Are there any tools available to migrate Exchange mailboxes to IMAP?
We're considering going to an IMAP solution from Exchange due to some
issues we are having managing large mailboxes.

We'd also like to continue to use the Outlook mail client - is it
compatible with any IMAP implementations?

Andrew B

andrew@floatingbear.ca writes:

> Are there any tools available to migrate Exchange mailboxes to IMAP?
> We're considering going to an IMAP solution from Exchange due to some
> issues we are having managing large mailboxes.

There are many scripts that can automatically copy mail between IMAP
servers. Exchange's half-assed IMAP implementation is usually good enough
to pull mail out of it (but just barely).

> We'd also like to continue to use the Outlook mail client - is it
> compatible with any IMAP implementations?

Of course not. What an amusing thought! Do you really expect Microsoft to
correctly implement commodity Internet standards, that Microsoft does not
control and has no influence over?

There are, however, third party commercial plugins that claim to be able to
fool Outlook into thinking that it's talking to Exchange, when it's really
talking to an IMAP server. Sort of like a protocol translator. Some people
swear up and down that this third party software works without a hitch.
Others constantly have problems. You be the judge.


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Sam wrote:
> andrew@floatingbear.ca writes:
>
>
> > We'd also like to continue to use the Outlook mail client - is it
> > compatible with any IMAP implementations?
>
> Of course not. What an amusing thought! Do you really expect Microsoft to
> correctly implement commodity Internet standards, that Microsoft does not
> control and has no influence over?
>
> There are, however, third party commercial plugins that claim to be able to
> fool Outlook into thinking that it's talking to Exchange, when it's really
> talking to an IMAP server. Sort of like a protocol translator. Some people
> swear up and down that this third party software works without a hitch.
> Others constantly have problems. You be the judge.
>
>
I have done such a transition for our small company, and I must admit
that dealing with Outlook 2003 is a huge nightmare. I had to implement
some server side scripts to solve some of the issues.

On the bright side, I have given a test-drive to Outlook 2007, and it
looks like it saved ALL THE ISSUES we are facing with 2003. And it even
manages ical files...

Do not hesitate to ask if you need further /information.

Pejvan

HI.

andrew@floatingbear.ca wrote:
> Are there any tools available to migrate Exchange mailboxes to IMAP?
> We're considering going to an IMAP solution from Exchange due to some
> issues we are having managing large mailboxes.

MS Exchange can manage large mailboxes (please define "large"),
and sometimes the problems are related to 3rd party add-on software on the server,
such as brick level backup and/or anti virus, or to client side (cache mode, large OST/PST files).
Exchange also has many benefits related to Contact and Calendar handling that should also be considered.

Instead of moving some mailboxes to other server, consider using Exchange as the primary storage server,
and use IMAP (or other solution such as PST files or 3rd party) for archived mail items (old and/or big items).
That way you can enjoy the advanced features of Exchange+Outlook, while storing the massive data in other place.

> We'd also like to continue to use the Outlook mail client - is it
> compatible with any IMAP implementations?
MS Outlook can access IMAP server.
I have not noticed the problems other people wrote about,
but I must say that I used Outlook-IMAP only on occasional small scale usage and didn't investigate too much.

Bye
Yizhar Hurwitz
http://yizhar.mvps.org