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Remove restrictions from my Workspace Email for migration to Microsoft 365

We're retiring Workspace Email and are no longer releasing new features. We didn't make this decision lightly, but to provide you with the best email experience, we encourage you to move to Microsoft 365 with its latest features and security updates.

However, you might need to make changes to your Workspace Email accounts if certain restrictions prevent us from migrating you to Microsoft 365. We want your migration to go through as smoothly as possible, but we need you to take a few steps first.

Select the restriction that may apply to you to see its solution:

My domain has users set up on both Professional Email and Workspace Email

If your domain is set up with both Workspace Email and Professional Email, we can't migrate you to Microsoft 365. We don't support migrations from Professional Email, and a single domain can't have some users on Professional Email while the rest are migrated from Workspace Email to Microsoft 365.

Example: Users on coolexample.com use both Workspace Email and Professional Email. jane@coolexample.com uses Workspace Email and john@coolexample.com uses Professional Email.

You need to migrate all of your users to either Workspace Email or Professional Email. If most users are using Workspace Email, it may be easiest to move your other users over from Professional Email. Alternatively, if you want to continue using Professional Email and avoid migration to Microsoft 365, you can move all your Workspace Email users to Professional Email.

Select the appropriate tab based on whether you want to move all your users to Workspace Email or Professional Email.

To move all your Professional Email users to Workspace Email, you need to back up the data, delete each account and recreate them in Workspace Email.

  1. Sign in to your Email & Office Dashboard (use your GoDaddy username and password).
  2. Review your Professional Email users. Make sure each one is added to Outlook so you can follow the next step.
  3. For each Professional Email user, export your messages, contacts and calendar events to create a backup file.
  4. Delete each user.
  5. Create a new Workspace Email account for each user.
  6. Import the backup from each Professional Email account into a new Workspace Email account.

All your email accounts will be set up on Workspace Email, and will be migrated to Microsoft 365.

To move all your Workspace Email users to Professional Email, you need to back up the data, delete each account and recreate them in Professional Email.

  1. Sign in to your Workspace Control Center. Use your GoDaddy username and password (your Workspace Email address and password won't work here).
  2. Review your Workspace Email users. Make sure each one is added to Outlook so you can follow the next step.
  3. For each Workspace Email user, export your messages, contacts and calendar events to create a backup file.
  4. Delete each user.
  5. Create a new Professional Email account for each user.
  6. Import the backup from each Workspace Email account into a new Professional Email account.

All your email accounts will now use Professional Email.

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I have Workspace Email users set up with a domain that's in another GoDaddy account

Select the appropriate tab based on whether you own the domain associated with your Workspace Email users.

If you have Workspace Email users but don't own the associated domain, we can’t migrate them to Microsoft 365. We'll give you a Microsoft 365 credit that you can use to create new users on a domain that you own. Don't worry – you can back up your Workspace Email data and then import it into Microsoft 365.

  1. Sign in to your Workspace Control Center. Use your GoDaddy username and password (your Workspace Email address and password won't work here).
  2. Review your Workspace Email accounts.
    1. (Optional) Delete any unused Workspace Email accounts.
    2. (Optional) If you're using an account as an archive, export your messages, contacts and calendar events to create a backup file, and then delete the account.
  3. If you still use a Workspace Email account and want to use it with Microsoft 365, export your messages, contacts and calendar events to create a backup file.
    1. When your Workspace Email accounts are retired, we'll send you Microsoft 365 credits with the same amount of time remaining as your Workspace Email subscriptions.
    2. After receiving the credit, use it to set up new Microsoft 365 email accounts. The accounts will need to be set up with a domain that you own. If you want to set up your users on a domain that you own but that's in another GoDaddy account, chat with our GoDaddy Guides (in the bottom-right corner of the page, select Contact Us) from 6 am to 6 pm MST. If we're not available via chat, give us a call at (480) 463-8331.
  4. Import the backup from each Workspace Email account into a new Microsoft 365 account.

After importing your backups, you can continue using your email with Microsoft 365.

If you can access the GoDaddy account that owns the domain associated with your Workspace Email users, then we can migrate your accounts to Microsoft 365. After you review and delete any unused accounts, our GoDaddy Guides can help you move your users under the GoDaddy account with the domain.

Required: If you own the associated domain but cannot access the GoDaddy account where it's registered, chat with our GoDaddy Guides (in the bottom-right corner of the page, select Contact Us) from 6 am to 6 pm MST. If we're not available via chat, give us a call at (480) 463-8331.
  1. Sign in to your Workspace Control Center. Use your GoDaddy username and password (your Workspace Email address and password won't work here).
  2. Review your Workspace Email accounts.
    1. Delete any unused Workspace Email accounts.
    2. If you're using an account as an archive, export your messages, contacts and calendar events to create a backup file, and then delete the account.
    3. If you're still using a Workspace Email account and want it migrated to Microsoft 365, it'll need to be moved into the GoDaddy account with the domain in the next step.
  3. To move your users to the GoDaddy account with the domain, chat with our GoDaddy Guides (in the bottom-right corner of the page, select Contact Us) from 6 am to 6 pm MST. If we're not available via chat, give us a call at (480) 463-8331.

After your Workspace Email users are under one GoDaddy account, we'll automatically migrate you to Microsoft 365.

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My Workspace Email username contains unsupported special characters

A special character is any character that is not alphabetic or numeric. If your Workspace Email username uses a special character not supported by Microsoft 365, we cannot migrate the account.

Example: Your username uses the & special character, like jane&john@coolexample.com.

You must back up and delete each Workspace Email user with unsupported characters. If you do not delete them, we cannot migrate any of your users to Microsoft 365. After you’ve deleted Workspace Email users that have unsupported characters and we migrate the rest of your users, you can create new Microsoft 365 accounts for the affected Workspace Email users and import their backups.

  1. To export the messages, contacts and calendar events from your Workspace Email accounts, create a backup file.
  2. Delete the affected Workspace Email accounts. After verifying that you've deleted the accounts, we'll automatically migrate the rest of your Workspace Email users.
  3. After migrating, create new Microsoft 365 users for the affected Workspace Email accounts. The usernames cannot contain unsupported special characters.
  4. Import the backup from each Workspace Email user into their new Microsoft 365 account.

After deleting your accounts with unsupported characters, those email users will experience downtime while we verify and start the migration for the remaining users. We understand this is inconvenient, but if you want to continue receiving emails that may be sent to the deleted users, you can set up a catch-all email for your Workspace Email before you transition to Microsoft 365. After migrating to Microsoft 365, you can choose an alternative to catch-all.

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Note: If you can’t remove the restrictions affecting your accounts for any reason, we can’t migrate you to Microsoft 365. We’ll retire your Workspace Email accounts, but we’ll give you Microsoft 365 credits with the same amount of time remaining as your Workspace Email subscriptions. You can use these credits to set up new users.

Related steps

  • If you need to back up any data, add your Workspace Email or Professional Email users to Outlook first.
  • If you need additional help at any point, chat with our GoDaddy Guides (in the bottom-right corner of the page, select Contact Us) from 6 am to 6 pm MST. If we're not available via chat, give us a call at (480) 463-8331.

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