Cloud G Suite to Office 365 Migration - Complete Tutorial

How to Migrate G Suite (Google Apps) to Office 365?

In this post, we will describe two methods to perform cloud to cloud migration from Google G Suite to Microsoft Office 365 domain. This includes a complete guide to migrate emails, contacts, calendars, and documents from one domain to another without losing any information. Microsoft provides users with a way to transfer their G Suite data. It requires to be performed manually. We will discuss the complete method along with its benefits and cons. We are also going to look into an automated Google Apps to Office 365 migration tool that provides customization features for user convenience. You can choose either of the methods as long as it satisfies your needs.

Why The Need for G Suite Migration to Office 365?

Google G suite is best for smaller businesses while Office 365 stands out for scalable business that uses desktop applications to collaborates with cloud productivity apps.

• The major factor that generates the fundamental need of migrating G Suite data into MS Office is the Offline Access capability. O365 provides Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, etc., that can be used to work offline and later synchronize to cloud apps.
• Office 365 has a wide range of subscription plans as opposed to G Suite. So a firm has more leverage to choose the plan that suits them the best.
• In a Windows ecosystem (present in most businesses), Office 365 is a more suitable choice with its top-notch desktop apps.

It has been seen that small business starts out with G Suite, then switch to Office 365 as the business grows and becomes more scalable.
 

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Methods to Migrate G Suite to Office 365

There are two methods to migrate G Suite mailboxes into Office 365:
 

1. Manual Method using the Admin Panel of Office 365.
2. Automated Method using a third-party tool.

Below, we will discuss both these methods in a step by step manner for easy understanding.

Using Office 365 Admin Center

1st Step – Sign in as an admin user in your Office 365 account The admin is the only authorized user that can create and manage all the user accounts in Office 365.

2nd Step – Check the Domain owner. For the migration of mailboxes from Google Apps to Office 365, you must first confirm that the domain is owned by yourself. You will go through domain verification while setting up Office 365.

3rd Step – Adding Users to Office 365. An Admin can either add a single user at a time or multiple users at once using the CSV file. To add users, go to the Admin Center, click on Users > Active users and select the preferred option to add users. Make sure that each user has its own mailbox and license. Once done, pause the setup wizard and do not proceed with the “Set up Domain” step. It has to be done only after migrating the Gmail mailboxes.

4th Step – Get the User List from the G Suite account. Admin must first reset the passwords for all G Suite accounts and create a temporary password to later include in the User list. The steps for creating the list are:
 

• Log in G Suite admin console and click Users.
• Keep the Google console open.
• Now open Excel.
• In Excel, input EmailAddress in A1, UserName in B1, Password in C1.
• Now, use the user list from Google console to select each user account and enter the displayed username, email address and password in the Excel sheet.
• Proceed to save the document as a CSV file.

5th Step – Connecting Office 365 with Google Business Gmail. Proceed with the following instructions to connect both the applications
 

• In the Exchange admin center, go to Recipients and click on the Migration option.
• Now, select the […] button and choose Migration endpoints.
• Click the plus icon [+].
• Choose IMAP from the select the migration endpoint type page.
• Enter imap.gmail.com in the IMAP server and keep all the default settings, then click Next.
• Give a name to the migration endpoint and click on new to create the endpoint.

  6th Step – Create a batch and start G Suite to Office 365 Migration.Here, the admin user can try to migrate a smaller batch first to test the process execution. To start the batch migration, follow these steps:
 

• In the Office 365 admin center, click Admin centers and choose the Exchange option.
• Afterward, click on Recipients and select Migration.
• Click the plus icon [+] and choose to Migrate to Exchange Online option.
• Select IMAP migration and click the Next button.
• Click Browse to locate the select the CSV file that you created in the 4th step.
• Once the file is validated by Office 365, check the number of mailboxes it displays and click on Next.
• Choose the migration endpoint created earlier and click on Next.
• Again, click Next in the IMAP migration configuration page.
• Now, enter the migration batch name and add folders for exclusion, then click Next.
• Choose Automatically start the batch and click on new to immediately start the migration of G Suite mailbox to Office 365.
• To verify the completion of the process, look for Synced status after going to Recipients, then Migration.

7th Step – Updating the DNS records.The admin must make sure that the MX records point to Office 365 and not Gmail. This will ensure that all the future emails are sent to Outlook account rather than Gmail. Create a TXT or MX record and request Office 365 to verify it:

• Open Admin center.
• Go to Settings.
• Click Domains.
• Select the domain name.
• Select Start Setup and Verify.

8th Step – Stop the Synchronization.It can take up to 72 hours for email systems to recognize the changes in the MX record. So wait for this much time and then stop the synchronization between G Suite and Office 365. You should also ensure that every G suite user is now using Office 365 as the G suite mailbox will no longer be available.

• In the Exchange admin center, go to Recipients.
• Choose Migration and select the batch.
• Choose Delete.

Important Points:

 

• The Manual Method only works for Mailbox Migration.
• Users cannot migrate contacts and calendars from G Suite to Office 365.
• Since the process makes use of IMAP synchronization, it will take days to complete the process.
• There are little to none customization options.

Using SysTools Google Apps to Outlook Migration Tool

The overall manual process is complicated and difficult to execute and that’s exactly why an automated solution is required. With the software, one can migrate G Suite data to Office 365 in a fast and reliable manner. It helps in the migration of emails, contacts, calendars, and documents from domain G Suite accounts. The software is designed for performance and user convenience. One can fulfill the simple prerequisites and proceed with cloud migration.

Simple Steps to Migrate G Suite to Office 365:

 

1. Download and Run SysTools G Suite to Office 365 Migration Tool.
2. Enter G Suite and Office 365 Admin Id and password.
3. Select Category (Emails, contacts, calendars) and Apply Filters.
4. Set priority and start transferring G Suite data into Office 365.

Important Points:

 

• The tool allows the migration of multiple users accounts concurrently.
• Supports Incremental migration of data on the same machine.
• Can Transfer emails, contacts, calendars and documents at once.
• Preserves email attributes and header information.
• Supports the Pause and Resume feature.
• Select the priority of mailboxes before data migration.
• Generates a summary report after the process completion.

Conclusion:

This post aims at providing users with ample information on how to perform G Suite to Office 365 migration. While Microsoft provides a technique to synchronize the data between the two cloud productivity suites, it is only applicable for mailbox migration. The third-party migration tool is not as time-consuming as the manual method and provides an ample amount of features for data migration. Users can select the preferred technique and migrate Google Apps data into Office 365 account.  

 

Reference: https://www.systoolsgroup.com/google-apps-to-office-365/