How to Migrate from Bluehost to Office 365?

• Last updated: 09 October 2026
• Migration
• Editorial Team

• First, Which Bluehost Setup Do You Have?
• Why Businesses Move Email from Bluehost to Microsoft 365
• What Moves and What Stays at Bluehost
• Choosing the Right Bluehost to Microsoft 365 Migration Method
• Pre-Migration Checklist
• Bluehost to Office 365 Migration, Step by Step
• DNS Cutover: Email Routing, MX, SPF and DKIM
• Doing It by Hand for One or Two Mailboxes
• When Migration Tools or a Managed Service Make Sense
• Common Bluehost Migration Problems and Fixes
• What It Costs and How Long It Takes
• Let Apps4Rent Handle Your Bluehost Email Migration
• Frequently Asked Questions

Plenty of small businesses buy a domain, a website and email from Bluehost in one go. It is convenient, and it works, until you need shared calendars, stronger security, bigger mailboxes, or a mail platform that does not share a server with your website. That is usually when the question arrives: how do we migrate email from Bluehost to Office 365 without breaking anything?

The good news is that email and website are separable. You can move mailboxes to Microsoft 365 and leave your site, domain and DNS right where they are. This guide covers the full path: the three Bluehost setups people mix up, what moves and what stays, the IMAP migration steps, the Bluehost-specific settings that cause most failed cutovers, and the fixes. Microsoft renamed many Office 365 plans to Microsoft 365 in 2020, so you will see both names here. The process is the same.

First, Which Bluehost Setup Do You Have?

Work this out before you touch anything, because the right move is different for each setup.

Your setup	What it means	What to do
Email that came with hosting (cPanel email)	Mailboxes like you@yourdomain.com managed in cPanel. This is the most common setup.	Follow this guide: an IMAP migration to Exchange Online.
Bluehost Professional Email or OX Mail	Paid email products with their own servers and settings.	Same IMAP approach. Use the server details Bluehost lists for that product, not the cPanel ones.
Microsoft 365 bought through Bluehost	Your mailboxes already live in Microsoft 365. Bluehost has said it can no longer renew these subscriptions.	No mailbox migration is needed. You transfer the subscription to a new partner. See how a Newfold-brand subscription transfer works.

The third row trips up a lot of people. Bluehost’s notice on Microsoft 365 subscriptions says the data stays with Microsoft, so that move is about billing and administration, not copying mail. Everything below is for the first two rows.

Why Businesses Move Email from Bluehost to Microsoft 365

Nobody leaves because Bluehost email is broken. They leave because email has become a business system, and it needs more than a hosting add-on can give. These are the reasons that hold up:

• Separate email from the website. On shared hosting, mail and site live in one account. Moving mail to Exchange Online means a plugin conflict or a hosting plan change no longer puts your inbox at risk.
• Mailboxes sized for real work. Microsoft 365 business plans start with 50 GB mailboxes and include 1 TB of OneDrive per user. Compare that with the quota on your Bluehost mailboxes.
• Collaboration built in. Shared calendars sit beside Teams for chat and meetings, and Word, Excel and PowerPoint support co-authoring.
• Security and compliance you can configure. Multi-factor authentication, Microsoft Defender and retention policies live in one admin center. If you handle health data, ask any host whether it will sign a business associate agreement for the mail service you use. Microsoft covers eligible Microsoft 365 services under a HIPAA agreement, and our HIPAA-ready email options explain the setup.
• Deliverability you control. Mail sent from shared hosting IP addresses shares a reputation with other sites on the server. Exchange Online sends from Microsoft’s mail infrastructure, with SPF and DKIM you manage.
• One place to manage people. Adding, removing and resetting users happens in one admin center, not mailbox by mailbox in cPanel.

When is staying put fine? If you have one or two mailboxes, no shared calendar needs and no compliance pressure, Bluehost email may be perfectly adequate. The move pays off as soon as email becomes a shared business system rather than a personal inbox.

What Moves and What Stays at Bluehost

Most of the anxiety around this project comes from one question: will my website break? It will not. Only email moves, and a handful of DNS records change.

Item	Where it goes	Notes
Email messages and folders	Exchange Online mailboxes	Copied over IMAP, with the folder structure intact.
Calendars and contacts	Outlook calendar and contacts	IMAP does not carry them. Export from Bluehost webmail and import, or use a tool.
Forwarders and autoresponders	Forwarding rules, automatic replies, mail flow rules	Recreate them in Microsoft 365.
Aliases and catch-all addresses	Aliases, shared mailboxes, distribution lists	List them first. Exchange Online has no simple catch-all switch, so plan for it early.
Website and hosting	Stays at Bluehost	Nothing about your site changes.
Domain and DNS	Stays where it is today	Only a handful of records change at cutover.
Website form and order emails	Still sent from Bluehost	Keep Bluehost authorized in SPF, or send through authenticated SMTP.

The practical rule: copy mail first, because it is time-sensitive, and handle calendars, contacts and forwarders as part of the same project so nothing is missing on day one.

Choosing the Right Bluehost to Microsoft 365 Migration Method

Bluehost mailboxes support IMAP, which means you can use the native migration built into the Exchange admin center. That is the default choice, but it is not the only one.

Method	Best for	What moves	Watch out for
IMAP migration batch	Most Bluehost customers, with an admin comfortable in the Exchange admin center	Email and folders	Email only, a 35 MB limit per message, up to 500,000 items per mailbox, and a password for every mailbox
Outlook copy or PST	One or two mailboxes	Email, plus contacts and calendar if exported	Manual and slow, and folders are easy to miss
Third-party migration tool	Teams that also need calendars, contacts and tasks, or have large mailboxes	Mail plus other mailbox data, depending on the tool	Per-mailbox fees, and you still own the DNS cutover
Managed migration	Anyone who wants no surprises and no admin time	Everything in scope, planned and tested	Pick a partner that runs a pilot and documents the cutover

Not sure which fits? Follow this path.

For most small and mid-sized businesses, an IMAP batch, whether self-run or managed, is the sweet spot. It keeps mail flowing during the copy, and you decide when to flip the switch. The same approach works for most hosting providers, and our guide to moving a GoDaddy mailbox shows the host-specific differences.

Also Read: How to Migrate from GoDaddy Email to Office 365 and Microsoft 365

Pre-Migration Checklist

Preparation decides how smooth the cutover is. Work through this list before you start copying mail.

In Bluehost (cPanel)

• List every mailbox, its size and its owner from the Email Accounts page.
• Note forwarders, autoresponders, aliases and any catch-all address.
• Open Connect Devices for a mailbox and copy the incoming server details Bluehost shows.
• Collect mailbox passwords, or agree on temporary resets for the migration window.
• Find out where your DNS is hosted and who holds the login. It might be Bluehost, or it might be your registrar or another provider.
• Check whether your website or any app sends mail through Bluehost, such as contact forms and order notifications.

In Microsoft 365

• Choose a plan and create the tenant.
• Add your domain and verify it with a TXT record, but leave MX records alone for now.
• Create users and assign licenses. Mailboxes must exist before IMAP migration can copy mail into them.
• Turn on multi-factor authentication and baseline security policies.

For people and timing

• Lower the TTL on your MX record a day or two before cutover.
• Pick a quiet window, and tell staff what will change: a new Outlook profile and a new sign-in.

Bluehost to Office 365 Migration, Step by Step

Here is the whole sequence at a glance, followed by what to do at each stage.

Step 1: Inventory your Bluehost mailboxes and DNS

Log in to cPanel and open Email Accounts. Record every mailbox, its size and its owner, plus forwarders, autoresponders and aliases. Then find your DNS host. If your domain uses Bluehost nameservers, you will edit records in Bluehost. If it points elsewhere, you will edit them there. Also note whether your website sends mail, because that affects your SPF record later.

Step 2: Set up Microsoft 365 and verify your domain

Choose a plan using our side-by-side plan comparison, create the tenant, and add your domain in the admin center. Microsoft gives you a TXT record to prove ownership. Add it at your DNS host. Do not change MX records yet, because mail must keep flowing to Bluehost until the copy is done. Verifying the domain does not affect your website or your current email.

Step 3: Create users and assign licenses

Create a user for every Bluehost mailbox, using the same email address, and assign a license. Add aliases and shared mailboxes as well. Exchange Online cannot copy mail into a mailbox that does not exist, so this step has to come first. Turn on multi-factor authentication before anyone signs in.

Step 4: Collect the Bluehost IMAP details and passwords

In cPanel, open Connect Devices beside a mailbox to see the exact server settings. Bluehost’s settings guide lists your domain name as the secure incoming server on port 993 for cPanel email, and some accounts show a boxNNN.bluehost.com hostname instead. Professional Email and OX Mail use different servers. If you do not have the passwords, reset them in cPanel for the length of the project.

Step 5: Run a pilot with two or three mailboxes

In the Exchange admin center, open Migration, add a migration batch, choose migration to Exchange Online, then IMAP migration. Create an endpoint with your Bluehost server, port 993 and SSL, test it, and upload a CSV of email addresses, usernames and passwords. Migrate a small group first. Microsoft recommends running small test batches to learn the speed before you size the rest. For more console detail, see our general IMAP migration walkthrough.

Step 6: Migrate the remaining mailboxes and validate

Run the rest in batches. Mail keeps arriving at Bluehost, and the batch keeps syncing until you complete it. Compare folder trees and item counts for a sample of mailboxes, then check the migration report for skipped items. Messages over 35 MB are skipped. Import calendars and contacts now, and recreate forwarders and autoresponders as rules and automatic replies.

Step 7: Cut over mail flow

In cPanel, open Email Routing, select your domain and set it to Remote Mail Exchanger. Skip this and Bluehost can keep delivering your mail locally even after the MX change, which makes new messages look like they vanished. Then update MX, SPF, DKIM and Autodiscover as shown in the table below, send test mail in both directions, and run a final sync a day later to catch late arrivals. Watch mail flow closely for 48 hours.

Step 8: Wrap up and support your users

Set up Outlook on desktop and mobile, remove the old Bluehost IMAP profiles so people do not see duplicates, and walk staff through the new sign-in. Then review security. Plans such as Business Premium add Defender and device management if you need them. Keep the Bluehost mailboxes for about 30 days as a safety net, then delete them. Keep your hosting plan, because your website still lives there.

DNS Cutover: Email Routing, MX, SPF and DKIM

This is where Bluehost migrations quietly fail. Mail still arrives, but it lands in spam, bounces for a few hours, or keeps going to the old server. This table shows exactly what changes.

Record or setting	At Bluehost today	Microsoft 365 setup
TXT (domain verification)	Not present	The value Microsoft shows in the admin center. Add it first, before you migrate.
Email Routing (cPanel)	Local or Automatically Detect	Remote Mail Exchanger, so Bluehost stops delivering mail locally.
MX	Points to your Bluehost mail server	The value in your admin center, formatted like yourdomain-com.mail.protection.outlook.com, priority 0. Remove the old MX records.
SPF (TXT)	Authorizes Bluehost servers	v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all. If your website still sends mail, keep that sender in the same single record.
DKIM	Usually none, or a hosting default	Two CNAME records (selector1 and selector2), then enable signing in the Microsoft Defender portal.
Autodiscover (CNAME)	May point to Bluehost	autodiscover.outlook.com. Replace any existing record so Outlook finds Microsoft 365.
DMARC (TXT at _dmarc)	Optional	Keep your current policy through cutover. If you have none, start at p=none and review reports.

Two timing tips. Publish the DKIM CNAME records before cutover so your first Microsoft-sent messages are already signed. And while staff still send from Bluehost, keep both Bluehost and Microsoft in your SPF record, then remove Bluehost once the cutover is stable, unless your website still sends mail through it.

Doing It by Hand for One or Two Mailboxes

If you only have a couple of mailboxes, you do not need a migration batch. In Outlook on the desktop, add the Bluehost mailbox over IMAP beside the new Microsoft 365 account, then drag folders across. Alternatively, export the Bluehost mailbox from Outlook to a PST file and import it into the new mailbox.

This costs nothing, but it is slow, folders are easy to miss, and it falls apart beyond a handful of users. It also copies only what Outlook can see, so check that old folders and large attachments arrived before you cancel anything.

When Migration Tools or a Managed Service Make Sense

Microsoft’s IMAP migration only copies mail folders. It also tops out at 500,000 items per mailbox, and individual messages can be no larger than 35 MB. Migration tools remove those limits, and they bring other advantages:

• They maintain data integrity while migrating calendar items, contacts and tasks, which the native method cannot do.
• Most offer a simple interface to start and monitor the migration.
• Built-in dashboards track progress in real time.
• The migration itself can become faster and more efficient.

Tools charge per mailbox, though, and they do not touch your DNS. Our breakdown of what migration tools really cost against a managed project shows how that adds up. A managed service earns its fee when nobody on your team has a free weekend, when mailboxes are large, or when your website sends mail and SPF needs care.

Common Bluehost Migration Problems and Fixes

The usual culprits are server names, Email Routing and DNS. Here is what to check when something stalls.

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Login or authentication fails	Wrong server name, or an unknown or changed mailbox password	Copy the settings from Connect Devices, reset the password in cPanel and test the endpoint again
Connection refused or times out	Port 993 is blocked, or too many connections are open at once	Allow port 993, reduce batch size and run large batches off-hours
Mail still lands in Bluehost after the MX change	cPanel Email Routing is still Local or Automatically Detect	Set Email Routing to Remote Mail Exchanger for the domain, then test from an outside address
Website forms stop arriving or go to spam	SPF no longer authorizes the Bluehost sender, or the form delivers locally	Keep the Bluehost sender in SPF, or use an SMTP plugin that authenticates
Messages missing after migration	Messages over 35 MB are skipped, or the 500,000-item cap was hit	Check the migration report, move large items manually or use a tool
Duplicate folders in Outlook	The old Bluehost IMAP profile sits beside the new Exchange account	Remove the old profile after migration
Bounces or spam after cutover	MX, SPF, DKIM or Autodiscover records are wrong or still propagating	Compare against the DNS table, enable DKIM signing and test with outside accounts
Calendars or contacts missing	IMAP never moves them	Export and import them, or use a tool that migrates them

Most of these surface during the pilot, which is exactly why the pilot exists.

What It Costs and How Long It Takes

Three things make up the bill: Microsoft 365 licenses, migration labor or tool fees, and a short overlap where you keep paying for Bluehost mail while you validate. A do-it-yourself IMAP migration has no tool fee but costs admin hours. Per-mailbox tools add a fee per user. Apps4Rent includes migration free on its Office 365 plans, which leaves licensing as your main cost.

Time depends on mailbox size, the number of users and how quickly Bluehost serves IMAP requests. A small team can plan on a few days end to end, including the pilot, validation and cutover, while large mailboxes stretch the copy phase. Your pilot is the best estimator: measure its transfer rate, apply it to the remaining data, and add a buffer.

Let Apps4Rent Handle Your Bluehost Email Migration

You can run this migration yourself, and plenty of teams do. But if you would rather not debug server names, Email Routing and SPF records on a deadline, Apps4Rent will do it for you. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner and Tier 1 Direct CSP, we have completed 10,000+ migrations for organizations in 90+ countries, with engineers on phone, chat and email around the clock. Here is what the project covers:

• Review of your Bluehost mailboxes, forwarders and DNS
• Tenant setup and licensing on the plan you choose
• A pilot migration, then batches for the remaining mailboxes
• Calendar and contact migration where it is in scope
• Email Routing, MX, SPF, DKIM and Autodiscover changes, with your website’s mail protected
• Validation, Outlook and mobile setup, and post-migration support

Migration is free on our Office 365 plans. Read more about our mailbox migration service, or send us your requirement below and an engineer will recommend the right route. Prefer to talk? Call 1-866-716-2040.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I migrate email from Bluehost to Office 365?

   Create licensed mailboxes in Microsoft 365, verify your domain, and run an IMAP migration batch in the Exchange admin center to copy each Bluehost mailbox. Then set cPanel Email Routing to Remote Mail Exchanger, update your MX, SPF, DKIM and Autodiscover records, and run a final sync. Your website can stay at Bluehost.

2. Can I migrate Bluehost email to Microsoft 365 without downtime?

   Yes. Mail keeps arriving at Bluehost while mailboxes are copied, so only the MX change matters. Lower your TTL beforehand, cut over in a quiet window, and run a final sync so messages that arrived during DNS propagation are not left behind.

3. Do I need to move my website or domain away from Bluehost?

   No. Email and website are separate services. Your site, hosting plan and domain can stay at Bluehost. Only a few DNS records change, and Microsoft 365 takes over email alone.

4. What IMAP server do I use for Bluehost email?

   Use the value Bluehost shows under Connect Devices for the mailbox. For cPanel email, Bluehost’s settings guide lists your own domain name as the secure incoming server on port 993, and some accounts show a boxNNN.bluehost.com hostname. Professional Email and OX Mail use different servers.

5. Can I migrate Bluehost calendars and contacts to Microsoft 365?

   Not through IMAP, which copies mail folders only. Export contacts and any calendars from Bluehost webmail and import them into Outlook, or use a migration tool or managed service that carries them automatically.

6. What happens to my Bluehost forwarders and autoresponders?

   They do not move automatically. Recreate forwarders as forwarding or mail flow rules in Microsoft 365, and autoresponders as automatic replies. List them during your inventory so none are forgotten.

7. Why is mail still going to Bluehost after I changed my MX records?

   Usually cPanel Email Routing is still set to Local or Automatically Detect, so Bluehost keeps delivering locally. Set it to Remote Mail Exchanger for your domain. DNS propagation can also take hours, so confirm with a test message from an outside address.

8. Will my website contact forms keep working after the migration?

   They can, with care. Forms that send mail through Bluehost need Bluehost to stay authorized in your SPF record, or they should send through authenticated SMTP. Test every form after cutover, because messages can quietly land in spam if SPF is wrong.

9. I bought Microsoft 365 through Bluehost. Do I need to migrate my data?

   Usually not. Your mailboxes already live in Microsoft 365, and what changes is the billing partner. Our guide explains how a subscription transfer works for Bluehost and other Newfold brands.

10. Is there a free tool to migrate from Bluehost to Office 365?

    Partly. IMAP migration in the Exchange admin center comes with your Microsoft 365 licenses. The trade-offs are mail-only transfer, a 35 MB message limit and hands-on DNS work. Apps4Rent includes migration at no extra charge on its Office 365 plans.

11. How long does a Bluehost to Microsoft 365 migration take?

    Most small businesses should plan for days rather than hours, including a pilot, validation and the DNS cutover. Copy time depends on mailbox sizes and how fast Bluehost serves IMAP requests, and your pilot gives the best estimate for the remaining mailboxes.

12. Should I delete my Bluehost mailboxes right after cutover?

    No. Keep them for about 30 days while you confirm that mail, calendars and contacts are complete. Delete them afterwards, and keep your hosting plan if your website still runs there.