Documentation

Exchange migration

The AnnexGroup server takes over data from Microsoft Exchange and Outlook by itself — normally in a single pass, with no Mac in between. AnnexOffice on a Mac remains a second path; it is the only one for Google Workspace, arbitrary CalDAV/CardDAV servers and export files.

What the server takes over itself

What comes along depends on the source:

• Exchange on-premises via EWS: the server pulls mailbox, calendar, contacts, tasks and notes in one pass. Measured against a real Exchange account: 115,535 mails, 27,243 events, 1,053 contacts, 10 tasks, 242 notes.
• Exchange Online via Microsoft Graph: mail, calendar, contacts and tasks — no notes, because Microsoft Graph has no API for Outlook sticky notes. This path is built and covered by tests, but it has not been tried against a real Exchange Online mailbox.
• Via IMAP from any server that speaks it, and from PST/OST files (through pffexport, libpff; an extracted directory of .eml files works just as well): messages and the folder structure only.

Migration assistant

1. Go to Import & Migration → Migration assistant (/access/import/wizard).
2. Choose the source:
   • Migrate Exchange via EWS (server address, user name, password — for Exchange on-premises and hosted Exchange)
   • Microsoft Graph (Exchange Online / Microsoft 365)
   • IMAP (Exchange or Office 365 IMAP access)
3. Enter the credentials for the chosen source.
4. Map each source mailbox to an existing AnnexGroup user.
5. Start the migration and follow its progress on the dashboard.

Alternatively, experienced administrators can start individual jobs, bulk imports and PST/OST imports under Import & Migration.

Public folders

Via EWS the server takes public folders along: public calendar, contact, task and note folders become shared rooms. This is proven for contacts; events and notes of public folders have not yet been seen against a real account. What does not come along (distribution lists, permissions) is listed in the migration log instead of failing silently.

Deadline: Exchange Online starts blocking EWS step by step from 2026-10-01, with shutdown announced for 2027-04-01. Anyone who wants to take public folders out of Exchange Online must migrate before that.

What holds for every path

• A second pass does not create duplicates. Every taken-over object carries the identifier from the source system; a repeated migration recognises it again and skips what is already there.
• Every pass writes a log — transferred, skipped, failed, one line per object.

The path through AnnexOffice on a Mac

AnnexOffice reads from the source and writes into your AnnexGroup server. It remains the second path for Mac users — and the only one for these sources:

Export files yield mail only. The server migrates Exchange itself — you do not need AnnexOffice for that.

Where AnnexOffice comes from. It is a Mac application from the AnnexCREATE suite — a different domain, the same workshop: annexcreate.com/app-office.html. The description is there, and the file comes from its download page. Your AnnexGroup licence includes seats for it; the number is in the price list.

Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) — there is none

Until 2026-08-31 this page claimed that AnnexGroup offered an EAS endpoint under /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync with the commands Sync, Ping and GetItemEstimate. That was wrong: there is not a single line of ActiveSync in the program. The website states it correctly — no MAPI, no EWS as a server protocol, and no ActiveSync either.

Devices are connected through the open standards: IMAP and SMTP for mail, CalDAV and CardDAV for calendar, tasks and address book. That covers iOS, Android (DAVx⁵), macOS and Thunderbird.

Before the migration

• Check the licence count against the active users.
• Make sure enough storage is available in the blob storage.
• Enable the archival policy if data is to be time-limited under the GDPR.
• For the path through AnnexOffice: have a Mac with AnnexOffice ready. For Exchange on-premises and Exchange Online you do not need one.