How to Preserve Outlook Categories During an Office 365 Migration
Question details
The user needs to preserve each employee's Outlook category names and colors when migrating mailboxes from Hosted Exchange to Microsoft 365.
- Product
- Microsoft Outlook / Microsoft 365
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- An organization is migrating mailboxes from Hosted Exchange to Microsoft 365 and wants each employee's personal Outlook category names and colors to remain available after migration.
- Observed behavior
- Categories are personal to each mailbox and may or may not transfer with mailbox contents; the goal is to verify and restore them after migration.
Before migrating, confirm which migration method you will use, such as cutover, staged, or hybrid, and identify one test mailbox. In Outlook, open the category list in that mailbox so you can verify whether category names and colors survive after migration.
Back Up Outlook Categories with an Outlook Note and MSG File
Use this method when you need an extra copy of each mailbox's category names and colors before the migration.
Outlook categories are stored per mailbox, but migration methods may not always transfer the Master Category List. Creating a categorized note and saving it as an MSG file gives you a restorable copy of the needed categories.
In the target employee's Outlook profile, go to the Notes module and click New Note.
On the note, click Categorize and select the categories you want to preserve.
Go to File > Save As, choose Outlook Message Format (*.msg), and save the note to a safe location.
After the mailbox is migrated, open Outlook and import or drag the saved MSG file into the Notes folder.
Open the imported note, click Categorize > All Categories, and add the missing category names and colors back to the mailbox.
Test One Mailbox Before Migrating All Employees
Use this to confirm whether your chosen migration method preserves Outlook categories in your environment before rolling out to the organization.
WPS Office: A Free, Lightweight Office Alternative for Document Work During Microsoft 365 Migration
WPS Office does not migrate Outlook categories, but it provides a free, lightweight Office suite with a familiar interface and strong Microsoft Office format compatibility, so your team can keep working on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files during and after the move.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Outlook categories migrate automatically with cutover, staged, or hybrid migrations?
They often transfer with mailbox contents, but the behavior can depend on the migration method and Outlook version. Test one mailbox by opening Categorize > All Categories after migration to confirm whether the custom names and colors are present.
How can I back up categories if I do not want to rely on migration alone?
In Outlook, create a new Note, assign the categories you need, save the note as an Outlook Message Format (.msg) file, and import it after migration. Then use Categorize > All Categories to restore missing categories.
What should I do if categories are missing after migration?
Open the imported MSG note in the Notes folder, click Categorize > All Categories, and add the missing category names and colors back to the Master Category List.
Does WPS Office have an email migration tool for Outlook categories?
No, WPS Office is an Office suite for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. It does not manage Exchange mailbox migrations or Outlook category lists.
