This article provides guidance to end user on a managed migration / onboarding to NHSmail, including details on what is in scope.
Email Migration
Key phases
The email migration process involves two stages, copy commence and email switchover.
COPY COMMENCE – This involves automatically copying items from your legacy email account to your @nhs.net email account.
- During this stage, your email contents will be copied to your @nhs.net account, in phases. Please note, this process takes a few of weeks to complete, depending on the size of your mailbox. and it might take a while until you see items coming through. During this stage, please continue to use your legacy email account as normal.
EMAIL SWITCHOVER – this is when your email and any shared mailboxes that you and your colleagues use will be switched over to NHSmail. Once you have switched over:
- The email copy will be completed, meaning that emails and meeting invitations sent to your legacy email account will be available from your @nhs.net account.
- An auto-forward will be applied so any new emails and meeting invitations sent to your legacy account are automatically forwarded to your @nhs.net account.
- Please consult guidance on how to Add an email account to Outlook for more information.
Migration specifics
The table below provides details on what is migrated and key considerations.
| Item | In Scope? | Key Considerations |
| Emails and Folder Structure | ü | All emails in your mailbox folders and sub-folders will be migrated to your new mailbox. |
| Shared Mailboxes | ü | Shared mailboxes will be migrated to NHSmail along with user mailboxes. Each migrated shared mailbox will be provided a new @nhs.net email address and will retain its current owners and members. |
| Distribution Lists | ü | Each distribution list will be provided a new @nhs.net address and will retain its current owners and members. |
| Calendar Invites, Meeting, and Appointments | ü | All meetings and appointments will appear in your calendar and you will be able to join online meetings previously scheduled.
If you need to make changes to already-scheduled meetings after migration, please schedule a new occurrence/recurrence using your NHSmail account. |
| Journals | ü | |
| Notes | ü | |
| Tasks | ü | |
| Calendar Permissions | ✕ | Sharing of calendars with colleagues will need to be re-applied accordingly. |
| Calendar Customisations | ✕ | Your previous custom calendar settings such as making your own updates to Free/Busy statuses, calendar colours, calendar tags, and more will not be auto-migrated to your NHSmail account. Please consult the user guide on Microsoft Outlook calendar to reapply previous customisations. |
| Outlook Categories | ✕ | |
| Email Signatures | ✕ | Please update your email signature to ensure it contains your new @nhs.net address. |
| Mailbox Delegation | ✕ | Mailbox delegation (where one user provides another user access to their mailbox/folder) will not be auto-migrated. Please follow guidance to setup mailbox delegates. |
| Outlook Customisations | ✕ | Please consult the user guide on how to create, change, or customize a view in Outlook. |
| Contact Groups (Personal Distribution Lists) | ✕ |
Collab Apps Migration
Key phases
The migration process for Collab Apps (i.e. OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, Groups and Planner) has 2 phases:
COPY COMMENCE – is when data starts to be copied to NHSmail.
- Continue to work/access files from your legacy environment until the switchover has taken place
- Please do not make any folder structure changes to your OneDrive, Teams, or SharePoint, as these may not be reflected after the move (Switchover Day)
- If you already use your NHSmail OneDrive account, you may start to see NHS Digital files/folders appearing here. Please do not edit these files and continue to work from the legacy NHS Digital environment until the move.
SWITCHOVER – the point at which you will access your collab apps using your NHSmail account.
- From this point onwards all files and folders within your legacy environment will become read-only
- You will need to follow the steps to repoint your device to the NHSmail environment.
- From Switchover, start new chats, meetings and calls from your NHSmail account in Teams. Access to all files, folders, Planner boards and Teams channels will only be possible from your nhs.net account.
Migration specifics
The table below provides details on what is migrated and key considerations.
| Application | In Scope? | Auto Migrating? | Key Considerations |
| OneDrive | ü | ü | All files/folders in your OneDrive will be migrated to nhs.net.
Please note that users who have shared files/folders from their OneDrive will need to reshare as necessary. |
| SharePoint | ü | ü | All SharePoint sites confirmed to be in scope will be migrated |
| Teams (Groups, Channels and Files) | ü | ü | All Channels, channel conversations and files/folders within a migrated Team will be migrated. Please note that users who have created Sharing Links for files/folders in Teams will need to reshare as necessary.
Visit MS Teams Migration Guidance for more details |
| Teams (Private Chat and Calling) | ü | ✕ | Access to previous private chats – those outside of a Teams group/channel – will not be possible (with new chats occurring in NHSmail). |
| Planner | ü | ü | All in-scope Planner boards & tasks will be migrated to NHSmail. |
| Power BI | ü | ✕ | If you own a Power BI workspace, please follow the available self-migration guidance to transfer solutions to the NHSmail tenant. |
| Power Apps | ü | ✕ | If you own a Power App, please follow the available self-migration guidance to transfer solutions to the NHSmail tenant. |
| Power Automate | ü | ✕ | Power Automate Flows will need to be setup/recreated in the NHSmail tenant. |
| OneNote | ü | ü | Your OneDrive OneNote notebooks will be migrated. |
| Forms | ü | ✕ | We recommend that any new Forms are created using your NHSmail account |
Out of scope considerations
The following apps are out of scope from a managed migration perspective:
- Wiki
- Yammer
- Stream
- Sway
- Whiteboard
| Last Reviewed Date | 24/10/2023 |
