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Moving company email to a European provider takes more than copying inboxes: you must account for calendars, contacts, shared mailboxes, domain settings and ongoing mail delivery. Inventory what the organization uses, confirm exactly what the destination can migrate, copy and check the data while the old service remains available, then switch DNS routing and validate service before retiring the source.
What needs to move besides email?
Start with an inventory of the organization’s accounts, services and obligations. A migration that copies messages may still leave users without calendars, contacts, shared mailboxes or access to archived records.
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- Accounts and mail flow: user mailboxes, aliases, distribution groups, shared mailboxes, delegated access and application-generated email.
- Mailbox data: messages, folders, archives, rules, contacts, calendars and tasks.
- Access and devices: administrator and mailbox permissions, identity and authentication settings, mobile and desktop clients, and third-party integrations.
- Retention and recovery: legal holds, retention rules, required archive access, backup needs and any mail that must remain available during the move.
Record mailbox sizes and identify unusually large or complex accounts. This helps you choose representative pilot users and spot potential limits before the full migration.
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Check the migration method and destination coverage
Do not assume that every migration tool moves the same data. Microsoft’s documentation describes different coverage for its generic IMAP route and its Google Workspace workload migration. The IMAP route moves messages from mail folders, not contacts, calendars or tasks. Microsoft’s Google Workspace path can include mail, contacts and calendars when its prerequisites are met. Those are Microsoft-documented routes, not a guarantee that a European provider offers the same features.
#1 Best Overall
| Documented route | Coverage stated in the documentation | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft generic IMAP migration | Email from mail folders | Does not migrate contacts, calendars or tasks. Microsoft states a maximum of 500,000 items per user mailbox, migrated newest to oldest, and a maximum message size of 35 MB for this tool. These are limits of the documented Microsoft 365 IMAP migration tool, not general email-migration standards. |
| Microsoft Google Workspace migration | Mail, contacts and calendars | Coverage depends on meeting Microsoft’s prerequisites; it should not be treated as proof that another target supports those workloads. |
| Proton Easy Switch for Business from cloud-hosted Microsoft 365 | Emails, contacts and calendar events | Proton’s documented workflow requires administrator roles in both services and access to the domain provider. Confirm the current provider-specific instructions and any account-specific requirements before proceeding. |
Before choosing a destination, get clear answers about supported source systems, mailbox types, calendars and contacts, archive imports, retention and recovery, authentication, administration and integrations. Ask where live data and backups are hosted, who can access them for support, which subprocessors are involved, and what safeguards apply to international transfers. Get material answers in writing; a label such as “European” or “sovereign” does not settle every data-location or legal question.
How to plan and run the migration
- Confirm control and prerequisites. Verify that the organization controls its domain and can access its DNS provider. Confirm access to the source administrator account or required mailboxes, and provision destination accounts and mailboxes. Microsoft’s generic IMAP workflow, for example, requires destination mailboxes to exist before migration.
- Agree on what each user will get. Map each source account to its destination and record items that need a separate export/import or another tool. Decide how to handle aliases, groups, shared mailboxes, archives, rules, delegated access and retained records. Tell users what is moving, when they may see delayed or duplicate mail, whether they need to change passwords or client settings, and where to report missing items.
- Run a representative pilot. Include ordinary accounts as well as large or complex mailboxes. Confirm that the tool can connect, report status and handle the account types in scope before extending the migration to everyone.
- Copy data and reconcile it. Track migration status. Compare mailbox counts, date ranges and folder structures, then open samples of important messages. Check calendars, contacts, tasks, archives, shared mailboxes, rules and delegated access separately; a successful email copy does not establish that those other items transferred. Microsoft warns that archival or messaging-records policies can cause items to be reported as missing. Investigate reported gaps against the source and the organization’s retention settings rather than assuming every discrepancy is a transfer failure.
- Keep the source running while you prepare the cutover. Do not shut down the old service just because copying has started or a pilot looks good. Arrange a cutover window, confirm who can edit DNS, and identify the destination’s required mail-routing and related DNS records. Keep the source available for users and for any further synchronization the migration tool supports.
- Change routing and test service. At the planned cutover, update the domain’s MX record to the destination’s instructions and apply its other required DNS records. Test incoming and outgoing messages, internal mail, aliases, shared mailboxes, mobile and desktop clients, spam controls and critical application sending. Check that mail is arriving at the destination before stopping any supported synchronization or ending the migration batch.
- Close out deliberately. Document final routing and account changes, revoke temporary migration access, and confirm recovery and retention arrangements. Keep a controlled, read-only source archive if legal, operational or recovery needs require it. Retire the old service only after the organization’s checks pass and its own retention obligations are satisfied; there is no universal retention period established for every organization.
What changes during the DNS cutover?
The MX record tells other mail systems where to deliver messages for the organization’s domain. Changing it is a mail-flow cutover, not a data-copy operation: it does not move old messages or prove that the destination contains every required mailbox item. Plan the DNS change only after accounts are ready and migration checks are underway. Follow the target provider’s exact record values and instructions rather than reusing records from the old service.
Keep the source available during validation. If a user reports missing mail or a delivery problem, establish whether the message is absent from the migrated mailbox, still arriving at the old service, or affected by a client or routing setting. The provider’s migration and DNS documentation should guide any retry, synchronization or correction; do not decommission the source while the issue is unresolved.
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No. Provider location is one part of the decision, not a compliance verdict. Check the organization’s data categories, contract, subprocessors, support access, backup locations and applicable transfer safeguards alongside where the service hosts live data.
For example, Infomaniak says the cited kDrive services host data in Switzerland and describes compliance with GDPR and Swiss nFADP. That provider statement concerns the cited kDrive offering; it does not establish the hosting or migration capabilities of every Infomaniak service, nor does location alone establish a customer’s compliance. Switzerland is not an EU member state.
The EDPS decision concerning the European Commission’s use of Microsoft 365 found infringements of several provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, including provisions concerning transfers of personal data outside the EU/EEA, and ordered specified flows suspended effective 9 December 2024. It concerned EU institutions and that regulation. It is not a blanket finding that private companies using Microsoft 365 violate GDPR.
Rank #4
How to compare European email destinations
Compare candidates against the organization’s actual workloads and obligations rather than choosing by geography alone. Ask for evidence on:
- Migration coverage for messages, calendars, contacts, archives, shared mailboxes and other required data, plus supported sources and migration methods.
- Locations of live data and backups, support access, subprocessors, contract terms and international-transfer safeguards.
- Identity, authentication, endpoint and application integrations, including how the service handles mail sent by business systems.
- DNS administration, mail delivery, retention, recovery and export options.
- Recurring service costs and any separate migration costs.
The available provider information here does not establish a complete feature or price comparison, so it does not support ranking destinations. Verify the exact service and terms being offered before making a selection.
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