Hi Eddie,
Q1: as all the email arrangements are set up in Outlook 2013 will all the settings migrate automatically or will the whole tortuous process have to be done again?
A1: To the Hotmail account, you need to connect this account to Office 365;
To Exchange Server address, you can use cutover exchange migration, all on-premises mailboxes are migrated in preparation for moving your entire e-mail organization to the cloud. The contacts and distribution groups in your on-premises organization are also migrated. You can migrate a maximum of 1,000 mailboxes from your on-premises Exchange organization to the cloud. While you need to assign licenses to new mailboxes or they will be disabled when the grace period ends. Here is an article about the detailed information and how: Mailbox Migration to Exchange Online;
To email addresses hosted with GlobalGold hosting service, if you are using the fault domain, you can do it via this link IMAP Migration.
Q2: someone hinted that OFFICE 365 does not include all the OUTLOOK 2013 features - is that correct?
A2: Yes, it is correct. OWA does not include all the OUTLOOK 2013 features.
Q3: Can I still use standalone EXCEL if I am not connected to the internet?
A3: you can use standalone EXCEL for working. And when EXCEL is connected to internet, it’s updated.
Thanks,
April Zhou