How to migrate your email to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace

Applies to: Anyone moving mail into Professional Email (Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace). Managed plans include guided help and free migration.

Before you start: you'll need your new Professional Email seats already set up (a Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace mailbox for each address), the login details for your old mailboxes, and access to your client area DNS manager. The safe order is always the same: copy the mail across first, then switch your MX — so nothing is lost in the gap.

This article moves existing mailboxes from an old provider into your new Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace mailboxes. Your email is resold Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace, not a mailbox on our server — there is no cPanel webmail to migrate to or from.

On Managed plans, you don't have to do this yourself. Managed includes free migration and guided email setup, and we configure your SPF, DKIM and DMARC for you. Start a chat and we'll run the sync and the cutover with you.

How an email migration works

There are two phases, and the order matters:

Sync (copy) phase. You copy all existing messages and folders from the old mailbox into the new Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace mailbox over IMAP, while mail is still flowing to the old provider. Nothing is switched yet, so there's no downtime.
Cutover phase. Once the copy is complete, you change your domain's MX record in the client area DNS manager so new mail starts landing in the new mailbox. You then run one final "catch-up" sync to grab anything that arrived during the changeover.

Doing it in this order means no message gets lost and your address keeps working throughout.

Step 1 — Set up the new mailboxes first

Create a mailbox in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for every address you want to keep, before you start copying. The username/password you create here are what you'll use for the sync and for day-to-day mail.

Result: every old address now has a matching new mailbox waiting to receive its copied mail.

If you haven't done this yet, see How to set up your first Microsoft 365 mailbox or How to set up your first Google Workspace mailbox.

Step 2 — Copy your old mail across (the sync)

Both providers can pull mail from another IMAP server for you — you don't move files by hand.

Microsoft 365: in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, use the option for migrating or importing email from another provider (an IMAP migration). You supply your old provider's IMAP server name and each mailbox's login, and Microsoft copies the mail in.
Google Workspace: in the Google Workspace admin console, use the data migration option (mail), or have each user import their old mail from the import option in Gmail settings. You supply the old IMAP details and sign in.

Because the values and exact wording differ by provider, use the option labelled for importing or migrating mail in each admin console rather than expecting a specific layout. Get your old provider's IMAP server name from that provider (we don't host the old mailbox, so we can't supply it).

Result: your old folders and messages now appear in the new Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace mailbox. Spot-check a few folders before moving on.

Step 3 — Add your email DNS records

Add your provider's MX, SPF, DKIM and (optional) DMARC records in the client area DNS manager — never the cPanel zone editor, which does not control live DNS here. The exact values are tenant-specific and come from your Microsoft 365 admin centre or Google Workspace setup wizard. See The DNS records your email needs (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for the templates.

Result: the records are saved in the client area, ready for the cutover.

Step 4 — Cut over your MX

When the copy looks complete, point new mail at the new provider:

Go to your client area -> Domains -> My Domains, open the domain, and open the DNS manager.
Edit the MX record to your provider's value (for Microsoft 365, <tenant>.mail.protection.outlook.com at priority 0; for Google Workspace, smtp.google.com at priority 1) — copy the exact value from your admin console.
Save. Confirm your SPF, DKIM and (optionally) DMARC records are in place too.

DNS changes here are usually live within minutes to a few hours, and up to ~24–48 hours worst case, governed by the record's TTL.

Result: new incoming mail now arrives in your Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace mailbox.

Step 5 — Run a final catch-up sync and connect your apps

A few messages may have reached the old mailbox during propagation. Run the IMAP sync from Step 2 once more to pull those last messages in.

Then connect your devices. You don't need any Maxinodes mail server names — there are none. In Outlook, Apple Mail, iPhone or Android, add a Microsoft 365 / Exchange account (for M365) or a Google / Gmail account (for Workspace) and sign in; the provider supplies the settings automatically. Read your mail on the web at outlook.office.com (Microsoft) or mail.google.com (Google).

Result: mail flows to the new provider, your history is intact, and your apps are connected. Leave the old mailbox open (don't cancel it) for a week or two as a safety net.

Troubleshooting this task

New mail still lands in the old mailbox. The MX change hasn't propagated yet, or the old MX record is still present. Recheck the MX value in the client area DNS manager and wait for the TTL.
The sync stops partway or skips folders. Re-run the migration job; large mailboxes can hit the old provider's connection limits. Run it again to copy what was missed.
Messages from you go to spam after cutover. SPF, DKIM or DMARC is missing or wrong. Confirm all three in the client area DNS manager — see How to set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC correctly.
Mail still isn't sending or receiving. See Email isn't sending or receiving, and have your domain and the exact error text ready.