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Email Migration Options and Tools

posted May 28, 2011, 3:54 AM by Sean Tay

You have the following options for migrating email:

Administrators/Server side:

  • Google Apps Migration for Microsoft® Exchange (for IMAP and Microsoft Exchange, Google Apps for Business and Education only). Recommended for Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003 and 2007, as well as any RFC 3501-compliant IMAP servers, like Novell Groupwise, Cyrus, Courier, or Dovecot. Migrate mail to Google Apps for IMAP and Microsoft Exchange mail servers. On Microsoft Exchange, you can also migrate personal contacts and calendars.

  • Google Apps Migration for Lotus Notes (Google Apps for Business and Education only). Native Lotus Notes database tool that migrates mail, calendar, contacts, and group information from your Notes accounts to Google Apps.

  • Email Migration API (Google Apps for Business and Education only). You can enable this API for your domain in the Advanced tools section of the control panel. See the chart below for more information.

  • Partner Solutions for migration. Find vendors whose solutions integrate with and extend Google's offering for migration.

  • IMAP mail migration (Deprecated). A tool to transfer the existing contents of users' mailboxes from an IMAP server to Google Apps. This utility has been deprecated and will no longer be available as of April 30, 2011. If you are migrating from an IMAP server, use Google Apps Migration for Microsoft® Exchange instead.

Individual users/Client side:

  • Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Outlook® (Google Apps for Business and Education only). This standalone utility lets you migrate Microsoft Outlook® mail, contacts, and calendar events (including recurring meetings) to Google Apps. You can import data to Google Apps from a Microsoft® Exchange profile or PST file. You then work with your data from the Google Apps web interface.

  • Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook® (Google Apps for Business and Education only). This Microsoft Outlook® plugin lets you use Outlook as a client application for accessing your Google Apps mail, contacts, and calendars. You can also use it to migrate Outlook mail, contacts, and calendar events (including recurring meetings) to Google Apps. You can import data to Google Apps from a Microsoft® Exchange profile or PST file. That data is then synchronized between Google Apps and your Outlook client.

  • Gmail's Mail Fetcher is configured with each user's email account (rather than in the Google Apps control panel) and allows your users to fetch mail from both Gmail and non-Gmail accounts. Fetched mail is inserted into your users' Google Apps Email accounts. With this method, migration is performed on a user-by-user basis. Use this method if transferring existing data isn't required but each user has the option of transferring mail. Note: When fetching mail from a Gmail or Google Apps account, use the Gmail POP server settings described here.

  • Google Email Uploader for Mac is a desktop utility that runs on Mac OS X, and uploads email archives from Apple Mail, Eudora, Thunderbird, as well as exported Entourage mail and other mbox and Maildir archives to your Google Apps mailbox.
    Google Email Uploader is available for all editions of Google Apps. Email Uploader queries are not supported by Google Apps. For detailed instructions and troubleshooting, please visit: Issuesand Discussion Group.

Compare Email Migration Options

Use the tables below to compare email migration options that are available for client-side and server-side migration in both the Microsoft and Lotus environments. For the latest information on migration tools, see Chapter 7 on Data Migration Tools in the Google Apps for Business Pilot Guide.


Server-side tools for Microsoft environment
MethodExchange 2002Exchange 2003Exchange 2007Data integrityNotes
Google Apps Migration for Microsoft® ExchangeNoYesYesHighRecommended
Google Apps Email Migration APIYesYesYesMedium to HighRequires programming
Server-side tools for Lotus environment
MethodRel. 6.5Rel. 7Rel. 8Data integrityNotes
Google Apps Migration for Lotus NotesYesYesYesHighThe migration tool must be installed on an IBM® Lotus® Domino Server Release 6.5 or later running on a Microsoft® Windows 2000 or higher server. Supports up to Lotus Notes Release 8.5.
Google Apps Email Migration APIYesYesYesMedium to HighRequires programming
Client-side tools for Microsoft environment
MethodOutlook 2002Outlook 2003Outlook 2007Data integrityNotes
Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Outlook®NoYesYesHighRecommended
Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook®NoYesYesHighAlso supports Outlook 2010
Google Mail Fetcher (POP)YesYesYesLowSupports POP mail only
Use only if environment doesn't support Google Apps Sync
Client-side tools for Lotus environment
MethodRel. 6Rel. 7Rel. 8Data integrityNotes
Google Mail Fetcher (POP)YesYesYesLowSupports POP mail only

Google Apps Migration For Microsoft Outlook Mac

We used the Google Apps Migration for MS Exchange tool in IMAP mode to transfer mailboxes, and were required to use the Google Apps Migration for Outlook tool for any contacts or calendar items. Had we been running Exchange, I believe most of the contacts/calendars could be migrated in the Exchange tool, but I'm not 100% familiar with the process.