Account Closure Preparation Support Page

Before your UofT M365  account is closed, you may wish to save your data including email, OneDrive, and other M365 products, accounts and services,  and inform your contacts of an alternate email address where they can reach you.  

If you wish to open a new email account, there are numerous free and paid email providers to choose from. Examples of free email services include Gmail (from Google), Outlook.com (from Microsoft), or Yahoo! Mail. Home internet providers such as Rogers or Bell may also include email accounts as part of their service packages. 

Please note that you can save a .pst file of your student mailbox before you get your alumni mailbox. It’s not necessary for both mailboxes to be active at the same time.

1.  Backing Up or Migrating Data 

If you use Outlook (Windows or Mac), you can export all data (mail, contacts, calendars) at once and import it back into the same app. You can also transfer individual data types (e.g., only messages or contacts) by exporting or copying between accounts in various applications.

On native Mac apps, Mail, Contacts, and Calendar must be handled separately.

Please find the relevant knowledge base articles below, which provide step-by-step instructions.

If you use another email app or email on the web, transferring all data may not be possible.

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Backup or Transfer All Email Data (includes mail, contacts, and calendars) – Requires Outlook Application

Please note that to transfer all your content you must use the Outlook application.  These processes are not compatible with Outlook on the web.  

Outlook on Mac 

For written instructions on how to export your content and import it into another email account, or create a local backup please refer to the following article: KB0015029 

For instructions on how to copy your content into another account please refer to the following article: KB0015025

Outlook on Windows 

For written instructions on how to export your content and import it into another email account, or create a local backup please refer to the following article: KB0011456 

Video instructions of the transfer process can be found here: https://play.library.utoronto.ca/watch/174f10b5fbfa3ef40559595b47600c15

For instruction on how to copy your content into another account please refer to the following article: KB0015024

Thunderbird on Windows

For instructions on how to create a local copy of your Outlook application data within Thunderbird, please refer to the following article: KB0015170

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Email Messages Only

There are various ways to make a local backup of your email messages or transfer email messages from your UTmail+ account to another email account. Please see instructions on how to complete these processes below. 

Local Backup 

Apple Mail 

To create a local backup of messages in Apple Mail, please refer to the following article: KB0011636 

Outlook for Mac 

To create a local backup of an Outlook for Mac profile, please refer to the following article: KB0011553  

Thunderbird 

To create a local backup of messages in Thunderbird, please refer to the following article: KB0011548 

Copy Messages between accounts 

Apple Mail 

To copy messages between accounts in Apple Mail, please refer to: KB0015027 

Outlook for Mac 

To copy messages between accounts in Outlook for Mac, please refer to: KB0015025 

Outlook for Windows

To copy messages between accounts in Outlook for Windows, please refer to: KB0015024

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Transfer Contacts Only

There are various ways to transfer email contacts from your UTmail+ account to another email account. Please see instructions on how to complete these processes below. 

Mac Contacts 

To transfer contacts between accounts on the Mac Contacts app, please refer to: KB0015118 

Outlook 

To find instructions on how to export your contacts on Outlook on the web, Outlook for Windows, and Outlook for Mac, please refer to:  KB0013843 

To find instructions on how to import your contacts on Outlook on the web, Outlook for Windows, and Outlook for Mac, please refer to: KB0012758 

Gmail 

Please note that you can only import your contacts via Gmail, you will not be able to export your content. To find instructions on how to import your contacts please refer to: KB0014991 

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Calendar Only

To transfer your UTmail+ Calendar to another email account, please refer to the appropriate article below. 

Outlook on the Web 

To find instructions on how to export and import your calendar on Outlook on the Web, please refer to: KB0015230 

Outlook for Windows 

To find instructions on how to export and import your calendar on Outlook for Windows, please refer to: KB0015164 

Outlook for Mac 

To find instructions on how to export and import your calendar on Outlook for Mac, please refer to: KB0015231  

Apple Mail

To find instructions on how to export and import your calendar on Apple Mail, please refer to: KB0015167

To find instructions on how to copy events between calendars on Apple Mail, please refer to: KB0015119

Gmail 

To import calendar items into a Gmail account, please refer to: KB0015286 

 

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OneDrive

Please note that OneDrive access is only available for those with active student, staff, or faculty affiliation. OneDrive access is separate from email access. As such, OneDrive access may be removed before your mailbox is decommissioned. 

To back up your OneDrive data please refer to the following article: KB0013479 

  

2. Notify Contacts of Email Change (optional) 

To avoid missed correspondence, reach out to your contacts to inform them that your UTmail+ address will be out of service. Remember to supply an alternative means for them to contact you.   

Don’t forget to update your contact information with:  

    • People or organizations you correspond with.  
    • Subscriptions to newsletters, mailing lists or listservs.   
    • Services that provide alerts and notifications (e.g. news, banking or taxes, health and safety alerts).  
    • Online logins and accounts (e.g. social media, online shopping, clubs and memberships). Â