I'm closing my website. Can I still have an exchange account with a personal email?

Question

1. Can my exchange account be linked to a gmail address rather than a website address? I'm closing my website soon.
2. If not and I cancel my Exchange account, what happens to the syncing of my contacts, calendar and notes?
3. When I reinstalled outlook on my computer, all my contacts were duplicated. However, if I delete a duplicate, both get deleted. This caused a lot of problems in trying to get back the ones I deleted. When I was able to restore them, sometimes both were restored even though I only selected one. (doing all of this in Outlook, not on the website. Restore deleted items was done on the website)
4. I know I can connect my gmail account to Outlook and have already done that so I see my gmail mail in outlook. Again, I'm concerned about losing my Outlook contacts, calendar and notes when I disconnect my business email (which is the exchange email) from outlook

Answer 1

Hello @Susan Berland,

Welcome to the Microsoft forum for technical support.

Based on your description, I will answer the four questions you raised one by one below:

1. You can link an Exchange account to a Gmail address. If you are using Exchange Online (part of Microsoft 365), you can forward email to a Gmail address or configure Gmail to retrieve email from an Exchange account using POP or IMAP.
2. If you cancel your Exchange account, you will not be able to access any data stored specifically in that account, including contacts, calendars, and notes, unless you have backed them up or synchronized them elsewhere. Before canceling, you should export all important data. For contacts, you can use the "Export to .csv or .pst file" option in Outlook. For calendars and memos, you may need to export them separately or make sure they are synchronized to other services.
3. The problem of duplicate contacts and the problem of contacts being deleted when you delete them are usually the result of synchronization errors. Before trying to delete duplicates, make sure Outlook is updated and check the synchronization settings when using multiple devices or services. It is also wise to back up your contacts before making changes. If your contacts are still duplicated, it is recommended that you go to the Outlook.com forum for more professional help.
4. When you connect Gmail to Outlook, it does not automatically include your Outlook contacts, calendars, and notes. To avoid losing this information, make sure to back it up. For contacts, you can export them as mentioned earlier. For calendars and notes, you can export them or sync them with other services you plan to continue using. If you are integrating with Gmail, according to my research, Google does have an option to import calendars and contacts, so you can transfer them to Google's services to ensure that you don't lose any information. However, Gmail is not a Microsoft product, but a third-party service. It is recommended that you consult professionals of related products for specific steps.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any queries.

Best,

Jake Zhang

Answer 2

I'm sorry I haven't responded. I had to wait for my son to help me. This is what I've done and this is what isn't working

I exported my contacts and calendar. I removed the exchange account from outlook. I deleted all the duplicates in my contacts and reuploaded them.

I downloaded the outlook app to my iphone and ipad. I can access both on the calendar app and the contacts app but not in the outlook app. That means if I'm writing an email, I don't have access to my contacts. I'm also not able to access my contacts when I compose a new email in Outlook on my computer. I have to go the contacks folder and copy and paste the email.

I could find no way to download or upload my notes.

My end goal is to cancel my exchange subscription but I'm afraid if I do I will lose my calendar, notes and contacts on my iPhone and iPad.

Answer 3

The link you sent me to is a page in Chinese so I cannot read it.

I've decided, if it is possible, to keep my exchange account using susanberland@gmail.com, so I all my microsoft outlook items sync to my phone. That is, mail, calendar, contacts, notes. Right now they are not syncing. I've been unable to import my outlook calendar into google calendar but it really doesn't matter because they won't sync.

I know Outlook pretty well and nothing is working the same with my gmail address. I'm not sure if it would work as it used to with my business email address but that was logged into outlook as an exchange account.

So, what do I do now. I change my email address in Exchange but I suspect that may only be to sign in. I appreciate your help.

Susan