Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace: the complete migration guide

What moves from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace?

Email, contacts, calendars, and files move well, and they cover most of what your team uses every day. Mail from Exchange Online lands in Gmail. Contacts land in Google Contacts. Calendar events land in Google Calendar. OneDrive files land in each person's My Drive, and SharePoint document libraries can move into shared drives.

Here is how the main Microsoft 365 apps map to Google Workspace:

Each row has its own guide:

• Outlook to Gmail: what changes for your users
• OneDrive to Google Drive migration
• SharePoint to Google shared drives
• Moving from Microsoft Teams to Google Chat and Meet
• Migrating shared mailboxes and distribution lists
• Working with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in Google Drive

Some things need a decision instead of a copy. Teams chat history, SharePoint pages and lists, Power Automate flows, and OneNote notebooks have no direct one-to-one home in Google Workspace. For each one you choose to rebuild, export and archive, or retire. Our list of what does not migrate automatically covers the usual suspects.

How long does a Microsoft 365 migration take?

It depends on the number of users, how much data each person has, and how many extras you are moving, such as shared mailboxes, SharePoint sites, and Teams. The data copy runs in the background. Most of the real effort goes into discovery, planning, and getting people ready.

Large mailboxes and big file libraries take longer to copy, so the bulk copy starts well before switchover day. A delta sync then picks up anything new just before the cutover. That keeps the switch itself short, and your team keeps working in Outlook until the moment you change over. For a fuller breakdown, see how long a Google Workspace migration takes.

What are the steps in a Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace migration?

A well-run migration follows five stages: discovery, planning, migration, adoption, and support. Rushing the first two is the most common reason a project runs long.

1. Discovery. Inventory users, mailboxes, shared mailboxes, distribution lists, OneDrive and SharePoint data, Teams usage, DNS records, and any apps that sign in with Microsoft accounts.
2. Planning. Pick your Google Workspace edition, map each Microsoft item to its Google home, choose a switchover date, and write the communication plan.
3. Migration. Set up Google Workspace for your domain, create users and groups, run the bulk copy, run a delta sync, then change your MX records.
4. Adoption. Train people on Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and Meet. Help them set up phones and recreate rules and signatures.
5. Support. Fix the small issues that only show up once people start working, such as a missing calendar share or an old sharing link.

Our Google Workspace migration checklist walks through each stage in more detail.

What changes for your users day to day?

Gmail is the biggest change. It uses labels instead of folders, groups replies into conversations, and leans on search instead of filing. Outlook folders come across as labels, so mail is still organized, but the habits are different. Read what changes when you move from Outlook to Gmail before you plan training.

Files change too. Personal OneDrive content moves to My Drive. Team content belongs in shared drives, which the organization owns instead of one person. Meetings move to Google Meet, and team chat moves to Google Chat spaces. Teams chat history does not map directly into Google Chat, so decide early what history you need to keep.

Your team does not have to give up Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Drive can store, preview, and edit Office files, and you can convert them to Google formats when you want several people editing at once.

If some people want to stay in Outlook on Windows, Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook connects Outlook to their Google Workspace account. It is a reasonable bridge for people who need more time to adjust.

Which Google Workspace plan should you move to?

Most small and midsize teams choose between Business Starter, Business Standard, and Business Plus. All three are capped at 300 users. Prices are per user per month as of October 2026.

Business Plus adds Google Vault for retention and eDiscovery, which matters if you have record-keeping or legal hold duties. Flexible plans bill monthly with no commitment and cost about 20 percent more than annual plans.

For the feature side, read Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace for small business. For the money side, read comparing the cost of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace with your current Microsoft invoice in hand.

How does the email switchover work?

The switchover happens when you change your domain's MX records to point at Google, after the bulk copy is finished. Until that moment, mail keeps arriving in Microsoft 365 and your team keeps working as usual.

On switchover day you update the MX records at your DNS host. New mail starts arriving in Gmail as the change spreads. A delta sync then copies any messages that reached Microsoft 365 during that window. You also update SPF, DKIM, and DMARC so mail sent from your domain keeps reaching inboxes. Our guides to the MX record cutover and SPF, DKIM, and DMARC cover the details.

Shared mailboxes and distribution lists need their Google homes in place before you change MX records, or mail to those addresses can bounce.

Should you migrate yourself or use a partner?

You can migrate a small, simple Microsoft 365 setup yourself. Google Workspace includes a data migration service in the Admin console for basic email moves, and Google offers Google Workspace Migrate for larger Microsoft migrations. Both tools copy data well. You still handle DNS, shared mailboxes, permissions, phones, and user questions.

A partner makes sense when you have more than a handful of users, shared mailboxes, SharePoint sites, single sign-on, or a hard deadline. Our plans:

• Free. A self-service email migration tool for teams that want to run it themselves.
• Standard. A managed migration of email, contacts, calendars, and files, with delta sync and a weekday switchover.
• Premium. Everything in Standard plus a dedicated account manager, staged batches, Google Groups, Active Directory sync, SAML single sign-on, and a weekend switchover.

Every managed migration includes 14 days of support after switchover. Google Migrations is a service of Lingows, a Denver IT firm and Google Cloud Partner since 2013. Compare options on our pricing page.

When can you cancel Microsoft 365?

Cancel Microsoft 365 only after mail is arriving in Gmail, the final delta sync is done, users have confirmed their data, and you have exported anything you must retain. Check your renewal date and subscription terms early, because they shape your switchover date and how long you pay for both services.

Keep the Microsoft side in place until you have also cleaned up old DNS records and moved any apps that sign in with Microsoft accounts. Our guide on when to cancel Microsoft 365 after migrating lists every check.

When you are ready to scope your own move, see the Microsoft 365 migration page or contact us for a discovery call.