Migrate from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365: The Complete Guide

Leaving Google Workspace for Microsoft 365 is usually a business decision: you need desktop Office, integrated Teams, or you want every workstation aligned on the Microsoft ecosystem. The good news is that a well-prepared migration happens without losing a single email and without any mail downtime. This guide walks through every stage, from the first audit to the final checks on Outlook and mobile.

What gets migrated, and why people switch

A business email migration is about more than messages. You need to plan the transfer of everything tied to each user:

• Emails from Gmail, with their folders, labels and the full folder tree.
• Contacts, both personal and shared directories.
• Calendars, including recurring events, invitations and resource calendars.
• Files from Google Drive and shared drives, to move into OneDrive and SharePoint.

The reasons are familiar: a need for desktop Office apps, standardising on Teams, Microsoft enterprise agreements, or simply wanting a single vendor for mail and productivity.

Preparation: audit first

A successful project starts with a precise inventory. List every mailbox, its size (a 40 GB mailbox migrates far more slowly than a 2 GB one), aliases, groups and distribution lists. Note shared mailboxes and delegations too, since they must be recreated on the Microsoft 365 side.

• Confirm who owns the domain and where the DNS records are hosted.
• Record the current MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records.
• Lower the TTL on the MX records to 300 seconds a few days before cutover so propagation is near-instant on the day.

Provision Microsoft 365

Create the Microsoft 365 tenant, add and verify the domain using the supplied TXT record, then create user accounts and assign licences. At this stage, do not change the MX yet: the domain is verified, but mail still flows into Google Workspace. Recreate the groups, shared mailboxes and distribution lists so they are ready to receive data.

Migrate email: IMAP or a native tool

For Google Workspace to Microsoft 365, two reliable paths exist:

• IMAP migration from the Exchange admin center: Microsoft connects to the Gmail mailboxes over IMAP and copies messages in batches. It is the most direct method for email.
• File-based export/import: Google Takeout or the Google Workspace data export produces MBOX archives that can be converted to PST, then brought in via the Microsoft 365 import service.

On the Gmail side, remember to allow IMAP access and generate the app credentials required. IMAP migration moves mail but not contacts or calendars: those are handled separately.

Migrate Drive to OneDrive and SharePoint

For files, the Migration Manager in the SharePoint admin center includes a Google Workspace connector. It moves personal drives into OneDrive and shared drives into SharePoint libraries, preserving the folder structure. Plan to remap sharing: Google permissions ("anyone with the link") don't always convert one-to-one into Microsoft permissions.

Contacts and calendars

Export contacts as CSV and calendars as ICS from Google, then import them into Outlook / Microsoft 365. Pay special attention to recurring events and time zones, which frequently cause offsets after import.

Cut over DNS/MX with no downtime

Once the data is copied, change the MX record to point to Microsoft 365 (the target of the form yourdomain-com.mail.protection.outlook.com). Add Microsoft's SPF record, enable DKIM in the admin center, and create the autodiscover CNAME. Thanks to the lowered TTL, the new flow arrives within minutes. Run a final delta pass to catch messages that landed during the cutover.

A well-prepared cutover is invisible to your users: they close Gmail in the evening and open Outlook the next morning with their full history.

Verification and client settings

Reconfigure Outlook and mobiles onto the new Microsoft 365 accounts, clear old profile caches, and check both receiving and sending. Review signatures, mailbox rules, and test access to shared calendars. Send an external test message to confirm SPF and DKIM validate correctly.

Common pitfalls

• Gmail rate limits: large IMAP volumes can be throttled; split them into several batches.
• Duplicates if a migration is re-run without cleaning up first.
• Drive sharing permissions not converted: revalidate manually on the SharePoint side.
• Recurring calendars shifted by time zones.
• Forgetting the delta pass and losing mail received during the cutover window.

How much it costs: Yuna7 vs an IT contractor

Having a contractor migrate Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 often costs several hundred dollars, with quotes and lead times. Yuna7 automates the cutover and you only pay for what you actually use — you can even try it for free.

Let Yuna7 migrate Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 for you

Describe your migration in one sentence: Yuna7 audits your mailboxes, provisions the Microsoft 365 tenant, transfers email and files, cuts over the DNS/MX records, then verifies each account — you simply approve the sensitive steps. It all runs directly on your machines, under your control, and for far less than a technician.