1. BitTitan Help Center
  2. Perform a Migration
  3. Google Workspace Migrations
  4. G Suite/Gmail and Google Groups Migrations

G Suite (IMAP) to Microsoft 365 Migration Guide

This is the migration guide for a mailbox from G Suite, using the IMAP endpoint, to Microsoft 365. This guide contains all the steps needed for your migration. Other useful resources and information are also linked or included.  

MigrationWiz

MigrationWiz is a migration tool, not a syncing tool. If changes are made at the source after migration, they will not sync to the destination, nor will changes made at the destination sync to the source. We do not have “live” monitoring of changes (as with a sync agent) and we cannot handle scenarios such as conflict resolution without user interaction.

MigrationWiz supports the capability to share migration projects across a Workgroup. When the Project Sharing feature is turned on, all Agents besides those who are Inactive can view all migrations projects. 

First migration?

We have created a guide on scoping, planning, and managing the migration process for your use. If this is your first migration, we recommend reading this guide carefully.

Prerequisites

It is important to highlight and meet the following prerequisites for a smooth migration project.

Licensing

We recommend that you purchase User Migration Bundle licenses for this migration scenario. User Migration Bundle licenses allow the performance of multiple migrations with a single license. For questions on licensing, visit MigrationWiz Licenses.

To use your license by following the next steps:

  1. Purchase Licenses.
  2. Create a Customer.
  3. Apply Licenses.
  4. Review Considerations.
Purchase Licenses Create a Customer Apply Licenses Considerations

Purchase licenses by following the steps below:

  1. Sign in to your BitTitan account. 
  2. In the top navigation bar, click Purchase.
  3. Click the Select button and choose User Migration Bundle licenses.
  4. Enter the number of licenses you want to purchase. Click Buy Now.
  5. Enter a Billing address if applicable.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Review the Order Summary and enter a payment method.
  8. Click Place Your Order.

Limitations

  • We are not able to support migrations with two-factor or multifactor authentication. 
  • App passwords are not supported for the Microsoft 365 endpoint. 
  • The maximum file size for migration through MigrationWiz varies by migration type and environment, but may never exceed 60GB.
  • Some item types are not migrated. Click the bar below to expand the full list of what item types are and are not migrated. We are constantly working to create a better migration experience for you, so these items may change.

Besides, you should consider the following points when performing a G Suite (IMAP) to Microsoft 365 Migration: 

  • When migrating from G Suite as a source, contacts in Contact Groups (which look like subfolders of the Contacts folder) will migrate to the top-level contacts folder on the destination. Folders will be created for each group but the contacts will not be sorted into those folders.
  • Calendars can have multiple Owners. An Owner is anyone with "Make changes and manage sharing" permissions, so shared calendars will be migrated to users with these permissions by default.

Important

All accounts being migrated must be in Active status in the tenant. Users that are set to a status of Inactive accounts cannot fully migrate and fail in the project.

Migrated Items

Please click the bars below to check the migrated and non-migrated items. We are constantly working to create a better migration experience for you so these items may change over time.

Which items are migrated?

Always migrated

  • Inbox.
  • Folders/Labels.
  • Email.
  • Muted Email (as regular email).
  • Contacts.
  • Calendars (including links for Google Hangouts within calendar meetings).
  • Calendar Notifications.

Links for Google Hangouts are a new default feature added to Google Meetings. Microsoft 365 does not have the corresponding property to map. Therefore, when migrating to Microsoft 365, the links for Google Hangouts are added to the beginning of the meeting description body text on Microsoft 365.

What items are not migrated?

Not Migrated in Any Instance

  • Calendar Reminders.
  • Appointments.
  • Google Spaces.
  • Google Spaces Chats.
  • Chat message attachments.
  • Google Groups for Business (including forums and collaborative inboxes).

Not Migrated As Source

  • Calendar Attachments.
  • Calendar Reminders.
  • Tasks.
  • Chats and chat history.
  • Google Categories (i.e., the Google category flags: Social, Promotions, Updates, Forums).
  • Email attachments that are links to Google Drive.
  • Some calendar colors.
  • Personal Folder and Calendar Permissions.
  • Mailbox Rules.
  • Automatic Replies (Out of Office Messages).

Important

All color category meta tags are transferred over, but Microsoft 365 does not have direct color mappings from Google G Suite, so certain colors do not get mapped over, thus the colors are not displayed in Microsoft 365 for the calendar entries.

Not Migrated As Destination

  • Calendar Attachments.
  • Exceptions of recurring appointments.
  • Google Groups for Business (including forums and collaborative inboxes).

With Google API Endpoint at Source

With this endpoint, all items listed above migrate as before. However, utilizing the API endpoint enables migration of the following items as well. The following items are not migrated via the IMAP endpoint. 

  • Google Categories (Category flags, i.e. Social, Promotions, Updates, Forums).
  • Snoozed and Scheduled emails - these are migrated like regular emails to custom destination labels. Their properties are not migrated.

For additional features and limitations, please visit MigrationWiz: Migrated and Not Migrated Items.

Which is the migration mapping?

Relationship fields do not migrate fully from Gmail. The mapping is as follows: 

Google contact field

Mapping in O365

Remarks

Content.content

Contact body

Description in the body

Sensitivity

Sensitivity

 

Priority

Importance

 

Initials

Initials

 

Nickname

NickName

 

Name.FullName

Subject

 

Name.FullName

FileAs

 

Name.GivenName

GivenName

 

Name.FamilyName

Surname

 

Name.NameSuffix

Generation

 

Name.AdditionalName

MiddleName

 

Organization (primary)

CompanyName

Also stores name, department, title and job descriptions

Organizations (non-primary)

Companies

Also stores name, department, title and job descriptions

Emails

EmailAddresses

Only first 3 are stored. Rest are stored in overflow properties.

IMs

ImAddresses

Only first 3 are stored. Rest are stored in overflow properties.

Phone numbers

PhoneNumbers

Types:

  • home

  • home fax

  • mobile

  • pager

  • work

  • work fax

  • other

If any number is already set, we append to overflow contact properties

Postal Addresses

Physical Addresses

Types:

  • home

  • work

  • other

If any address is already set, we append to overflow contact properties.

Also stores city, country or region, postal code, state and street

Events

Wedding Anniversary (only for anniversary)

Rest are stored in overflow properties

Relations (value = "assistant")

AssistantName

 

Relations (value = "child")

Children

 

Relations (value = "domestic-partner")

SpouseName

 

Relations (value = "manager")

Manager

 

Relations (value = "partner")

SpouseName

 

Relations (value = "spouse")

SpouseName

 

Relations (value = others)

Others stored in overflow properties

 

Mileage

Mileage

 

ContactPhotoInBytes

Attachments

 

User defined fields

All stored in overflow properties

 

Name.GivenNamePhonetics + Name.AdditionalNamePhonetics

Stored as extended property

 

Name.FamilyNamePhonetics

Stored as extended property

 

contactEntry.Name.NamePrefix

Stored as extended property

 

Birthday

Stored as extended property

 

Websites

Stored as extended property

 

Prepare the Source Environment

Recommended Actions

The following sections are recommended to ensure that the migration of all data is possible and to prevent failures.

Mailbox migration projects require that a G Suite administrator grant access to the BitTitan client ID and scopes listed in this article. 

  • Enabling access is required for both G Suite mailbox and Google Drive document migration projects.
  • Mailbox migration projects require that a G Suite administrator grant access to the BitTitan client ID and scopes listed in this article.
  • Document migration projects require that a G Suite Super administrator grant access to the BitTitan client ID and scopes listed in this article and enable the API access. The steps to do this are included at the bottom of this article.

Grant MigrationWiz OAuth 2.0 access to G Suite

BitTitan products use OAuth 2.0 to authenticate to G Suite and utilize the G Suite (IMAP) endpoint in MigrationWiz. This applies to both mailbox and document migration projects. To configure the OAuth access within your G Suite environment, follow the directions in this article.

Enabling access is required for both G Suite mailbox and Google Drive document migration projects. In order to access your G Suite data, it is necessary to add specifically allowed API scopes to the MigrationWiz project. 

Steps in the G Suite Admin Console

Complete these steps to grant BitTitan client ID access to the appropriate scopes:

  1. Go to https://admin.google.com and authenticate as a Super Administrator.
  2. In the admin console, go to Menu Google_Menu.png > Click Security > Access and data control > API controls> Manage Domain Wide Delegation.

    Warning

    If you do not see the security icon on your admin console home page, your account does not have the necessary rights to make these changes. 
    Google limits settings access and configuration to only G Suite Super Administrator accounts.
  3. Click Add New.
  4. Enter 113321175602709078332 into the Client ID field. 

    Important

    Make sure there are no leading or trailing spaces, as this may cause the error "URL ends with an invalid top-level domain name."
  5. Enter  the following groups of scopes into the OAuth Scopes (comma-delimited) field:
    • G Suite as the Source (read-only scopes):
      https://mail.google.com/, https://www.google.com/m8/feeds, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts.readonly, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar.readonly, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.group.readonly, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.user.readonly, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive, https://sites.google.com/feeds/, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.sharing, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.basic,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts.other.readonly 
  6. Click Authorize. 

The client's name is 113321175602709078332. This will grant BitTitan products access to the appropriate scopes.

Enable IMAP Access

Ensure IMAP access is enabled for all users. For details on how to check this, refer to the Google support article here.

Enable Folder Size Limits

Ensure the folder size limits on IMAP folders have been removed for all users. For each user:

  1. Click the gear icon.
  2. Click Settings.
  3. Select the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
  4. Select Folder Size Limits.
  5. Select the radio button for Do not limit the number of messages in an IMAP folder (default).

This is an end-user setting, which can only be set on a per-user basis. Therefore, we recommend that you send instructions to your end users to check this setting. 

Sample Communication to End Users

Action Required - Due Date XX/XX/XX We are preparing to migrate your environment. To ensure a seamless migration, certain end-user settings must be verified. Follow the directions below to remove the folder limits on your account migration. Failure to do so on time may result in lost items. G Suite has a setting that can limit the number of messages in an IMAP folder. If this is configured, this will restrict MigrationWiz so that it can only retrieve and migrate that number of messages from each folder.

  1. Log in to your Gmail account.
  2. Click on the gear icon in the upper right-hand side of the window, and choose Settings.
  3. Click on the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
  4. Under the IMAP Access heading, look for Folder Size Limits.
  5. Ensure that Do not limit the number of messages in an IMAP folder (default) is selected.

To further clarify the implications of this setting: If the limit has been set (e.g., to 1,000 as per the default suggestion), then if folders contain more than 1000 items, they will be truncated at 1000 items. This means that MigrationWiz will only be able to migrate 1000 emails from each folder. Thank you for your assistance. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact [Help Desk].

Export mailboxes to CSV file(s)

From the Google Admin portal:

  1. Click Users.
  2. Click ⁝ (3 vertical dots).
  3. Download Users.
  4. Download All Users.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Save.

Prepare the Destination Environment

Modern Authentication Requirements

The steps listed in the Required Permission for Performing M365 Mailbox and Archive Migrations article apply to both the source and destination tenant when they are Exchange Online, in regards to Exchange Web Services (EWS) in the mailbox, and archive mailbox. Use a Global Administrator for the configuration steps.

Please review the documentation before preparing the source.

Create an Administrator Account

Create an administrator account in Microsoft 365 to be used for migration or use the global admin account for the tenant. The administrator account must have full access to the user mailboxes, have the required API Permissions, or be granted impersonation rights.

We recommend adding the necessary API permissions to the Modern Authentication app you are using for your O365 mailbox or archive mailbox endpoint, to do so, follow the steps outlined in this guide. This is the suggested method by BitTitan.

However, you can still use the BitTitan impersonation approach but consider that this method will be deprecated soon since Microsoft is phasing out RBAC Application Impersonation in Exchange Online.

Export the User List to a CSV File

This can be used when bulk-adding users to your MigrationWiz project later. You can copy and paste the user list into the Source and Destination Email columns within your MigrationWiz project dashboard under Add > Bulk Add.

To export the user list:

  1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin portal.
  2. Click Users.
  3. Click Active Users.
  4. Click Export.
  5. Click Continue.

Be sure to save the CSV somewhere you can access it for upload later in the migration.

MigrationWiz Steps

Create a Mailbox Project

  1. Log in to MigrationWiz.
  2. Click the Go to My Projects button.
  3. Click the Create Project button.
  4. Select the Mailbox project type. 
  5. Click Next Step.
  6. Enter a Project name and select a Customer.
  7. Click Next Step.
  8. Select endpoints or follow the steps below to create new endpoints. 

Endpoints

Endpoints are now created through MigrationWiz, rather than through MSPComplete. The steps for this section outline how to create the endpoints in MigrationWiz.

If you are selecting an existing endpoint, keep in mind that only ten endpoints will show in the drop-down. If you have more than ten, you may need to search. Endpoint search is case and character-specific. For example, Cust0mer will not show up if the search is customer. We recommend keeping a list of endpoints you have created, along with any unique spellings or capitalization you may have used.

You may either use existing endpoints or create new ones. 

Create your Endpoints

Please review the following tabs to create your destination and source endpoints.

Source Endpoint Destination Endpoint

Create your source endpoint by following the next steps:

  1. Click Endpoints.
  2. Click Add Endpoint.
  3. Select G Suite (IMAP). 
  4. Enter the requested credentials.
  5. Click Add Endpoint. 

Application (client) ID, Directory (tenant) ID, and Client Secret

For Microsoft 365 Mailbox and Archive migrations, MigrationWiz adds the Application (client) ID, Directory (tenant) ID, and Client Secret fields.

While the Application (client) ID and the Directory (tenant) ID are mandatory, the Client Secret field is not. It will depend on the permissions of the user account that performs the migration. Please review the following information before the creation of your M365 endpoints.

For more information about how to get the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID values from the Application Registration, please review step 3 of this article.

Region of Destination Tenant

MigrationWiz displays a dropdown to select the Preferred Region of the Tenant at the destination endpoint. This value updates the Preferred Region of the Destination Tenant field in the project's Advanced Options, and vice versa. You will notice that both values are always the same.

The Region of Destination Tenant feature optimizes the migration performance and speed when choosing the region closest to the destination tenant.

Tip

You can find the region of your destination tenant directly in the Microsoft Entra admin center by going to Identity > Overview > Properties, and using the Country or region or the Data location.

Country or region.png

For more information on this topic, review this article.

Warning

If you do not complete this field you will not be able to save your project and the “This field cannot be left blank.” error will appear.

Endpoint Validation

Once the information has been provided for both, the source and destination endpoint, and the customer selects Save and Go to Summary, MigrationWiz performs an endpoint validation check.

This validation tests the administrator credentials entered into the project and the Modern Authentication setup only. If there is an issue, the screen redirects to the endpoint and provides an error message or flyout that can be selected for more information regarding the error.

Common Errors when Configuring Your Endpoint

For more information on the AADSTS700016, AADSTS90002, and ADDSTS50126 issues review the Common Errors Using Modern Authentication page.

Add Users

Add the user accounts that will be migrated to the project. MigrationWiz allows you to bulk import users into the system.

You may use Bulk Add, Quick Add, or add the accounts to the MSPComplete customer. 

Quick Add
This option allows you to add items one at a time. To do so, you only have to provide an email address if you entered administrative credentials when setting up the project. If you did not, enter the following user information:
  • An email address
  • Login name
  • Password
  • Mailbox status
Bulk Add

Bulk Add uses a CSV containing the source and destination email addresses for the users to add the users to the project. If migrating only a specific group from a tenant, we recommend using the Bulk Add option.

MigrationWiz allows you to bulk import mailboxes into the system.

To import one or more mailboxes:

  1. Sign in to your MigrationWiz account.
  2. Select the Project for which you want to perform the bulk import.
  3. Click Add.
  4. Click Bulk Add.
  5. Follow the instructions on the page.

Advanced Options

Advanced Options allow you to choose your notifications, filtering, maintenance, licensing, performance, and some configuration options.

Support Options are advanced configurations that make use of Powershell or code blocks to provide extra options or resources for your migration.

The following options are the most valuable for this migration scenario:

Support Tab

Recommended Options

The following options are most valuable for all G Suite migration scenarios:

  • StoreOverflowGooglePropertiesInNotes=1 

  • StoreOverflowGooglePropertiesInNotesPrefix="enter your text here" Replace "enter your text here" with your message.
  • SuppressReminderDays=X Replace "X" with a value from 1 to 365.

Default Options for Microsoft 365 Endpoints

By default, some fields are view-only. In other words, you cannot edit or remove them from the support options page. To edit them, you need to edit the source or destination endpoint of your project.

Among these default options, you can find ModernAuthClientIdExport, ModernAuthTenantIdExport, ModernAuthClientSecretExport, ModernAuthClientIdImport, ModernAuthTenantIdImport, and ModernAuthClientSecretImport. 

The support options above are required when configuring your endpoint.

Important

Keep in mind that the ModernAuthClientSecretExport and the ModernAuthClientSecretImport support options are text-masked.

Warning

You cannot update the default Advanced Options, in case you try to modify or add new ones the following message arises.
Duplicate Support Option.png

Source/Destination Tab

  • Set to use impersonation at the Destination. Checkmark the Use impersonation at Destination box. 

Filtering Tab

  • Under Filtering, add: (^All Mail$|^All Mail/) 

Run Verify Credentials

  1. ​Sign in to your MigrationWiz account​.
  2. Open the Project containing items you wish to validate.
  3. Select the items you wish to validate.
  4. Click on the Start button in your dashboard.
  5. Select Verify Credentials from the drop-down list.

Once complete, the results of the verification will be shown in the Status section.​ 

Notify Users

Notify users that a migration is occurring. Send an email to all users telling them the time and date of the migration. 

Run Migration

In the MigrationWiz interface:

Pre-Stage pass

  1. Select the users you wish to migrate.
  2. Click the Start button from the top.
  3. Select Pre-Stage Migration.
  4. Under the Migration Scheduling section, from the drop-down list, select 90 days ago.
  5. Click Start Migration.

MX Record Cutover

Once confirmed that the Pre-stage migration has been completed successfully. Log into the DNS provider's portal, and change the primary MX record to reflect the DNS settings for the destination M365 tenant.

Full pass

  1. Select the users.
  2. Click the Start button from the top.
  3. Select Full Migration.
  4. Click Start Migration.

Run Retry Errors

Look through the user list and click any red "failed migration" errors. Review the information and act accordingly.

If problems persist, contact Support.

Remove All Mail

  1. Remove the All Mail filter from Project Advanced Options, and run one final full migration pass.
  2. Under Project Advanced Options > Filtering section, delete: (^All Mail$|^All Mail/) 
  3. Select the users.
  4. Click the Start button from the top, and select Full Migration.
  5. Click Start Migration.

Request Statistics

Click the pie chart icon in the MigrationWiz dashboard to receive an email containing all the project migration statistics.

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