Editing Migration Files

You can edit migration files to change or add data. You edit the primary files after they are extracted and before they are imported with the Migration Wizard.

Important  Editing the secondary files is not recommended. Changes to secondary files require recalculating all offsets and then updating the primary file.

You may want to edit the primary files for the following reasons:

• To change the common names of mailboxes. You can only do this before the mailbox is created.
• To make the aliases different from the common names.
• To change the display name format.
• To parse the display name to generate the given name and surname fields, depending on the configuration of your source extractor.
• To add additional fields and data (telephone numbers, department names, and other items) to the directory.
• To delete all messages sent before a certain date if your source extractor doesn't support the limiting of messages.

Important  Editing migration files can introduce invalid or incorrect data. Make a backup of all migration files before editing them.

You can avoid editing the primary file by configuring the source extractor appropriately. For example, you can configure the source extractor to create given names and surnames, or to accept a text file of the old mailbox names and their new Microsoft Exchange Server common names. Use the following procedures to modify common names.

To modify the common names of mailboxes

1. Configure the source extractor to create files with mailbox creation information only.
2. Modify the small primary file, and then use the source extractor to create migration files that don't need editing.
3. Import the smaller mailbox creation files, and then import the mailbox data files.

You can also use the Directory Import and Directory Export commands instead of the Migration Wizard to import data. You can use these commands to change the display names, addresses, given names, surnames, and other mailbox properties.

Important  Some primary file fields may exceed 255 characters, but some spreadsheet programs can't hold more than 255 characters in a cell. The extra characters may be truncated without notice, causing a loss of data.