How to Migrate from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365: A Practical Guide

We have migrated dozens of businesses from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365. Some went smoothly. Some were painful. The difference almost always comes down to planning. This guide walks through the entire process — from deciding to switch through decommissioning your Google Workspace tenant. It is based on what actually works in real migrations, not what the vendor documentation says should work.

Why Businesses Switch to Microsoft 365

The most common reasons we see Utah businesses move from Google to Microsoft: Desktop applications: Google’s web-only approach works until it does not. Businesses that need full-featured Excel (macros, complex formulas, pivot tables), PowerPoint, or Access need the desktop apps that come with Microsoft 365. Intune and device management: Microsoft Intune lets you manage laptops, phones, and tablets from one console. Google’s endpoint management is limited by comparison, especially for Windows devices. Security and compliance: Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes Defender for Office 365, DLP policies, conditional access, and compliance tools that Google Workspace charges extra for or simply does not offer. Integration with Windows environments: If your business runs Windows PCs (most do), Microsoft 365 with Azure AD/Entra ID provides seamless authentication, device management, and policy enforcement that Google cannot match. Industry compliance: Healthcare (HIPAA), financial services, and government contractors often find Microsoft’s compliance certifications and tools more comprehensive than Google’s offerings.

Pre-Migration Planning

This phase takes the longest and matters the most. Before you migrate anything, inventory everything: Users and licenses: List every user, their current Google Workspace license tier, and what Microsoft 365 license they need. Map Google Workspace Business Standard to Microsoft 365 Business Standard, and so on. Email aliases: Document every email alias on every account. These need to be recreated in Microsoft 365 before you cut over DNS. Distribution groups and shared mailboxes: Google Groups used as mailing lists need to become distribution groups or shared mailboxes in Microsoft 365. Shared Drives: Map which Google Shared Drives go to which SharePoint sites or Teams. This is a critical decision — get it wrong and your file organization will be a mess. Third-party app integrations: Any app that authenticates through Google (CRM, project management, etc.) needs to be reconfigured for Microsoft 365 authentication.

Choosing a Migration Tool

You have three main options: Microsoft’s native migration tool: Free, built into the Exchange admin center. Works for basic email migrations but struggles with large mailboxes, shared drives, and calendar details. Fine for a five-person office with small mailboxes. Not recommended for anything more complex. BitTitan MigrationWiz: Our preferred tool for most migrations. Handles email, calendar, contacts, and Drive-to-OneDrive migrations reliably. Per-user licensing keeps costs predictable. Good error reporting and retry logic. Typically runs $12-15 per user per migration type. SkyKick: Similar to MigrationWiz with some additional automation features. Slightly higher cost but includes a migration dashboard that non-technical stakeholders find useful. Good for MSPs managing multiple migrations. For most Utah businesses under 100 users, BitTitan MigrationWiz is the sweet spot of cost, reliability, and features.

What Migrates — and What Does Not

Migrates well: Email, calendar events, and contacts move cleanly. Google Drive files convert to OneDrive with folder structure preserved. Most file formats transfer without issues — Google Docs become Word documents, Sheets become Excel files, Slides become PowerPoint. Migrates with caveats: Google Docs with heavy commenting and suggestion history lose some formatting. Shared Drive permissions need to be manually recreated in SharePoint. Calendar events with Google Meet links still point to Google Meet — they will not automatically become Teams meetings. Does not migrate: Google Forms, Google Sites, Google Keep notes, Google Chat history, and Google Currents content have no direct Microsoft equivalent or migration path. These need to be manually exported or recreated. If your business relies heavily on Google Forms, plan to rebuild them in Microsoft Forms before cutover.

The Step-by-Step Migration Process

Week 1: Set up and pre-stage Set up your Microsoft 365 tenant and configure your custom domain (without changing DNS yet). Provision user accounts and assign licenses. Configure security defaults, conditional access policies, and MFA. Set up SharePoint sites that will receive Shared Drive content. Week 2: Begin pre-migration Start the initial data migration using your chosen tool. This copies all existing email, calendar, and Drive data to Microsoft 365 while users continue working in Google. This pass can take several days for large mailboxes. Monitor the migration dashboard for errors and address them. Week 3: Prepare for cutover Train users on Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint. Prepare DNS records — have your new MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records ready to publish but do not publish them yet. Run a delta sync to catch up any new data since the initial migration. Test email flow by sending test messages to the new Microsoft 365 mailboxes directly. Week 4: DNS cutover and validation This is the critical day. Schedule it for a weekend or evening when email volume is lowest. Update MX records to point to Microsoft 365. Update SPF record to include Microsoft’s servers. Configure DKIM signing in Microsoft 365. Verify DMARC policy is correct. Run a final delta sync to catch the last few hours of data. DNS propagation typically takes 1-4 hours, during which some mail goes to Google and some to Microsoft. This is normal and expected — both systems have the data, so nothing is lost. After cutover: validate everything Send test emails to and from external addresses. Verify calendar sharing works. Confirm shared mailboxes and distribution groups receive mail. Check that mobile devices have updated to the new configuration. Verify all OneDrive and SharePoint files are accessible.

The DNS Details That Matter

Getting DNS wrong breaks email. Here is exactly what needs to change: MX record: Change from Google’s servers (ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM) to Microsoft’s (your-domain.mail.protection.outlook.com). Set priority to 0. SPF record: Update to include “include:spf.protection.outlook.com” and remove Google’s SPF include. Keep any other legitimate senders in the record. DKIM: Generate DKIM keys in the Microsoft 365 admin center and publish the CNAME records. Enable DKIM signing. DMARC: Keep your existing DMARC policy. If you did not have one, add one: “v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@yourdomain.com” Autodiscover: Add the autodiscover CNAME record so Outlook clients can automatically configure themselves.

User Training: The Biggest Challenge

Technical migration is the easy part. Getting humans to change their workflow is hard. People who have used Gmail for years know exactly where everything is. Moving them to Outlook is disorienting, even though the functionality is comparable or better. Here is what helps: Schedule hands-on training sessions — not webinars, actual sit-down sessions where people use the new tools. Create a quick-reference guide covering the top 10 things people do daily: send email, search email, share files, schedule meetings, join video calls. Appoint “champions” in each department who get trained first and help their coworkers. Keep Google Workspace active (read-only) for 30 days after cutover so people can reference old content.

Common Pitfalls

Not enough licenses: Microsoft 365 licensing is complex. Make sure you have the right license tier for each user before migration day. Forgetting aliases: If jane@company.com also receives mail at j.smith@company.com, that alias needs to exist in Microsoft 365 before DNS cutover or those emails bounce. Shared Drive permissions: Google Shared Drive permissions do not map one-to-one to SharePoint. Plan this manually. Mobile device reconfiguration: Every phone and tablet needs to remove the Google account and add the Microsoft 365 account. For businesses with Intune, this can be automated. Without Intune, it is a manual process for each device.

Post-Migration: Decommission Google Properly

Do not delete your Google Workspace tenant immediately. Keep it active (you can downgrade to the cheapest tier) for at least 30-60 days. This gives you a safety net if anything was missed. After you confirm everything is in Microsoft 365, export any remaining data using Google Takeout, then cancel the subscription. Migrating from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 is a project that rewards careful planning. If your Utah business is considering the switch, Brivy IT has done this migration many times and can handle the entire process — from planning through post-migration support.