Complete guide to Migrate NSF Files to Office 365

Office 365 provides advanced data security measures to safeguard email data and collaborative applications like Notes, Skype, Office, and Calendar. Office 365 also eliminates the need for having an on premise email server. Hence, to reduce costs, and make mailbox data available at all times, Lotus Notes users look for ways to migrate NSF files to Office 365 (Microsoft 365).

But here lies the challenge. HCL/IBM Lotus Notes stores all the mailbox data in NSF format, which is incompatible with Microsoft 365 (Office 365). This prevents users from migrating NSF files to Office 365.

This post will cover the need to migrate NSF mail to Microsoft 365 and methods to do so.

The Need for Migrating NSF Mails to Office 365

There are several other reasons why users look for ways to migrate NSF files to M365:

• To eliminate setup and operational costs of on premise email servers.
• Office 365 offers various collaborative applications, such as Office Suite, Skype, OneNote, Teams, Outlook, and more.
• Users can benefit from the subscription plans that make it cost-effective.
• There is no requirement for dedicated hardware to create servers. All the data is stored on Microsoft’s servers.
• Office 365 users can access their mailbox data anytime and anywhere.
• It has a user-friendly UI, which helps in simplifying emailing.

Methods to Migrate NSF Files to Office 365

There are two ways to migrate NSF files to Office 365. These are:

• Use the IMAP connector to migrate .NSF mails to Microsoft 365
• Use an advanced .NSF to .PST converter

Let’s look at them in detail.

Method 1: Use the IMAP Connector to Migrate NSF Mails to Office 365 (Microsoft 365)

This is a DIY method for migrating NSF mails to Office 365. For this, you will need to set up the IBM Domino server to configure and use the IMAP service.

Before proceeding to the steps to configure IMAP on the Domino server, take a backup of your NSF files. This will help protect important emails safe from unwanted data loss.

Now, use the detailed steps to migrate NSF files to Office 365 –

• Launch IBM Lotus Notes application on your PC.
• Open the Domino Administrator by launching the Domino Administrator application on the system or choosing File > Tools > Server Administration.

• Click on the Configuration.
• Open All Server Documents and start the IMAP service.
• Then, click on the Ports Click on the Internet Ports > Mail.
• Enable the TCP/IP Port in the mail tab. To do this, alter the ‘TCP/IP port status’ value to ‘Enabled’ in the Mail (IMAP) column.

• Click on Save to save the changes and exit.

After configuring IMAP in Lotus Notes, use an IMAP connector to synchronize and migrate NSF files to Office 365.

Limitations of the DIY method

The above method demonstrates a workaround that should help you migrate NSF files to Office 365. However, there are certain limitations to it –

• The Lotus Notes client will not establish a network with the internet if it is behind a firewall.
• If the Lotus Notes email client is disabled on your PC, you will not be able to establish an IMAP connection.
• You can only migrate NSF data to Microsoft 365 available on the Lotus Notes server.
• You can use the IMAP connector to transfer emails up to 1GB in size. Larger emails will be left.

Method 2: Use an NSF to PST Converter

Alongside the above limitations, the biggest limitation of the DIY method is that it cannot be used to transfer archived NSF files to Office 365.

Therefore, whether you want to migrate online NSF files to Microsoft 365 or convert an old NSF file to a supported format such as PST, PDF, etc., you can use an NSF to PST utility like Stellar Converter for NSF.

You can upgrade your copy of Stellar Converter for NSF to the Technician edition to directly migrate NSF mails to Microsoft 365 (Office 365) without saving the converted PST files on your system. The Technician edition also offers the following –

• Batch conversion converts multiple NSF files to multiple PST files
• Directly export NSF mails to Office 365
• Split & convert large NSF files into smaller PST files using the size & date filters
• Split multiple NSF files in one operation

Follow the steps below to use Stellar Converter for NSF (Technician) –

• Download and install Stellar Converter for NSF (Technician) on your PC.
• Launch
• On the Home screen, click on Select NSF File.
• It will open the Select NSF File
• Browse for the NSF file that you want to migrate to Office 365. Click Convert.
• Once the conversion process is complete, preview the emails in the converted PST file.
• Click on Save Converted File.
• The Save As window will appear. Select the Microsoft 365 (Office 365) option and click Next.
• Enter the Microsoft 365 account credentials and click OK.
• The software will begin migrating NSF mails to your Microsoft 365 account.

Conclusion

On-premise email clients such as Lotus Notes allow organizations to have complete control over their email servers. However, the lack of advanced features like collaborative tools, advanced data protection mechanisms, and portability has led many users and organizations to move to Office 365.

That’s why many users are looking for ways to migrate NSF mails to Office 365. But making this switch is difficult as Microsoft 365 doesn’t support the NSF file format. You can use the methods explained above in this post or use Stellar Converter for NSF for a quick and simplified migration.