Quick Guide to Migrate Emails from Alpine 2.21.9 to Office 365 Primary Mailbox and Shared Mailbox

Figure: Export Alpine Mail to Office 365 Mailbox

Question by User – “I am using Alpine Mail from few years and need to export Alpine Mail to Office 365 Mailbox with attachments. Can I migrate emails from Alpine 2.21.9 to Office 365 Primary Mailbox and Shared Mailbox separately? What is the best method to transfer mails from Alpine Mailbox to Exchange Online? I am looking for a quick and error-free process. Please guide me for a reliable solution. Thanking you in advance.
George”

Alpine Mail is a free email client and a rewrite of the Pine Message System. It supports POP, IMAP, LDAP, SMTP, and NNTP protocols natively. This traditional email client can write and read folders in several formats like mbox, Maildir, the mh format, MIX, and mbx. But due to the limitations of this desktop-based email client and the need for global accessibility, users are moving towards cloud platforms.

Office 365 is a cloud-based platform by Microsoft. It offers real-time collaboration and the flexibility to manage and store emails from anywhere across the globe. The updated and advanced features offered by Exchange Online is making it extremely popular among the users as well as enterprises.

What is the need to Import Mails from Alpine 2.21.9 to Outlook Online?

Following reasons are often given by the users to import emails from Alpine 2.21.9 to Outlook Online:

• Easy Collaboration offered by Office 365 – With this cloud-platform, you can access your emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, etc. from any device or browser across the world. This eliminates the platform dependency which is a big issue with on-premise Alpine Mail.

• Preferred at Workplaces – At most of the IT-based workplaces, it is a common practice to work with different machines and operating systems. This is due to the requirements of the ongoing project. In such a scenario, Outlook Online facilitates unified collaboration among the employees. This facility is not available with the desktop-based email programs.

• Supports Bulk Data Management – With Outlook Online, you are capable of managing unlimited data on the cloud which promotes better user experience. This is one of the main reasons to Export Alpine Mail to Office 365 Mailbox.

• Advanced Features offered by MS 365 – Office 365 suite offers a plethora of features like online mailbox access, scheduling meetings and invitations, and multiple mailbox types including Shared Mailbox, Groups, Public Folders, etc. On the other hand, Alpine Mail offers a limited set of features.

Method to Transfer Emails from Alpine Mailbox to Exchange Online

There are two ways to transfer emails from Alpine Mailbox to Exchange Online – Manually and using a Third-Party Tool. The manual method is difficult to perform and requires technical knowledge. Some of the issues faced by users with manual migration are:

Issues with Manual Method – Alpine Mail to Office 365 Migration

• You need to be technically strong to be able to perform the migration.
• As the task is time-consuming, you will have to dedicate proper time and a resource for it.
• As manual methods are prone to errors, it is not feasible to get 100% accurate and precise results.
• It is not possible to migrate unlimited data.
• As the process is lengthy, there are more chances of missing out one or more crucial steps.
• External factors like a slow machine, etc. may lead to loss of your crucial data.

Using a Converter to Migrate Emails – Automated Method

As the manual method is difficult to perform, it is better to look for a quick and error-free solution that gives output within a few minutes. You can use SysTools software to migrate mbox files to Office 365 Mailbox and get 100% accurate results. Using this software, you can migrate emails to Primary Mailbox and Shared Mailbox separately.

How to Import Alpine Mail to Office 365 Primary Mailbox

1. Download and launch the software or your machine. The tool provides two options – ‘Add  File(s)‘ or ‘Add Folder‘. Select any one of the buttons as per your requirement and click on ‘Next‘.

2. Now select the required file(s) or folder from the system and click on ‘Open‘ Button.

3. The screen of software will show the selected file or folder. Click on ‘Next‘ Button.

4. The ‘Office 365‘ option is already selected. ‘Maintain Folder Hierarchy‘ option is also selected by default. Click on the ‘OK‘ button.

5. The tool offers two features – Impersonation and Without Impersonation.

6. Impersonation option – You need to add login credentials of the admin account and map the files with users accounts of the same Office 365 admin. Enter the Id and Password of the admin account of Office 365. 

7. In the next step, enter the Id of Office 365 User. This is the account where the output will be visible.

8. Without Impersonation – In this option, you need to input the Id and Password of the Office 365 User Id where the data is to be migrated.

9. Authenticate the account. You can choose ‘Apply Filter(s)‘ feature if you want to select data based on a date range.

10. Hit the ‘Export’ button. The software shows the progress status with a live progress bar.

11. You also have the facility to save the output in a CSV format for your reference purpose.

12. Log in to Office 365 using the account where you want the result and check the migrated files in the Primary Mailbox.

Steps to Move Emails from Alpine 2.21.9 to Shared Mailbox of O365

Important Note:

• To perform this method, Shared Mailbox should be present in O365 with required members assigned to it.
• After completing the migration using the tool, log in to Office 365 with the account that is added as a member of the Shared Mailbox or the result will not be visible.

1. Download and Run the tool on your system.

2. Choose ‘Add File(s)’ or ‘Add Folder’ and click on ‘Next‘.

3. Browse the required folder or file from the system and click on ‘Open‘.

4. Choose Impersonation option and enter the Id and Password of the admin of Office 365. Hit the ‘Login’ button.

5. In the next row, add the ‘Shared Mailbox ID‘ under the option ‘Office 365 User Id’. Authenticate the Id.

6. Choose ‘Apply Filter(s)’ to migrate selective data based on a date range. Hit the ‘Export‘ button to start the conversion process.

7. Save the output in the desired location of your system. The tool also offers to download the report in CSV format.

8. Go to Office 365 and login with the credentials of the Office 365 User Account that is a member of the Shared Mailbox.

9. Check the migrated data in the Shared Mailbox.

Key Benefits of using a Migration Tool

• Facility to move bulk data
• Maintains folder hierarchy
• Date Filter to migrate data based on date range
• Impersonation and Without Impersonation facility
• Support all versions of Windows
• Provides accurate and precise results
• No technical knowledge required
• Gives fast and error-free solution

The Final Words

More and more users are willing to export Alpine Mail to Office 365 Mailbox. The manual method is a tricky task and comes with a set of limitations. On the other hand, using a tool offers are a quick and effective solution. We have explained the automated method to migrate emails from Alpine 2.21.9 to Office 365 Primary Mailbox and Shared Mailbox. You can use the software and find its functionality and unique features.