Migrate Google Workspace to Microsoft Office 365 Step-by-Step

This migration guide offers DIY techniques to migrate Google Workspace to Office 365. It contains all the necessary steps and pre-requisites, which is essential to perform the entire migration in an efficient manner. It covers the top three ways using which the user can ensure the saftey and security of data. 

Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite) and Office 365 are two major cloud application suites. With a different set of features and applications, organizations choose between them as per one’s requirements. At the present time, Office 365 seems to have an edge over other Google Workspaces and many organizations are looking for Google Workspace to Office 365 migration.

Besides configuring Google Workspace in Outlook and downloading PST files one at a time, there are several methods to migrate Google Workspace mailboxes to Office 365. There are many tools available to automate this task. You can even ask your Office 365 service provider if they can do it for you. Anyways, here we will be providing the step-by-step process of two official methods for migration. You can refer to the navigation panel to go to the desired method or step.

Navigation Table

1. Mailbox Migration from Google Workspace to Office 365 – Method 1
   • Verify the domains
   • Add all users to Office 365
   • Collect the users email ID in a list on MS Excel
   • Create Migration Points
   • Migrate Mailboxes in Batches
   • Update and Point DNS records to Office 365
   • Disable synchronization of Gmail with Office 365
2. Data Migration from Google Workspace to Office 365 – Method 2
   • Create Google Service Account
   • Permit API Usage
   • Provide Access to Service Account
   • Create Sub-domain to Route Emails to Office 365
   • Create Sub-domain to Route Emails to Google Workspace
   • Provision MailUsers for Every O365 User
   • Create and Start Migration Batch with Exchange Admin Center (EAC)
3. Want to Outsource or Automate the Google Workspace to Office 365 Migration?

Mailbox Migration from Google Workspace to Office 365 – Method 1

Query:

This process migrates Google Workspace mailboxes to Office 365. It cannot move contacts, or calendars as it makes use of the capabilities of IMAP migration.

Step 1. Verify the domains

You have to verify that you own the domain since Microsoft does not allow migrating data over to an unowned domain. All you need to do is to create a DNS record for your domain simply by signing in to your domain registrar account.

Step 2. Add all users to Office 365

Now, all the users must have mailboxes in Office 365 to hold the emails after migration. You need to add users to Office 365 along with their licenses. There also needs to be an Exchange Online plan in each user license.

You can add several users at once by doing the following:

1. In the O365 admin center, select Users> Active users.
2. Choose to Add multiple users.

Step 3. Collect the user’s email ID in a list on MS Excel

For the migration process, email IDs of all the Google Workspace user’s account is required along with the passwords. You can reset all the passwords and assign temporary ones to make your task an easy one.

You can create several batches and move them at once instead of migrating all Google Workspace mailboxes to Office 365 at once. You can migrate around 50,000 mailboxes in one batch. The file should not be more than 10 MB in size.

• Sign in to the Google Workspace Admin console and select Users.
• Select the users and write down all the user email addresses in an Excel sheet.
• Sign in to Office 365 Admin Center and go to Users > Active Users.
• Now, write down all the user email IDs from here in the same Excel sheet.
• The format will look like this:
  • A1=Office 365 email address
  • B1=Google Workspace email address
  • C1= Password / temporary password

• Once all the user details are entered, save the Excel sheet in CSV file format.

Step 4. Create Migration Points

Create a migration endpoint that will act as the mediator so that two applications Google Workspace and Office 365 can communicate with each other. In simple terms, it is a way to connect Google Workspace to Office 365. Create the migration endpoint as follows:

• Open Exchange Admin Center (EAC) and go to Recipients >> Migration >> More…
• Select Migration endpoints.

• Click on New + and choose the IMAP option
• Keep the settings to default in the IMAP migration configuration page, and set IMAP Server to imap.gmail.com.
• Click Next to test the connection, then enter a migration endpoint name.

• Click New.

Step 5. Migrate Mailboxes in Batches

The created migration batch is used to migrate the user list created in the Excel sheet into Office 365 at once. You can also test the migration with 1-2 accounts.

• Sign in to Office 365 admin center and keep selecting the following:
  • Admin centers >> Exchange
  • Recipients >> Migration
  • New+ >> Migrate to Exchange Online
  • IMAP migration >> Next

• Browse the CSV file you created earlier and let after it gets checked, click Next.
• Select the migration endpoint and click Next, then again Next.
• In the Move configuration window, you can sortie the migration batch name as per requirement. The default name is the one that represents the migration being carried out at the moment.

• Click Next and select Browse if you wish to send someone a migration report. Then, choose Automatically Start the batch >> New.

• The migration starts as soon as the status displays syncing. Once it completes, the status changes to Synched. You can verify that the migration worked by checking the name of the batch in the EAC dashboard.

Step 6. Update and Point DNS records to Office 365

Now, you need to make sure that all the DNS records i.e., MX records point towards Office 365 and not Google Workspace. It will ensure that the email messages meant for Google Workspace will be delivered to Office 365 instead. There are many methods to change the MX record depending on the DNS systems.

Step 7. Disable synchronization of Gmail with Office 365

This is the last step to migrate Google Workspace to Office 365 manually. After the MX record is updated to point to Office 365, wait for at least 3 days before executing this step. You can delete the migration batch from the Exchange Admin Center (EAC). Lastly, ensure that there is no migration batch displayed on the dashboard. This means that the migration is successful.

Now that the emails are successfully migrated to O365, you can migrate over the contacts and calendars individually. The alternative would be to use the next method to automate the process with a professional tool.

Data Migration from Google Workspace to Office 365 – Method 2

Query:

This is a newly developed method by Microsoft that offers migration of emails, contacts, and calendars from Google Workspace to Office 365 tenants. Although it does not automate the complete process, it is still a major improvement over the previous migration method.

Step 1. Create Google Service Account

• Open and sign into https://console.developers.google.com/iam-admin/serviceaccounts with Google Workspace admin credentials.
• Give a name and create a project for migration.
• Enter the service account details i.e., Name, Account ID, and Description.
• Now select Continue >> Create Key.
• Choose JSON key type and click Create.
• In the Service Account, select Email. Note down the Unique Id provided on the Service account details page as you will need it later.
• If the Enable Google Workspace Domain-wide Delegation box is visible, tick marks it.

Step 2. Permit API Usage

• Now set up the API on the developer page: https://console.developers.google.com/apis/library
• Click on the Project you created earlier.
• Enable the APIs as per your need such as Gmail API, Google Calendar API, Contacts API

Step 3. Provide Access to Service Account

• Sign in to your Google Workspace domain and select the following in the Google Workspace Admin panel: Security >> Advanced Settings >> Manage API client access.
• Type ClientID in the Client Name textbox and add the scopes as per requirement:
  • https://mail.google.com/
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar
  • https://www.google.com/m8/feeds/
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.sharing
• Type them all in a consecutive manner separated by a comma without any spaces and click Authorize
• It may take several hours for the settings to propagate.

Step 4. Create Sub-domain to Route Emails to Office 365

• In the Google Workspace Admin panel, choose Domains, then select Add/remove domains >> Add a domain or a domain alias
• Click Add another domain and enter the name for a subdomain that you will be used to route all your emails to Office 365. You will need this name later, so remember it well. Also, try to create and use the sub-domain of your primary domain for faster validation. Click Continue and verify domain ownership.

• Once the domain is verified, click Skip Google MX setup and select I Use another mail server.
• Now, sign in to your DNS provider and point your DNS records to the domain you created from https://docs.microsoft.com/office365/admin/setup/add-domain?view=o365-worldwide

Step 5. Create Sub-domain to Route Emails to Google Workspace

Now, we will do the same with Google Workspace:

• Again in the Google Workspace admin panel, select Domains >> Manage Domains >> Add a domain or domain alias.
• This time, select Add a domain alias of (your domain name). Now, enter the domain name that you will be using for routing the emails to Google Workspace. Again, try to create a subdomain of your primary one for easier verification, then click Continue and verify domain ownership.

• Once the domain is verified, click on Set up Google MX records and follow the steps for your DNS provider.

Step 6. Provision MailUsers for Every O365 User

Ensure that every user in the organization that is considered for migration is provisioned with MailUsers. This can be done by following the steps given in this MS Docs.

Step 7. Create and Start Migration Batch with Exchange Admin Center (EAC)

• Sign in to your Office 365 account and open the Admin Center.
• Then keep selecting Exchange >> Recipients >> Migration >> New+ >> Migrate to Exchange Online.

• Select the migration type to Google Workspace (Gmail) migration and click Next.

• Now, create a CSV file that contains the list of users migrating from Google Workspace to Office 365. It will contain all the header EmailAddress followed by the list of email ids of Office 365 users. Optionally, you can also write down the header UserName with the Google Workspace Ids if it differs from EmailAddress.

• Click Choose File and select the CSV file you created. Then click Next.
• Enter the Google Workspace id with super admin authorities.
• Click Choose a file to select the JSON file and click Next.

• Enter the batch name for the Migration along with the target delivery domain name. This is the sub-domain created earlier to route Google Workspace emails to Office 365, then click Next.

• Now you can customize the migration process like choosing who gets a copy of the migration report, selecting the option for the start and end of batch, etc. Then click New.

• Now, in the Exchange Admin center, select Recipients >> Migration. It will showcase the migration batch and the status is Syncing. When the migration completes, the status changes to Synced.

That is all..!!

Also Read: Google Workspace Migration Tool

Want to Outsource or Automate the Google Workspace to Office 365 Migration?

The methods seem simple enough at first but are all cumbersome during execution. It requires you to be completely attentive at all times. You can ease the burden and migrate required data items from Google Workspace to Office 365 by outsourcing the task to Cloud Migration Service.

You can also use G Suite to Office 365 Migration Tool to automate the entire migration process, thus saving you from the hassle of such cumbersome methods. It will still remain a DIY technique but without any tedious manual steps.

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A Short Video Playlist to See the Complete Google Workspace to O365 Migration process using the software:

5 Quick & Easy Steps to Migrate Google Workspace to Office 365

Step 1. Download, install, and launch the software on your local Windows computer. Choose G Suite as the source and Office 365 as the destination migration platform.

Step 2. Chose the required mailbox workload and apply the date filter for selective migration, based on a particular date range. Click on next to proceed.

Step 3. Use the source G Suite credentials to log in to the software. Then validate the required permissions. Click on next to proceed.

Step 4. Use the source Office 365 credentials to log in to the software. Then validate the required permissions. Click on next to proceed.

Step 5. Choose any of the following methods to add source users and map the with destination users. Then validate the required permissions. Click on next to proceed.

Step 6. Select the users that you want to migrate and then validate the required permissions. Once, all the permissions get validated then click on the Start migration button.

Well if you want to do the opposite, refer Office 365 to G Suite migration.

If you require any help to migrate Google Workspace to Office 365, get in touch with the Support Team now!

In Conclusion  

In this guide, we have covered the top three ways using which you can easily migrate Google Workspace to Office 365. If you are a technically sound user and want to hands on the free version then, you can easily follow the manual approach to perform this operation. Furthermore, if are looking out for an easy execution of this task,  then choose the automated software. As it ensures maximum data security and integrity throughout the process.

Related Posts:

• Export Google Sheets to Office 365
• Import Google Contacts to Office 365