared off everything from the old account before it goes dark.
Your old email will continue to be there, but you should not use it after 7PM tonight. If you send an email or make any changes to that system after the migration is complete, you will lose all those emails or settings changes. You must start using Microsoft's mail at 7PM tonight and thereafter.
Margolis Edelstein Tech Blog
Showing posts with label exchange online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exchange online. Show all posts
Monday, August 28, 2017
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Leaving Gmail for Exchange Online
The firm has decided to move the margolisedelstein.com mail domain from G Suite (Google) to Microsoft Office 365 Exchange Online. We will make this move quickly and expect the change to happen in the next few months.
Why this is happening
As the firm replaces a wide range of systems, several of our vendors say that their systems integrate better with Microsoft's solution rather than Google's. It will also mean users will have a single account for both email and MS Office rather than the separate accounts that exist now.
The Process
We plan to use a migration specialist called Skykick. The migration company will access your email and migrate all of your mail contacts, and calendar information into Exchange Online. This process will take several weeks. At some point around Labor Day, we plan to shut down Google, do a final sync, and begin using Office 365. We will provide more detailed information on the cut-over as we get closer to the end of the process.
How to prepare
Google throttles the amount of data we can download from each mailbox every day. Therefore, moving the data will take several weeks. If you have a large amount of data in your mailbox, now would be an ideal time to begin deleting items you no longer need and which will only extend our migration process.
The new system has an email storage limit of 50 Gb, unlike Gmail's unlimited storage. At present, just about everyone is well below that limit, which is just for email. It does not count document storage you may be using in Google Drive. But if you are getting close to that limit, you may want to be diligent about deleting messages that unnecessarily fill your account.
Beyond mail, you may be using your Google Account for other purposes. You may have documents saved in Google Drive. We expect to be able to migrate everything in your Google Drive to Box. This is a good time for house cleaning though. If you have files you no longer need in Google Drive, please delete them now.
If you have created documents or spreadsheets in Google Drive that are in Google format, we will convert them to Microsoft format. In other words, a Google Doc will convert to a MS Word Doc, and a Google Sheet will convert to MS Excel.
If you have been using Google Hangouts for instant messaging and chat, those logs will not come over. If you need to save any of that for some reason, you may want to cut and paste the information into a document. Going forward, we recommend using Microsoft Teams for chat and IM.
If you have pictures saved in Google Photos in a work account, these also will be left behind. If you have photos needed for work, please save copies into the appropriate matter directory. If you have personal photos, you may want to download them to a personal computer before they disappear forever.
If you are using any other Google applications and are worried about losing information, please contact me to discuss further. We will do everything in our power to protect whatever data you deem important.
We will also need to find new homes for the Research Home Page, and (hopefully) this blog. We are working on alternative solutions and will announce them as soon as they are ready.
Change Now
Of course, switching to a new mail system means that the familiar Gmail web page will be going away, as will the Gmail app that you use on phones or tablets. We will replace these with Microsoft Outlook. If you have already installed Office 365 on your computer, you already have Outlook installed. To become more familiar with it, we would like you to begin using it now. You can connect Outlook to your existing Gmail account using the G Suite Sync tool. If you click on the link, you can download and run the tool on your computer. This will configure Outlook to access your Google account.
If you begin using Outlook now, you have time to familiarize yourself with the Interface, but can still also use a browser to access the old familiar way while you are learning Outlook. Once we make the move to Exchange, the Gmail interface will go away and we will point your Outlook software to the new Exchange back end. If you are familiar with Outlook by then, you will be ahead of the game and not really see any changes in the way you work with your mail. You will also have the option to access your mail online through outlook.com.
Why this is happening
As the firm replaces a wide range of systems, several of our vendors say that their systems integrate better with Microsoft's solution rather than Google's. It will also mean users will have a single account for both email and MS Office rather than the separate accounts that exist now.
The Process
We plan to use a migration specialist called Skykick. The migration company will access your email and migrate all of your mail contacts, and calendar information into Exchange Online. This process will take several weeks. At some point around Labor Day, we plan to shut down Google, do a final sync, and begin using Office 365. We will provide more detailed information on the cut-over as we get closer to the end of the process.
How to prepare
The new system has an email storage limit of 50 Gb, unlike Gmail's unlimited storage. At present, just about everyone is well below that limit, which is just for email. It does not count document storage you may be using in Google Drive. But if you are getting close to that limit, you may want to be diligent about deleting messages that unnecessarily fill your account.
Beyond mail, you may be using your Google Account for other purposes. You may have documents saved in Google Drive. We expect to be able to migrate everything in your Google Drive to Box. This is a good time for house cleaning though. If you have files you no longer need in Google Drive, please delete them now.
If you have created documents or spreadsheets in Google Drive that are in Google format, we will convert them to Microsoft format. In other words, a Google Doc will convert to a MS Word Doc, and a Google Sheet will convert to MS Excel.
If you have been using Google Hangouts for instant messaging and chat, those logs will not come over. If you need to save any of that for some reason, you may want to cut and paste the information into a document. Going forward, we recommend using Microsoft Teams for chat and IM.
If you have pictures saved in Google Photos in a work account, these also will be left behind. If you have photos needed for work, please save copies into the appropriate matter directory. If you have personal photos, you may want to download them to a personal computer before they disappear forever.
If you are using any other Google applications and are worried about losing information, please contact me to discuss further. We will do everything in our power to protect whatever data you deem important.
We will also need to find new homes for the Research Home Page, and (hopefully) this blog. We are working on alternative solutions and will announce them as soon as they are ready.
Change Now
Of course, switching to a new mail system means that the familiar Gmail web page will be going away, as will the Gmail app that you use on phones or tablets. We will replace these with Microsoft Outlook. If you have already installed Office 365 on your computer, you already have Outlook installed. To become more familiar with it, we would like you to begin using it now. You can connect Outlook to your existing Gmail account using the G Suite Sync tool. If you click on the link, you can download and run the tool on your computer. This will configure Outlook to access your Google account.
If you begin using Outlook now, you have time to familiarize yourself with the Interface, but can still also use a browser to access the old familiar way while you are learning Outlook. Once we make the move to Exchange, the Gmail interface will go away and we will point your Outlook software to the new Exchange back end. If you are familiar with Outlook by then, you will be ahead of the game and not really see any changes in the way you work with your mail. You will also have the option to access your mail online through outlook.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)