How to Migrate AOL to Office 365 / Microsoft 365 Step by Step?

However, in the world of email services, AOL mail (America Online) is one of the oldest platforms. Though it was a prominent email service provider it has become outdated these days. Therefore, it becomes the reason for the migration. And for securely maintaining email data, Microsoft Office 365 is considered the best solution. So, we will be discussing how to migrate AOL to Office 365 account easily.

User Query: In my previous company, we were using AOL mail for connecting with clients. But, in my new company, they do not prefer AOL mail service. So, now I need to forward AOL mail to Office 365 account for a bunch of emails and their attachments. But, the issue is I’m out of time so I am looking for a quick solution to migrate emails safely to M365 account. Someone, please help me out with this situation as earliest possible.

Just like this user, there may be multiple AOL mail users who are having multiple emails to transfer. So, without further do let’s focus on a solution.

5 Quick Steps to Migrate AOL to Office 365

• Step 1. Download, Install & Run Software.
• Step 2. Select IMAP & Office 365 Platforms.
• Step 3. Validate Source & Destination Credentials.
• Step 4. Add Desired Users & Validate Permissions.
• Step 5. Click on Start Migration Button.

Why Do Users Prefer to Go For Microsoft Office 365 from AOL?

However, there are many reasons that influence users to choose Microsoft 365 over others while migrating from AOL Mail.

1. Microsoft 365 Provides Updated Services – As AOL Mail is no longer developed or updated, so, all those users try to move to an updated email service. For this situation, MS Office 365 is the one that is the most preferable option.
2. More Security – Likewise, when it comes to security, Microsoft 365 is considered the best option to maintain large email data. Unlike AOL mail which does not have high-end security, users choose to migrate AOL to Office 365.
3. Advanced Features – When you choose the subscription plan, you get online mailbox access and a collaboration facility with other users. Even O365 has a simple GUI interface, options for data management, and other facilities. Moreover, it is better to schedule meetings and store data in different mailbox types like Primary, Shared, Group, Public Folders, etc.
4. Availability of Different Applications – In this MS Office Suite all the users get different useful applications for both personal and organizational use. So, one can easily get multiple applications in just one suite.

Pre-Migration Planning for Safe & Secure AOL to Office 365 Migration

Here are the preliminary tasks to undertake before migrating from AOL to Office 365:

• Admin Access on Source and Target Servers – Ensure you possess administrative access to both the source and target servers. This admin account must be given the necessary permissions to execute mailbox migrations on behalf of all users within your organization. Remember to assign the Organization Management role group and grant impersonation rights to this admin user on Office 365.
• Create Office 365 Mailboxes and Allocate Licenses – Navigate to Microsoft Admin Center and add users and assign licenses for your Office 365 users. Make sure to assign Microsoft 365 licenses to the user accounts.
• Migrate AOL Mailboxes to Office 365 Public Folders –  If you intend to migrate AOL mailboxes to Office 365 Public folders, it’s essential to create a public folder and assign users to mailboxes on the target server. Establish the Office 365 Public folder and allocate mailbox users accordingly.
• Enable In-Place Archive in Office 365 for Mailbox Migration – If you are planning to migrate AOL mailboxes to Office 365 archive mailboxes. Then make sure to enable the In-Place archive in the Office 365 admin center. 
• Add and Verify Custom Email Domain on Office 365 – For retaining and receiving emails on a custom email domain from the source, you must add and verify the domain on Office 365. 
• Adjust Message Size Limits for Larger Messages – Increase the message size limit to 150MB on Office 365 by following the outlined steps.  

Method 1: Migrate AOL to Office 365 using Microsoft Outlook 

• Step 1. Launch Outlook (2016 and 2019).
• Step 2. Click on “File” and select “Add account.”
• Step 3. Provide the AOL email address for configuration.
• Step 4. Access “Advanced Options” and choose “Let me set up my account manually.”
• Step 5. Click “Connect” and designate the account type as “IMAP.”
• Step 6. Enter the required details for the incoming and outgoing AOL mail servers in the IMAP settings. Add the account to Outlook.
• Step 7. Utilize the exported PST file to synchronize and migrate AOL emails to Office 365.

Now you have to use this PST file to import PST to Office 365 account. You can use a drive shipping or network upload method to do this operation.

Method 2:  Smart Solution to Migrate AOL to Office 365 / Microsoft 365

However, the manual process requires multiple steps and eventually, it becomes a lengthy and complex operation to perform, therefore, we suggest you choose a professional solution. So, keeping this in mind, you should go for the SysTools IMAP to Office 365 Migration Tool to transfer AOL emails to Microsoft 365 account.

Download Now Purchase Now

As this tool is best to execute a safe migration process on a local computer that even offers various features. Using those features you can easily customize the migration as per the requirement for AOL mail emails. Even this is the solution that works fine without affecting any folder structure or email attributes. So, as a result, you only get those AOL mail account emails in your destination O365 account that you have customized the filters.

Intrigued Advantages Offered by Software That Helps Migrate AOL to Office 365

Technically there are multiple features or benefits that this tool offers to its users, but here we are sharing a few-

1. This software is the automated finest solution for a direct migration of AOL emails to Microsoft 365 account.
2. Moreover, it has a date filter to filter out the emails from the AOL mail account that you only want to transfer along with their attachments. Settings date filter in the fields the software will migrate only those emails that fall into that category.
3. Likewise, it is the easiest solution with a simple GUI interface that helps both non-technical and technical users in the same way.
4. Furthermore, both Mac and Windows users can operate this tool on the latest versions of Windows and Mac operating systems easily.
5. One can migrate AOL to Office 365 account in batch mode which means there would be no requirement to repeat the entire procedure again. You can simply use the concurrent migration facility in the respective Mac or Windows-based software. It will migrate all emails from all the selected accounts in one go.

Step By Step Guide to Forward AOL Mail to Office 365 Accounts

Step 1. Performing these instructions is easy but before that download the software on any supported Windows machine version.

Step 2. For a successful migration, it is a must to select the IMAP and Office 365 options as source and destination account on desktop.

Step 3. From the drop-down list, select the Other tab and then choose the Next button after validating the AOL Mail account.

Step 4. Now, for the Office 365 destination account, enter the user account credentials for account validation, and click Next.

Step 5. After importing users and validating them on the software panel just hit the Start Migration option for successful migration on Windows OS.

Steps to Transfer All Emails from AOL to O365 on Mac

Step 1. To begin the migration on a Mac desktop, download and activate the SysTools IMAP Migration tool and hit Continue after considering all prerequisites.

Download Now Purchase Now

Step 2. Then, select the AOL option as the source IMAP account to forward emails. Enter AOL Mail account user details and tap Validate.

Step 3. Now, pick the Office 365 / Microsoft 365 option and provide the required user credentials for validation, and hit validate the account.

Step 4. Then, apply the required inbuilt features from the software panel by tapping on the Advance Settings tab.

Step 5. Tap on the Start Migration option and begin the process to migrate AOL to Office 365 on the Mac desktop safely.

Conclusion

This article is all about the migration from one IMAP enabled to another account or platform. So, here, we have discussed the issue of AOL mail users who are having issues during migration. As technically, the manual method is not that feasible for this migration. So, we recommend you use the automated utility to smoothly migrate AOL to Office 365 / Microsoft 365 account.

Read More: Complete Guide to Migrate AOL Emails to Gmail Business Account Efficiently