Email and Calendar Migration Information


Introduction

This article provides some commonly asked questions and available resources regarding the impending email and calendar migration.

Explanation

Contents

Timeline

  • Employees: November 2023 - April 2024 
    • Employees will be moving in six different groups
    • All employees in the same organizational unit (OU) will be moved to Exchange Online on the same date 
    • Dates for employees will vary based on mail sizes, i.e., we have to start the migration on large mailboxes earlier than smaller ones
    • There is a limit of 80 GB for mailbox size. If your Gmail mailbox is 80 GB or more, you need to reduce your email before migration.
    • A published schedule of the migrations by OU will be available on the project website starting on 12/01/2023  
    • On 12/01/2023, the MyCAT app will also be updated to show people their assigned pre-stage and move dates. The app will also provide status updates to let you know how your migration is progressing.
  • Students: November 2023 - January 2024 (Winter Break) 
    • Existing student email migration from Gmail to Exchange Online. After students migrate, Gmail and Google Calendar are turned off.  
    • Migration will begin on 11/27/2023 and be completed by 1/15/2024.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why Can't I Access My Google Services Any Longer?

If your Gmail service has been turned off, you must use another URL to access Google services such as https://myaccount.google.com/ (Home), https://drive.google.com (Drive), or https://docs.google.com (Docs).

Will an Exchange Online Mailbox Be Provisioned if It Does Not Exist Currently?

Yes

Will My Google Trash Be Migrated?

No

Will My Google Emails Be Deleted once They Are Migrated?

We will hold onto your email for 15 days, and then we will delete them.

Will I Be Able to Work while the Migration Is Happening?

Individuals will be able to use their mailboxes and calendars while being migrated. A significant portion (95%) of the migration takes place behind the scenes with the final cut-over being a secondary final update (5%). 

Can I Continue to Work and Receive Emails while the Migration Takes Place?

During the behind-the-scenes part of the process, you can continue to work. However, it is recommended that you do not make significant changes to the organization of your emails to help prevent duplication. You might see a small disruption in service during the final update.

Will There Be a Priority to the Migration?

We have discovered that we must schedule the large mailboxes first and the small ones last. So, priority will be given to larger mailboxes.  

What Will Happen to My Gmail Labels?

If a Gmail message has one or more labels, the migration process will query Google for them. This query will return a list of the labels applied.  The migration tools will take the first one in that list and use that as a folder location for the message. 

What Will Not Be Migrated?

The list includes, but may not be limited to:

  • Out of office, vacation, and automatic reply to settings
  • Room bookings
  • Shared calendars
  • Cloud attachments
  • Event colors
  • Rules

What Will Happen to My Contact List?

The Google Contacts service is not going away. You will still have access to your contacts via your Virginia Tech Google account. However, your contacts will be migrated with the following limitations:

  • A maximum of three email addresses per contact will be migrated over
  • Tags, contact URLs will not be migrated

I'm Already Using Exchange Online; Can I Decline Migration Support?

  • Between 11/27/2023 and 12/15/2023, employees will be able to use MyCAT to decline migration support. If you decline migration support, no Google data will be copied to Exchange Online for your account, and your Gmail service will still end on the assigned cutover date.
  • Students cannot decline migration support.

Will I Need to Turn off My Exchange Online Rules?

No, due to the way the email will be migrated, it will not trigger your rules during migration.

What Will Happen to the Created and Received Dates of the Email?

The Received date will remain the same, but the Created date will be updated to the date that the email was migrated.

What if I Want to Maintain an Alias as a Primary Send From?

Please see Adding, Creating, and Using Email Aliases.

Resources