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These steps show you how to migrate your files, emails, contacts, and calendar items from your school sponsored Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise account to your new Microsoft 365 Personal account for Windows 8.1.

Pre-requisites and migration procedures

These steps assume that you have the following:

  • An Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise account

  • An Microsoft 365 Personal account

  • A Windows device with enough free storage space to hold all the files, emails, contacts and calendar items that you are moving.

Before beginning the migration process, stop the existing OneDrive for work or school sync client and uninstall it. The following steps are a subset of Transition from the previous OneDrive for Business sync app

First confirm that the existing OneDrive for work or schoolsync app is not actively syncing files. If it is, it's best to wait for those updates to finish syncing before proceeding to give those changes time to propagate to the cloud.

Follow these steps to stop syncing any OneDrive sites and prepare to set up the new sync app:

  1. Confirm that any active file uploads or edits are finished and fully reflected on the website.

  2. In the taskbar notification area, right-click the blue OneDrive for Business cloud icon.

    OneDrive for Business old desktop client

    (You might need to select the Show hidden icons arrow next to the notification area to see the OneDrive for Business icon.)

  3. If Stop syncing a folder is greyed out, skip to step 5.

    Screenshot of Stop syncing a folder command when right-clicking the OneDrive for Business sync client

  4. If Stop syncing a folder is available, select it and make sure that your OneDrive – [OrganizationName] folder doesn't appear in that list. If it does appear, select it and choose Stop syncing. You are done when the folder for your OneDrive for work or school no longer appears in this list.

    Screenshot of stop syncing a folder dialog box

  5. To exit groove.exe, right-click its blue cloud icon in the taskbar notification area and select Exit.

Note: Besides preserving the local files, the last step has the added benefit of intentionally invalidating any links to the documents in this folder in any of the Recent lists in the Office apps. Otherwise, users run the risk of updating these files and expecting them to sync, not remembering that they've disconnected sync for that folder.

Keep and simply rename the local folder previously created by the existing OneDrive for work or schoolsync app.

  1. Open Windows Explorer and rename the local folder previously used by the existing OneDrive for work or schoolsync app (for example, OneDrive - Contoso.old).

    Important: Write down the full path to your renamed OneDrive for work or school folder. You will need to get back to this folder in a later step.

  2. Open Control Panel and select Programs Programs and Features.

  3. In the list of programs, right-click OneDrive and select Uninstall.

  4. Close Control Panel.

In this portion of your migration you export email information to a file on your device. Be sure that you have enough room on your device to hold all the emails, contacts and calendar items in your mailbox.

This is what the ribbon looks like in Outlook 2016.
  • If your ribbon has a File option in the top left corner, you're using a desktop version of Outlook and you're in the right place!

  • If your ribbon doesn't have a "File" option in the top left corner, see What version of Outlook do I have? to determine your version of Outlook and to get to the right export instructions.

  1. Open your Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise school mailbox in Outlook and export your email, contacts, and calendar by following the Outlook 2013 and 2016: Export Outlook items to a .pst file steps found in Export or backup email, contacts, and calendar to an Outlook.pst file. Be sure to select top level folder of your mailbox to export from and to include all subfolders.

After you finish the migration and are using your Microsoft 365 Personal mailbox , your school mailbox will still be able to receive mail. To make sure all your emails are sent to your school mailbox after you migrate, create a forwarding rule. The forwarding rule will send all the email to your new Microsoft 365 Personal mailbox, then delete it from your school mailbox.

Configure the rule like this:

  • Apply this rule after the message arrives

  • where my name is in the To or Cc box

  • forward it to <Microsoft 365 Personal email address>

  • and delete it

  1. In Outlook, select File > Manage Rules & Alerts.

  2. In the Rules and Alerts box, on the E-mail Rules tab, select New Rule.

  3. Under Step 1: Select a template, select the Apply rule on messages I receive Next.

  4. Under Step 1: Select conditions(s), select where my name is in the To or Cc box > Next.

  5. In the Step 1: Select actions(s), select forward it to people or public group > delete it.

  6. Under Step 2: Edit the rule description (click an underlined value), select people or public group and type in your Microsoft 365 Personal email address in the To -> box. Select OkNext.

  7. Give the rule a name; for example, "Forward all mail to personal account," and select Turn on this rule.

  8. Select Finish > Apply > OK.

The easiest way to let people who email you know that you have a new email address is to use an Automatic Reply (Out of Office) message. Be sure to select these options:

  • Send automatic replies

  • Place the message you want all senders to receive in both the Inside My Organization and Outside My Organization tabs.

  • On the Outside My Organization tab, select Auto-reply to people outside my organization and Anyone outside my organization to make sure everyone gets your new email address.

  1. Set up an Automatic Replies (Out of Office) rule on your school email account to notify all senders of your new email address by following the steps in Send automatic "Out-of-Office" replies from Outlook for Windows.

  2. In Outlook, sign out of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise by selecting File Office Account > Sign out.

  3. Close Outlook and all other Microsoft 365 applications.

Now that you have all your emails, contacts, and calendar items in an Outlook .pst file and a backup folder of your school OneDrive for work or school folders, you can prepare your computer for the new Microsoft 365 Personal applications and services.

  1. Remove all Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise apps from your computer by following the steps in Uninstall Office 2013, Office 2016, or Office 365 from a PC.

  2. Restart your computer.

For Windows 8.1 you must log on to your local computer with your Microsoft 365 Personal account in order to connect to your OneDrive. To do this you have to add your account to your computer.

  1. Log on to your computer.

  2. In the Start menu, search OneDrive and open it. If OneDrive is not on your computer, install it by following the steps for Windows 8.1 here: OneDrive desktop app for previous versions of Windows.

  3. Select Go to PC settings Other accounts > Add an account

  4. In the How will this person sign in? area, type in your Microsoft 365 Personal email address, select Next.

  5. Select Finish.

  6. Sign out of your computer and log in with your Microsoft 365 Personal account.

  7. If this is the first time you have signed in to this computer with your Microsoft 365 Personal account, you will need to go through some additional steps to verify your identity. Follow the steps on the Help us protect your info page and select Next.

  8. Enter the code you received and select Next.

  9. On the How should we set up your PC? page, select the existing PC option.

    Important: Do not select Set this up as a new PC instead.

  10. Select Next. OneDrive will finish setting up and syncing any remaining files from your Microsoft 365 PersonalOneDrive to your local computer.

  11. In File Explorer, open your school Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise folder. Refer to the path that you wrote down in Step 2: Clean up the local folder from the existing OneDrive_for_Business app and uninstall OneDrive_for_Business. Copy and paste the content from your school OneDrive for work or school folder into your Microsoft 365 PersonalOneDrive folder structure.

You need to re-install the Microsoft 365 applications that came with your Microsoft 365 Personal subscription.

  1. Install Office 2016 on your Windows 8.1 computer by following the steps in: Install Office on your PC or Mac.

The last step in your migration from your school-provided Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise account to your own Microsoft 365 Personal is configuring an Outlook 2016 profile, then importing your email, contacts and calendar items from the .pst file you created.

  1. In the Control Panel, open Mail.

    Mail appears in different Control Panel locations depending on the version of the Microsoft Windows operating system, the Control Panel view selected, and whether a 32- or 64-bit operating system or version of Microsoft Outlook is installed.

    The easiest way to locate Mail is to open the Control Panel in Windows, and then in the Search box at the top of window, type Mail. In Control Panel for Windows XP, type Mail in the Address box.

    Note: The Mail icon appears after Outlook starts for the first time.

    The title bar of the Mail Setup dialog box contains the name of the current profile. To select a different existing profile, select Show Profiles, choose the profile name, then select Properties.

  2. If your old school email profile is still listed there, choose it and select Remove.

  3. Select Add.

  4. Type a name for the profile, then select OK.

  5. Type a name for the profile (for example O365 Personal), then select OK.

  6. Type in your name.

  7. Type in your Microsoft 365 Personal email address, then select Next.

  8. Enter your password if prompted.

  9. Select FinishApplyOK.

  10. Follow the steps in the Outlook 2013 and 2016: Import Outlook items from a .pst file section of Import email, contacts, and calendar from an Outlook .pst file article. Import the .pst file that you saved in Step 3: Export your school mailbox.

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