Library, ICT Services & Archive (LISA) has started transferring employee mailboxes to Microsoft 365. The mailboxes were still in a local mail environment, these are now transferred to the online service of Microsoft. The transfer of all mailboxes has a lead time of several weeks. With this message we would like to inform you what his will mean for you.
Why the switch to Microsoft 365?
Secure online collaboration has become very important for both employees and students. Microsoft 365 is a complete solution that allows us to collaborate securely. It includes Microsoft 365 Apps as well as the latest Office apps for your PC and Mac (such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) and online services for email, file storage and collaboration, meetings. By also transferring e-mail to Microsoft 365, the collaboration between Microsoft 365 products such as Outlook and Microsoft Teams is further improved.
The student mailboxes have recently been transferred from Google to Microsoft 365, making it easier for students and teachers to work together in the same online environment.
When will my mailbox be transferred?
One day before the transfer you will receive an e-mail that your mailbox will be transferred. LISA ensures that all your e-mail, calendars, and contacts are moved to Microsoft 365.
What will I notice when my mailbox is transferred to Microsoft 365?
Depending on the device you use, you may (a.o.) notice that:
- After the transfer, the URL for webmail is https://outlook.office.com instead of https://xs.utwente.nl. This URL will not work until after the transfer.
- If you use the Windows Outlook application, as soon as the transfer is complete while you are using Outlook, you will receive a message to restart Outlook.
- For Macbook users running Outlook: after the transfer is completed while using Outlook, you will receive a message that you must restart Outlook. After that you get a new Outlook version that looks slightly different. It is possible to switch back to the old version.
- Is your UT mailbox set up on a mobile device such as a telephone or tablet? Then you must first remove the UT mail account after the transfer and add it again.
- Please notice that you sometimes have to do this at several places, for example in your phone's own calendar/contacts app and in the Outlook app.
- Change the settings for other mail clients such as Thunderbird or the built-in mail client of MacOS, you have to set these again. The IMAP and SMTP settings can be found on the email manual page.
In addition, it is possible that other mailboxes that you have linked to your account, such as functional mailboxes, are not transferred at the same time as your personal mailbox, therefore the above issues can occur more than once.
What changes in functionality?
The functionality of Microsoft 365 is almost the same as the functionality of the local mail environment, but there are some minor differences:
- An important difference is that mail items older than 2 years are automatically moved to the online archive. That archive is shown by default in your Outlook mail client and in https://outlook.office.com.
- Not all mail clients can handle the online archive. If this is the case, you can access it via your webmail (https://outlook.office.com).
- The address book now shows “Offline Global Address List”, however, this is the well-known “Global Address List” that is refreshed once every 4 hours. It's the same address book, only the name has changed.
- In Outlook you now see above your mail messages 2 tabs divided into “Focused” and “Other”. You can toggle this on and off at the “View” menu and then click on “Show Focused Inbox”.
