Migrate files from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365
A migration for a whole organisation, not one person: assess what will fail, move everyone at once, keep people working, and switch over with a final delta pass.
1. Assess before anything moves
The assessment reads the source and reports what the destination will refuse before a byte is copied. Between Drive and OneDrive the usual findings are:
- Names OneDrive refuses: the characters " * : < > ? / \ | in a name, a name that starts or ends with a space, and names Windows reserves such as CON or desktop.ini. They can be fixed in bulk before the move.
- Single files over 250 GB, OneDrive's ceiling.
- Two files with the same name in one Drive folder, which OneDrive cannot hold side by side.
- Names that differ only by capital letters, which OneDrive treats as the same name.
2. Move everyone
Upload a CSV of who goes where. Each person's files go into their own folder at the destination, with a per-file report for each person. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides become Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on the way.
Sharing permissions and version history are carried where both sides support them, and the report lists what could not be.
3. Cut over
People keep working in Google while the bulk copy runs. Delta passes then copy only what changed since the last pass, and a final cutover pass runs once everyone has switched, so nothing written on the last day is left behind.
Questions
How long does it take?
Most of the time is the bulk copy, and that depends on volume more than on the number of people. It runs on our servers and keeps going overnight; the delta and cutover passes are short because they only copy changes.
Does it move email too?
Mail is backed up and archived by a separate feature, Email backup; this guide is about files.
Try it
Prepaid: 30 GB free, then 500 GB for ₹100 or 2,500 GB for ₹500, each valid a year. No card is asked for to start.