Topics Map > Campus Services > Office 365

Microsoft 365 - Recreate Mail Folder Structure

When an account is migrated/transitioned to Office 365, a unique mail folder (named the same as the email address of a consolidated email address) is created in the Office 365 account which will contain every folder/email from the consolidated account.

Important: DO NOT START moving folders/mail until you receive a message for each account that is being consolidated telling you that the account has completed the migration process.

Example of Folder Structure after migration to Office 365

In the example below, Bucky Badger has two email accounts (bbadger@wisc.edu and bucky@athletics.wisc.edu) which are being consolidated into one Office 365 account. Both contain email data. Note: To expand the folder structure for each account, click the left arrow next to the email address folder name.

In Outlook on the web, if you have not already, expand your folder list to show all folders. Once you've performed this step, your view will match the below image for what the mail screen will look like after the transition to Office 365.

mail folders

As you can see, there are two unique folders created within his Office 365 account. A description of what you are seeing follows:

Bucky Badger
This is the name of the Office 365 account.
bbadger@wisc.edu
This is a folder which contains all folders/emails that were transitioned for this account.
bucky@athletics.wisc.edu
This is a folder which contains all folders/emails that were transitioned for this account.

Note: To expand the folder structure for each account, click the left arrow next to the email address folder name. Clicking on the folder name will not expand or show any emails/folders.

Important: All new mail is arriving into the Inbox under the 'Bucky Badger' account.

Managing Folders

You can organize e-mail messages, appointments, meetings, contacts, and tasks in your mailbox by moving or copying them. For complete details on how to manage folders, see:

Important: If you plan on restructuring your folders/emails, using Microsoft Outlook to connect to your account, we highly recommend performing this action within Outlook on the web prior to configuring and running Microsoft Outlook to reduce the impact of syncing your folders/emails within Outlook.

Managing Rules

Remember, the folder names (bbadger@wisc.edu and bucky@athletics.wisc.edu) you see are only names of each folder. They can be renamed to whatever you like. If you are okay with keeping things as they are, then there is no need to make any further changes. All you will need to do is think about how you want to restructure your main account folder list and any new mail arriving into your account (maybe by setting up some rules (filters)).

If you'd like to re-create rules (filters) in your accounts, please refer to the following documentation: Microsoft 365 (Outlook on the web | Outlook for Windows/MacOS) - Using Inbox Rules



Keywordsmicrosoft office365 o365 m365 microsoft 365 outlook web app emails exchange groupwise recreate folders consolidated accounts o365 m365 microsoft 365 re-create re-creating recreating move copy moving re-organize reorganize re-organizing reorganizing rearrange rearranging re-arrange re-arranging post after migration look like tree expand structure mail account preparation messages   Doc ID39679
OwnerO365 S.GroupMicrosoft 365
Created2014-04-30 14:36:43Updated2023-02-02 09:22:53
SitesDoIT Help Desk, Microsoft 365
Feedback  0   0