Migration Manager is the Microsoft 365 tool for copying Google Drive content into OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. You connect it to Google Workspace by installing the Microsoft 365 Migration app, scan the drives, map Google users and groups to Microsoft 365 identities, choose permission and version settings, then migrate and run delta passes until cutover. This article walks through each step and the settings that most often catch people out. It is one part of the wider Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 migration step-by-step guide, which covers mail, calendar, contacts and DNS.
Who this is for and what you will have
This guide is for Microsoft 365 administrators moving files out of Google Drive as part of a move from Google Workspace. By the end you will have a configured Migration Manager project, OneDrive and SharePoint destinations ready, identities mapped, permissions and versions decided, and a repeatable migrate-and-verify routine.
If you are tracking the whole project on paper, the Drive items are in Phase 5 of the Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 migration checklist, and the free checklist PDF links each one to its source. If you are still building the business case, read migration cost and timeline for small businesses first.
What Migration Manager moves and what it does not
| Google content | Result in Microsoft 365 |
|---|---|
| Files and folders in My Drive | Copied, normally to the user's OneDrive |
| Shared drives | Copied to a SharePoint document library or a Teams channel |
| Google Docs, Sheets, Slides | Converted to .docx, .xlsx and .pptx |
| Google Drawings | Migrated as PNG files |
| Google Forms | Migrated when a Forms destination user is set |
| Google Sites, Google Maps | Not migrated; Google does not allow their export |
| Shortcuts | Skipped |
| Unorganized (orphaned) files | Not scanned, migrated or reported |
| Files marked as restricted | Not migrated |
| Single files larger than 250 GB | Not migrated |
| Destination paths over 400 characters | Not migrated |
| External sharing links | Not recreated |
Microsoft's FAQ adds a few details worth knowing before you plan. Files with the same name in the same folder are renamed with suffixes such as (1) and (2). If two drives have the same name, only the first discovered drive is migrated. A slash in a drive's display name is not supported. And Google files created or modified before May 2, 2022 have no size in the API metadata, so they show as 1 byte in the scan summary, which is why scanned sizes can differ from the Google Admin console.
Prerequisites
- Microsoft 365 role: OneDrive/SharePoint admin, a user with the Microsoft 365 Migration Administrator role, or Global Administrator. Microsoft recommends the role with the fewest permissions.
- Google role: a Google Workspace administrator who can install and authorize the Microsoft 365 Migration app and reach the drives. Google requires a super administrator for the organization-wide Marketplace install.
- Drive and Docs turned on for the users whose files you migrate. Authentication errors in reports can trace back to the service being off for a user.
- Users, groups and domains created in Microsoft 365 before identity mapping.
- OneDrive provisioned for every user whose My Drive goes to OneDrive.
- SharePoint sites or Teams created for shared drives, with Microsoft 365 groups whose membership matches the Google groups.
Pre-provision OneDrive
OneDrive is normally created the first time a user opens it. For a migration you need it ready beforehand. The accounts must be allowed to sign in and have a SharePoint license, and the admin running the command must be a SharePoint Administrator. Connect with the SharePoint Online Management Shell and run:
Connect-SPOService -Url https://contoso-admin.sharepoint.com
$users = Get-Content -Path "C:\Migration\Users.txt" # one UPN per line
Request-SPOPersonalSite -UserEmails $usersMicrosoft notes that provisioning a large number of OneDrive locations can take several days, and its sample script for all licensed users sends requests in batches of 199 with -NoWait. Start this early. Destinations without a provisioned OneDrive fail validation. For eligible Migration Manager Lite projects, Migration Manager can provision OneDrive automatically, but pre-provision if that is not available or fails.
Step 1: Open Migration Manager and connect to Google
- Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center and select Setup > Migration resources.
- Under Self-service migration and import tools, select Explore migration & imports tools, then Google Workspace.
- Select Install and authorize, sign in to the Google Workspace Marketplace as a super administrator, choose the organization-wide install option (such as Admin install or Domain install), review the requested access and finish.
- Return to Migration Manager, select Next, then Sign in to Google Workspace to complete the connection.
You have 10 minutes to complete the connection before the session expires. In the standard experience you then land on Configure project settings, which is the right moment to set permissions and versions (see Step 5).
Migration Manager Lite
Tenants with fewer than 300 Microsoft 365 licenses get Migration Manager Lite by default when the project is created. Instead of separate stages, a First Run Experience wizard walks you through selecting the drives (tasks), assigning destinations, mapping identities, configuring settings, and review. Migration starts automatically when you finish the wizard, so check destinations and settings carefully before you select the last button.
Step 2: Scan and assess
Select Add Drives and choose how to add them: discover new users' drives, target a single source path, or upload source paths in bulk with a CSV file. Every task must be scanned before it can be migrated. The scan list can hold at most 50,000 rows.
Download the Scan summary report and Scan detailed reports. Status codes in the summary show task-level problems, and failure codes in the detailed report show file-level problems. A Ready to migrate status does not mean every item passed, so read the item-level failures.
Microsoft's guidance is that a single migration task should not exceed 100,000 items or 1 TB. Split large drives by root folder with a CSV of source paths, for example:
[email protected]/folder01
[email protected]/folder02
[email protected]/folder03Subfolder tasks do not cover files stored directly in the drive root, so account for those before you remove the original whole-drive task. Removing a task in Migration Manager does not touch the source drive.
Step 3: Copy to the migrations list and set destinations
When a drive shows Ready to migrate, copy it to the migrations list. On the Drive migrations tab, review the destination of every task. Migration Manager maps source paths to exactly matching destination paths automatically, but a task without a destination cannot run, and once migration starts the destination cannot be changed.
| Destination type | Format |
|---|---|
| SharePoint | https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/<site>/<library>/<optional folder> |
| OneDrive by UPN | [email protected] |
| OneDrive by URL | https://contoso-my.sharepoint.com/personal/<upn>/Documents/<optional folder> |
For many tasks, select Upload destinations, download the CSV template, fill in the Destination path (to be added/modified) column and upload it; Migration Manager validates the file and reports issues. If a task contains Google Forms, enter a Forms destination: the email address of the Microsoft 365 user who will store the Forms files.
If you choose a SharePoint library root as the destination, the source root-folder permissions are not migrated. Create a folder in the library and use it as the destination instead.
Step 4: Map identities
Select Map identities on the Drive migrations tab. Migration Manager automaps identities that match exactly by name, but in most cases that does not cover everyone. Edit individual mappings, or choose Import users and groups and upload a batch CSV with the Microsoft 365 identity column filled in. The upload is not validated, so check it before you load it.
For shared drives, Microsoft recommends recreating a Microsoft 365 group with the same membership as the Google group (or editing the group linked to the destination Teams site) and mapping the Google group to it.
Step 5: Decide on permissions and versions
These two settings are off by default, and changing your mind after the first run is costly.
Permissions. By default Migration Manager migrates folder permissions, and files inherit their parent folder's permissions. Turn on file permission migration in project settings if files must keep their individual sharing. Microsoft notes this can slow the migration. Roles map like this:
| Google role | OneDrive or SharePoint role |
|---|---|
| My Drive owner | Owner |
| My Drive editor | Can edit |
| My Drive commenter or viewer | Can view |
| Shared drive manager, content manager or contributor | Can edit |
| Shared drive commenter or viewer | Can view |
Versions. Only the most recent version of each file is copied unless you configure File versions in project settings or task settings. If people rely on version history, set this before the first run and verify the history at the destination.
Step 6: Migrate and monitor
Select the tasks, select Migrate, then confirm. Starting a migration does not remove anything from Google Workspace. Depending on the volume, the run can take hours or days.
- At most 50 task rows (scans and migrations combined) run at the same time; the rest queue and start as others finish. Concurrency can drop if the migration hits slowdowns or back-off requests.
- You can schedule a one-time migration for one or more tasks.
- Migration Manager shows an estimated time to migrate once tasks are scanned and copied to migrations. Queued time is not included, and estimates for incremental runs are less predictable.
- Download the Migration summary report and Migration detailed reports, fix warnings and failures, and migrate the affected tasks again.
Do not rename or move source or destination folders until the final run is done. Changed paths are treated as new content and copied again.
Step 7: Delta passes and cutover
Running Migrate again on a task starts a delta sync. You choose the behavior under Project settings - Advanced:
| Mode | What it does |
|---|---|
| Skip files already migrated and transfer only updated or new ones (default) | Skips a file when its destination path is unchanged and the destination copy is newer than the source |
| Migrate all files and overwrite any existing ones at the destination | Copies everything again and overwrites destination edits; takes longer |
In the default mode, permission-only changes in Google are not picked up, because permissions are updated only when the file itself transfers. If sharing changed after the first run, the overwrite mode carries it across, but it also overwrites anything users changed in Microsoft 365.
A practical rhythm: run the initial migration a week or two before cutover, run a delta pass the evening before users switch, then a final delta pass after they stop using Google Drive. Tell users which day Google Drive becomes read-only for them so that late edits do not get lost between passes.
Troubleshooting
| Report code or symptom | Meaning | Fix |
|---|---|---|
MEXPORTFILERESTRICTED | The file is marked as restricted or not copyable | Check the file's download and copy restrictions; ask the owner whether it may be migrated, then retry or record it as an exclusion |
MAUTHACCESSTOKENINVALID or MAUTHREFRESHTOKEN | Authentication or authorization failure | Reconnect to Google with an authorized admin and check Drive and Docs is on for the affected users |
| Destination fails validation | OneDrive not provisioned, or path wrong | Pre-provision OneDrive; upload destinations by CSV if the site does not appear in the picker |
| SharePoint site missing from the destination picker | Admin is not a site member, multi-geo limits, or the site is new | Wait a couple of hours for new sites, or upload the destination by CSV |
| Duplicate folders after a rerun | A folder was renamed or moved between runs | Freeze folder structure until the final pass; clean up duplicates with the owner |
| Task Completed but files missing | Unsupported, restricted or orphaned files | Review the detailed report and the unsupported files list with content owners |
Before you sign off, Microsoft's own advice is to review unsupported and excluded items, verify representative file content, versions and access, and reconcile the source inventory with the destination. Do not retire Google Drive until those gaps are resolved or accepted.
Checklist
- Roles in place on both sides, Drive and Docs on for affected users.
- OneDrive pre-provisioned; SharePoint sites, Teams and groups created.
- Migration app installed and project connected.
- Permissions and file versions decided in project settings.
- Drives scanned, large drives split, reports reviewed.
- Destinations checked, Forms destinations set.
- Identities mapped and verified.
- Initial migration run and reports resolved.
- Delta passes scheduled around the user cutover.
- Inventory reconciled and exclusions signed off before Google Drive is retired.
References
- Overview: Migrate Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 with Migration Manager
- Step 1: Connect to Google with Migration Manager
- Step 2: Scan and assess Google drives
- Step 4: Review destination paths
- Step 5: Map Google identities
- Step 6: Migrate and monitor Google migration
- Permission settings in Migration Manager
- Delta sync in Migration Manager
- Migration Manager Google FAQs
- Unsupported file types in Migration Manager
- File size limitations when migrating files to Microsoft 365
- Pre-provision OneDrive for users in your organization
- Migrate data from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 (consolidated migration)
Comments
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