Importing Outlook and OWA content to G Suite

If you are using Microsoft Outlook to access your NMU E-mail and/or have an Microsoft Exchange Account available on OWA, and typically issued to faculty and staff follow these instructions. If you are using NMU Webmail you need to use the Importing Webmail Content to G Suite instructions.

These instructions are for importing content to an NMU G Suite account but would also work for any gmail account including an "Email for Life" account from the NMU Alumni Office. You could also use the PST files created in the steps below as a backup of your email content and import them into your NMU G Suite account or another gmail account at a later date.

IMPORTANT: This process will copy the messages, folders, calendars, and other items available to you in Outlook and OWA to your G Suite account. The actual import in step 14 of this process may take up to 3 hours to complete if your mailbox is almost full, about 1 Gb and longer for larger files. These instructions are written to work for most people using an NMU issued computer. If you have any questions please contact the NMU HelpDesk.

1. Assure your computer is connected to the network and Internet.
2. Assure you can access your NMU G Suite account by logging into http://gmail.nmu.edu using your NMU UserID and password.
3. Assure your computer is using AC power.
4. Assure your computer's power options for AC power will keep the computer from going to sleep. Click here for step by step instructions.
5. Open Outlook.
6. If you are NOT using a Microsoft Exchange account typically used to share calendars, skip to step 12.
7. IMPORTANT: Set caching on the account to “All” by going to "File", "Account Settings", "Account Settings", Double click the "Microsoft Exchange" account, Slide the “Mail to keep” setting to “All”, Click "Next", "Finish" and "Close". Click here for step by step instructions.
8. Exit and reopen Outlook so the updated "Mail to keep' settings are in affect.
9. IMPORTANT: Click the “Send/Receive” tab and “Send/Receive All Folders” button, and verify the “All folders are up to date” message is displayed at the bottom edge of the Outlook window.
10. Go to "Calendar", "Calendar Permissions" and remove the calendar permissions for others so people cannot update or refer to the Microsoft Exchange calendar you will no longer be using. Click here for step by step instructions.
11. Export the yourID@mes.nmu.edu mailbox contents to a file named “mes.pst” by going to "File", "Open & Export", "Import/Export", "Export to a file", Click "Next", "Outlook Data File (.pst)" Click "Next". Select "yourID@mes.nmu.edu" with the “Include Subfolders” checkbox checked. Click the "Next" and "Browse" buttons, and type in “mes.pst” for the file name to save the exported file and click “Finish”. Click here for step by step instructions.
12. Go to "File", "Account Settings", "Account Settings", "Data Files" tab and record the .PST file names (you don't need to record the .OST files) and paths, typically the “Outlook Files” folder within the Documents folder, of the pst file storage location(s) and then click "Close" to close the "Account Settings" window. Click here for step by step instructions.
13. Exit Outlook.
14. NOTE: This step of the process may take up to 3 hours to complete if your mailbox is almost full, about 1 Gb, and longer for larger files. Also, Outlook will not be available during the migration since the Oultook  .PST files will probably be in use by the migration tool. For these reasons we recommend you do this step when you can leave your computer alone for an extended period of time such as overnight or at the end of the work day. Migrate the MES.PST file you may have created in step 11 and the Outlook  .PST file(s) recorded in step 12 into G Suite using the Google Migration tool for Outlook.  Click here for NMU's step by step instructions.
15. After a calendar is migrated from Microsoft Outlook it will probably show up as a new calendar and not update the primary Google Calendar with the migrated events. This can be resolved by exporting the migrated calendar into a .ICS file and then importing it into the primary Google calendar. Click here for step by step instructions.
16. Once the process completes the file contents should be available in G Suite when expanding the 'pst' labels (such as imap.pst, mes.pst, outlook.pst, and archive.pst) when viewed in a web browser within 24 hours.