Migration to Zoho Mail
Posted by Nishi on 22 January 2025
Email migration from current email servers to Zoho Mail servers:
Zoho Mail offers a very simple solution to migrate data from your previous email provider to the respective user accounts in Zoho Mail directly. These user accounts need to be created in Zoho Mail before adding the migration. Follow this link for detailed instructions on user addition.
Migration from G Suite:
If your email was previously hosted with G Suite, you can migrate to Zoho Mail using the migration options that are specific to G Suite.
G Suite migration has multiple advantages over Gmail IMAP migration since you can also migrate your Calendar and Contacts data along with email. Further migration to G Suite can be done by using just the Administrator credentials. Refer here for detailed instructions on G Suite migration.
If you do not want to use the G Suite migration, you can use the IMAP protocol to migrate your emails from Gmail to Zoho Mail. Refer to this help page for more details.
Migration from Office 365:
If your email service was hosted with Office 365 previously, the administrator can make use of the Office 365 migration option in the Zoho Mail Admin Console. This will migrate not just the emails, but also the calendar and contact details saved under each user's account. Follow this help page for more details on specific migration from Office 365.
Alternatively, you can migrate your emails with the help of IMAP migration from your Office 365 account to Zoho Mail. Refer to this help page for more details.
Migration from Microsoft Exchange Server:
The Microsoft Exchange Server is an email and calendaring server developed by Microsoft. If your email service was previously hosted with an Exchange Server, you can migrate to Zoho Mail by preparing the source environment for migration and then adding the migration. Email, Contacts and Calendar data from the Exchange Server to Zoho Mail.
Follow this help page for more details on specific migration from Microsoft Exchange Server.
Migration from GoDaddy:
If your email service was either hosted with GoDaddy or you have purchased Microsoft office 365 via GoDaddy previously, the administrator can perform a server to server migration via IMAP from the Zoho Mail Admin Console. The data from the user accounts from your source server will directly be migrated to the respective user accounts in Zoho Mail.
Follow this help page for more details on specific migration from GoDaddy
IMAP / POP Migration:
The most recommended way to migrate emails to Zoho Mail is the IMAP Migration. After migration, they can continue from where they left, as the email statuses and email folders are maintained and migrated in IMAP Migration.
In case your previous email server does not support IMAP, then the emails can also be migrated via POP migration. Refer here for detailed instructions.
Zoho Exchange / Outlook Migration Wizard:
If your previous email service was run by an in-house/ on-premise Exchange Server (without POP/IMAP support) or the user's emails are available as offline PSTor EML files, then the administrator can use Exchange Migration Wizard to migrate the emails from Exchange Server to the respective user accounts in Zoho Mail. This wizard can also be used to discover users from Active Directory to their Zoho Mail organization accounts. You can download the Exchange migration tool from here.
Best Practices
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Run a sample migration for around 2 to 10 users before the actual email migration process. This will help us know the source server behaviour (user limit, mail size limit, speed of migration etc.)
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The maximum connection limit is the number of connections accepted by a server at a given time. Set the maximum number of connections depending upon the server load and the number of users.
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While setting up migration for a batch of users, set the priority for each user. Users whose priority is as ‘1’ will be migrated first, and the rest will follow according to the priority that you have set.
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Some servers will throttle the data fetch in IMAP after a certain interval. After that, the mail fetching for migration will be slow to avoid real-time mail traffic.
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The sample users mailboxes should be migrated again to fetch the emails that got delivered before changing the MX. Duplication will be handled at our end. Alternately, you can also set a date limit while adding the final migration for the sample users’ mailboxes to ensure that all emails after the sample migration have been migrated.
In general, to complete the migration for a batch of 25 users, each with a mailbox size of around 2 GB, and the maximum Connection Limit set to 10, it approximately takes 11 hours.
Choosing the right type of migration:
Choosing the migration type that suits the requirements of your organization is vital to ensure a smooth and proper migration. Each migration type is best suited for a specific type of users. Read through the next section to determine which type works best under which situation.
IMAP vs POP Migration
If your emails are in a cloud-hosted email service like Google Apps or Yahoo or any other cloud email server which support IMAP Access, you can perform a server-to-server migration via IMAP from the Admin Console. The data from the user accounts from your source server will directly be migrated to the respective user accounts in Zoho Mail. These user accounts need to be created in Zoho Mail before adding the migration. Follow this link for detailed instructions on user addition.
Zoho Mail supports both IMAP and POP Migration, but IMAP Migration has more advantages compared to POP Migration. To know more on which migration would be ideal for your accounts, refer to the Advantages of IMAP Migration over POP.
Advantages of IMAP Migration over POP
If your emails are in a cloud-hosted email service like Google Apps or Yahoo or any other cloud email server which support IMAP Access, you can perform a server to server migration via IMAP from the Control Panel.
Zoho Mail supports both IMAP and POP Migration, but IMAP Migration has more advantages compared to POP Migration.
PST Migration:
When to Use:
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Migration might be performed by user or Admin
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The user data is available as PST files.
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All Mailbox data (Mail/Contacts/Calendar/Tasks/Notes) needs to be migrated to Zoho Mail.
Things to Crosscheck:
The exact folder and mail count can be rechecked from the ‘View Folder Details’ option in the ‘Archive Policy’ page. This page will list the folder-wise email count and the mailbox size.
EML Migration:
When to Use:
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Migration might be performed by user or Admin
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The only data to be migrated is the user's emails
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User's email data is available as ZIP files, containing EML files.
Things to Crosscheck:
The exact folder and mail count can be rechecked from the ‘View Folder Details’ option in the ‘Archive Policy’ page. This page will list the folder-wise email count and the mailbox size.
Exchange Migration:
When to Use:
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Admin can use the GAL or LDAP option to fetch user list for migration.
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User data is available on an Exchange server.
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All Mailbox data (Mail/Contacts/Calendar/Tasks/Notes) needs to be migrated to Zoho Mail.
Things to Crosscheck:
The exact folder and mail count can be rechecked from the ‘View Folder Details’ option in the ‘Archive Policy’ page. This page will list the folder-wise email count and the mailbox size.
Before Migration
1. Add domain(s) in Zoho Mail.
2. Verify domain(s) in Zoho Mail.
3. Create all users and groups in Zoho Mail.
4. Run sample migration for 3 or 4 users to test the migration.
5. Ideally, a weekend is suitable to switch the service (low incoming emails).
6. Inform the users about the switch of email and provide the login details for the users before the switch.
7. Change the MX to Zoho Mail. (Friday night/ Saturday early morning).
8. Email Routing can be configured to avoid any loss of data.
9. Create a catch-all account (not applicable in case of Split Delivery) to monitor and find out if any email addresses (groups/ users) were missed when creating the users.
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Index / Admin Guide
Zoho Mail provides extensive control panel for the administrators to manage their organization users, email accounts and policies.
Email hosting setup
Zoho Mail Suite provides enterprise features for email hosting to satisfy the needs of organizations of all types and sizes. Zoho Mail provides custom domain-based email address for all members of your organization in no time.
Troubleshooting Domain Verification
When you register the domain with one provider, but point the Nameservers to another provider, then the CNAME/ TXT/ MX/ SPF records added in your Domain Registrar is not considered valid.
Zoho Mail plugin for cPanel
cPanel provides a control panel for domain owners to manage the different aspects of web hosting. Zoho Mail Plugin for cPanel helps you sign up for email hosting with Zoho Mail from within cPanel. This plugin is available under the Email section.
Zoho Mail for Plesk
Plesk is a web hosting platform with a control panel that allows domain owners to manage the different aspects of web hosting. Zoho Mail Plugin for Plesk helps you sign up for email hosting with Zoho Mail from within Plesk.
Searching Admin Console
Zoho Mail Admin Console provides a centralized interface from where you can manage critical aspects of an organization - the different domains, users, groups, organizational spam control, email policies, to name a few. However, this wealth of information might make navigating through the Admin Console slightly challenging.
Dashboard
The Admin Console Dashboard is the first thing you will see as soon as you login to the Zoho Mail Admin Console. It is a culmination of important data your admin might need at their disposal. You can enable or disable widgets in your dashboard including data on your organization's Email Traffic Stats.
Users
The user details section, provides the list of users already added to the organization. When you click on each user, you can have a detailed view about the particular user. The Admin can also perform a set of actions on the user. The primary email address of the users are listed in the section.
Roles and Privileges
The roles available in Zoho Mail are Super Administrator, Administrator, and User roles. The members of the organizations can assume different roles in Zoho Mail, based on the requirement. The Super Administrator can provide Administrator privileges to other users.
Groups
Groups or Distribution Lists are common email addresses, shared by a set of users for a specific purpose. When an email is sent to the group account, a copy of the email gets delivered to the mailbox of all the members of the Group.
Organization Settings
The administrator can control organization-wide parameters under the Organization section. Settings for the entire organization such as the org name, logo, templates for the welcome email and signature, format for the display name and email address.
Domain Options
Zoho Mail allows organizations to add domains to their organization accounts or even buy domains through Zoho. Your organization members will further be able to send and receive emails using their custom domain-based email addresses in Zoho.
Autodiscovery Settings
The Autodiscovery service ensures that email accounts can easily be configured using the IMAP protocol or on mobile devices using ActiveSync. The procedure varies depending on whether you want to configure it for IMAP or ActiveSync.
Email Policies/ Rules
Email Policies help the administrators control the organization's email sending and receiving parameters. In Zoho Mail, you can define multiple email policies and apply them to various sets of users and groups.
Advanced Delivery Options
With Zoho Mail, you can redirect or send a copy of an email automatically by configuring Email Routing. Email Routing is helpful in many situations like if you want to automatically send a copy of one user's email to another.
Security and Compliance Dashboard
The security and compliance dashboard in the Zoho Mail Admin console provides an overview of all the recommended security configurations. It displays the overall compliance score.
Organization Security
Organization accounts hold a lot of sensitive data and there's a need for certain security rules to make sure your data stays safe and is not compromised. The administrator can protect their user and organization data with the help of email security features.
Organization Spam Control
Zoho Mail is a secure email service with a spam control system that provides multiple options to customize the settings such that they suit your organization's needs.
Zoho Mail Outlook Add-in
Zoho Mail users can now experience enhanced email security and have better control over their preferences with the new Outlook Add-in while using their email client.
Export User Accounts
The Zoho Mail Admin Console provide options to export or backup users' emails, recover any deleted emails and also retry sending of emails that have failed delivery.
Migration to Zoho Mail
Zoho Mail offers a very simple solution to migrate data from your previous email provider to the respective user accounts in Zoho Mail directly. These user accounts need to be created in Zoho Mail before adding the migration.
Zoho Exchange Migration Wizard
Zoho user and email migration wizard can be used to discover users and migrate their emails from the Active Directory/ Exchange environment to their accounts in their Zoho Mail organization accounts.
Application Settings
The administrator can control the settings for other Zoho apps and third-party applications and integrations from the Other App Settings section in the Zoho Mail Admin Console.
Email Retention and eDiscovery
Email retention is the process of retaining emails in an organization for a specific period in an organized manner based on the policies of the organization.
Email Backup and Recovery
Email backup processes and stores emails in a safe, centralized location that can be retrieved at any point in time. It helps prevent data loss by enabling users to restore email content that has been accidentally deleted or lost.
Reports & Statistics
Zoho Mail has a separate Admin Reports section which comprises of statistics on various aspects of your organization's emailing experience. As an administrator, these reports will help you gain information on all aspects of your organization.
Zoho Toolkit
Zoho Mail provides easy-to-use diagnostic tools to troubleshoot some services. There are options to check the domain and registry details. You can run some basic DNS configuration checks for a specific domain, and analyze message headers.
Subscription
Zoho Mail offers different plans to accommodate different users. One can choose the subscription that would suit their organization from the array of available plans. You can also opt for the mix and match plan to have a tailor-made subscription.
Firewall settings
Configure your firewall settings and allow your organization members to access Zoho Mail without any restrictions. All of the below-mentioned domains have to be whitelisted even if you don't see activity at those addresses.
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