When you upgrade your Basic Mail account to an Exchange account, you must create a backup of your calendar and contacts and import it to your new Exchange account.
This guide explains how to export the files from your email client and through Webmail, and how to import them.
- How to export your calendar
- How to import your calendar
- How to export your contacts
- How to import your contacts
How to export your calendar
To begin, you'll need to export your calendar events and contacts from your IMAP mail server. The steps you need to follow may vary depending on the email client you are using, but here are some general guidelines:
In your email client (for example, Outlook, Mac Mail etc.):
- Open your email client and go to the calendar section.
- Look for an option to export or back up your data. This option may be found in the settings or tools menu.
- Choose a file format that is compatible with Microsoft Exchange Online. For calendar events, it's recommended to use the .ics format, while for contacts, the .csv format is commonly used.
- Save the exported files to your local computer.
In the example below, we've used the built-in calendar on a Mac.
In Webmail:
- Click the Calendar icon in the menu to the left.
- Hover over your calendar in the list and click the gear icon to open the calendar settings.
- Click Export calendar.
- Save the exported files to your local computer.
How to import your calendar
To import your calendar events into Microsoft Exchange Online, follow these steps:
- Log in to your Microsoft Exchange Online account using your credentials.
- Navigate to the calendar section.
- Locate the option to import or upload data, which may be in the settings or tools menu.
- Select the file you previously exported from your computer.
This guide from Microsoft shows you how to import calendars into Outlook:
Once you have completed the import process, you must ensure that your calendar events and contacts have been transferred accurately.
How to export your contacts
In your email client:
To export contacts from an IMAP email account in an email client to Exchange Online, follow these steps:
- Open your email client and log in to your IMAP email account.
- Find the Contacts folder in your email account.
- Select all the contacts you want to export by using the "Ctrl+A" (Windows) or "Command+A" (Mac) keyboard shortcut.
- Right-click on the selected contacts and choose Export or Save As from the context menu.
- Save the contacts as a CSV file to your computer's local storage.
In the example below, we've used the calendar in Thunderbird for Mac.
In Webmail:
- Click the Settings icon in the menu to the left.
- Click Contacts.
- Click Export contacts.
- Choose Outlook.
- Click Export to save the exported files to your local computer.
Following these steps, you can successfully export your desired contacts from your IMAP email account to a CSV file on your computer, ready to be imported into your Exchange Online account.
How to import your contacts
To import your contacts to Microsoft Exchange Online after exporting them, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Exchange Online account using your Office 365 login credentials.
- Navigate to the "People" section and locate the Import Contacts button in the top right corner.
- Select CSV file as the import type and browse to the directory where you have saved the contacts CSV file.
- Follow the prompts to match the CSV fields with the corresponding fields in Exchange Online.
- After mapping, click the Import button to transfer the contacts to Exchange Online.
That's it! Your contacts from the IMAP email account should now be successfully imported into your Exchange Online account.
While migrating your emails from one.com to Exchange Online, please note that any special filters you have created in your mail cannot be migrated. However, managing your emails in Exchange Online is still accessible by creating rules. You can find more information on this topic here.
Related articles: