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Last Updated: March 14, 2009

Unit contributions | Migration FAQ

Migrating to Exchange

ITCS does not provide migration from other e-mail or calendar platforms, but only provides a new empty mailbox. There are solutions available from some vendors to migrate mail and calendar items, but none of these are provided by ITCS. There is currently no migration path from Meeting Maker to our Exchange service. While some Meetingmaker to Exchange third-party tools are available, none that we have found are able to work within our environment.

As units develop migration strategies, they are encouraged to share what they have learned with the campus community through these pages. If you have a migration technique or tip that you would like to make available, please contact exchange.support@umich.edu to have it posted to this web page.

Windows users can move mail using Outlook by connecting to the Exchange service via MAPI and an imap service (such as UMCE IMAP) via the secure imap protocol. A similar method is to use an IMAP client, such as Eudora, configured to access both Exchange via secure imap and another imap email store, allowing for movement of mail between the services.

MacOS X users can similarly move mail using the Mail.App client.

Our recommendation for migrating calendar data is to pick a cutover date within your unit and specify that all meetings past that date should be scheduled within Exchange. All meetings currently recorded in your older system should be manually reentered into Exchange before this cutoff date.

Unit contributions

NOTE: Because of the complexity due to different versions and configurations of many existing mail clients, the documentation provided here is designed for system administrators and desktop support professionals only. In addition, this complexity makes it very important that you please read the documentation thoroughly and carefully.
    Creating and Using a Personal Store to Manage Mail (contributed by ITCS)
    Using a Personal Store (PST) is a great way to maintain archived mail data while keeping your mailbox quota manageable. A PST is simply a type of a mailbox file on your local machine that Outlook can use. PST is the filename extension used by Outlook; it can also be known as Personal Folders or Local Folders.

    Migrating from Eudora to Exchange (contributed by ITCS)
    This document is designed for system administrators and advanced Eudora users who are converting to the Exchange server. It provides valuable information on importing e-mail and address books from Eudora to Exchange.

Migration FAQ

Can I migrate my mail filters and rules?
There is not a way to migrate filters or rules from an existing mail client into an Exchange mail client. Filters and/or rules that you may have created for mail.umich.edu (IMAP), Mulberry, and even Outlook using IMAP will not be transferable to your new Exchange account.

Since there is a quota for my mailbox size, how will I migrate all that mail I keep in large IMAP folders?
We recommend migrating mail from large IMAP folders into a PST (Personal Store) instead of your Exchange mailbox. This will prevent trouble during migration if you exceed the quota. You will be able to fully access mail from both places using your Outlook client. See Creating and Using a Personal Store to Manage Mail for detailed information.

How do I migrate my calendar data from Meetingmaker to Exchange?
We observed that a hard cut-over from Meetingmaker to Exchange works best. This involves using Meetingmaker as your primary calendar for all meetings that occur before the cut-over date. All meetings that occur after the cut-over date will get entered in Exchange. On the cut-over date, Exchange becomes the primary calendar. Past Meetingmaker data can then be printed for archival purposes.

We heard that you can use a Palm device to migrate data from Meetingmaker to Exchange. How can I do this?
We have some limited experience with this method, however, it's not perfect. Basically you sync your Palm to Meetingmaker, then you uninstall the Palm Conduits for Meetingmaker, install the PocketMirror software for Outlook, and sync your Palm to Outlook using PocketMirror. It really isn't as great as this sounds; this method breaks all the groupware functionality you had with Meetingmaker; your calendar becomes a stand-alone calendar. For example, all "links" to another calendar (such as a conference room or to other staff) will get broken and if the meeting changes none of the invitees will be notified. This method does provide a way to transfer past Meetingmaker data into Exchange. Keep in mind that if you do use this method to maintain past calendar data, it will count against the total size of your mailbox, so if you migrate lots of past calendar data into Exchange, you risk exceeding your quota.