Introduction
This migration guide will walk through the complete setup and migration process for a G Suite (IMAP) to G Suite (IMAP) migration. There are a number of additional tools and resources that will also be helpful for this process. These are linked throughout the migration guide.
First migration?
If this is your first time performing a migration, we have created a Migration Planning & Strategy Guide to walk you through planning, set-up, and general migration best practices.
Limitations
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.
We are not able to support migrations with two-factor or multifactor authentication.
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.
Migrated
- Inbox
- Folders/Labels
- 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 Meeting. Microsoft 365 doesn't 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.
Limitations
- 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.
Not Migrated in Any Instance
- Calendar Reminders
- Google Spaces
- Google Spaces Chats
- Appointments
- 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
Note: All color category meta tags are transferred over, but Microsoft 365 does not have direct color mappings from Google G Suite, and 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.
Migrated
- 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.
G Suite specifics
OAuth administrative credentials will not function properly with G Suite for Business Legacy free accounts, G Suite Legacy free accounts, or Google Apps Legacy free accounts. Unfortunately, migration of Google Legacy free accounts is not supported. For additional G Suite specific details, see our Gmail/G Suite Migration FAQs article.
Important: Migrating from a G Suite/Gmail endpoint requires an administrator email address which matches the end user domain. All accounts being migrated must be in Active status in the tenant. Users that are set to a status of Inactive will not be able to fully migrate and will fail in the project.
Preparing the Source
G Suite requires the use of OAuth 2.0 for migrations. The steps to set this up are explained below for Source preparation. OAuth 2.0 OR Google API may be used for the Destination.
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 is applicable to both mailbox and document migration projects. In order to obtain access to your G Suite data, it is necessary to add specifically allowed API scopes to the MigrationWiz project. 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.
To configure the OAuth access within your G Suite environment, follow the directions here: OAuth Configuration
Create users on G Suite
Google provides clear, step-by-step guidance for this project. Follow these steps and then move to the next step listed below.
Set Authentication
OAuth 2.0 Steps
BitTitan products use OAuth 2.0 to authenticate to G Suite and utilize the G Suite (IMAP) endpoint in MigrationWiz. This is applicable to both mailbox and document migration projects. In order to obtain access to your G Suite data, it is necessary to add specifically allowed API scopes to the MigrationWiz project.
Notes:
- These steps must be followed whenever there is a migration project either to or from G Suite that will utilize the G Suite (IMAP) endpoint. This is currently required for all Google as Source projects. 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.
Steps in the G Suite Admin Console
Complete these steps to grant BitTitan client ID access to the appropriate scopes:
- Go to https://admin.google.com and authenticate as a Super Administrator.
- Click Security. If you do not see the security icon on your admin console home page, you do not have the necessary rights on your account to make these changes. Request Super Administrator access from the customer to implement these changes.
- Click Advanced settings. Google limits accessing and changing this setting to only G Suite Super Administrator accounts.
- You will now have one of two options, depending on whether your tenant has been updated to the new Google API or not.
-
Old Google Tenant:
- Go to the G Suite admin page at google.com
- Click on Security
- Click on Advanced Settings
- Click Manage API Client Access
OR If your account shows the latest UI updates from Google:
- Go to the G Suite admin page at google.com
- Click on Security
- Click API Controls
- Under ‘Domain-wide delegation’, click Manage domain-wide delegation
- On the Manage domain-wide delegation page, click Add new
- Click MANAGE DOMAIN WIDE DELEGATION.
- Click Add New.
- Enter 113321175602709078332 into the Client ID field.
- Enter the following groups of scopes into the OAuth Scopes (comma-delimited) field. Note that these scopes are for the source only. The destination scopes are found below.
-
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
-
G Suite as the Source (read-only scopes):
- Click Authorize.
- The client name is 113321175602709078332 (make sure there are no leading or trailing spaces, as this may cause the error "URL ends with an invalid top-level domain name."). This will grant BitTitan products access to the appropriate scopes.
More than one domain?
If you are migrating from multiple domains, repeat these steps for each domain.
Enable IMAP
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:
- Click the gear icon
- Click Settings
- Select Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab
- Select Folder Size Limits
- 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.
Export mailboxes to CSV file(s)
From the Google Admin portal:
- Click Users
- Click ⁝ (3 vertical dots)
- Download Users
- Download All Users
- Click OK
- Save
Preparing the Destination
The steps for preparing the destination are identical to the steps for preparing the source, with the exception of the scopes. Follow the directions above to set up your destination, but substitute the following block of scopes for the source scopes above, then continue setting up your destination according to the Prepare the Source instructions.
G Suite as the Destination (full scopes):
https://mail.google.com/, https://www.google.com/m8/feeds, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts.readonly, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.group, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.user, 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
Purchase and Apply UMB Licenses
Licenses are required to run a migration project in MigrationWiz. To obtain license pricing information, or to purchase licenses, click the Purchase button in the top of your MSPComplete or MigrationWiz dashboard.
Payment: We accept credit cards, and wire transfer in certain situations.
- When purchasing with a credit card, payment is immediately processed during checkout. If successful, licenses are granted to your account instantly.
- Wire transfers are available for purchases of 100 or more licenses. If you are purchasing at least 100 licenses, you will be presented an option to purchase via wire transfer during checkout. A wire transfer checkout will generate an invoice with wiring information for your accounts payable department and bank. Once the funds are received by our system, the licenses are granted to your account immediately.
For this project type it is recommended to use our User Migration Bundle licenses.
- These licenses enable you to perform multiple migrations of User mailboxes, documents, and in-place archives, and allows the use of DeploymentPro to perform post-migration Outlook email profile configuration.
- Further information on User Migration Bundle Licenses:
- User Migration Bundle Licenses have unlimited data available per license.
- User Migration Bundle Licenses are applied to the customer's users, for whom you'll be performing migrations, and are valid for one year.
- Read the Apply User Migration Bundle Licenses to the Customer's Users article for more information about how to apply the licenses to Users for migrations.
Set the Endpoints
For the Source endpoint:
- Click on Endpoints
- Add Endpoint
- Enter endpoint name
- For endpoint type, select G Suite/Gmail.
- Enter Administrative email address. This is the account that has admin access level to the Google admin portal.
Stop!
It is necessary to add ALL domains that will be migrated from. This means that if there are users in one project with domain names Sourcedomain.com and Destinationdomain.com, then it is important to ensure that both of these are added under Your Domains when creating the endpoints. When you add a domain, you need to click on the "+" button.
For the Destination endpoint:
- Click on Endpoints
- Add Endpoint
- Enter endpoint name
- or endpoint type, select G Suite/Gmail.
- It is necessary to add ALL domains that will be migrated to. This means that if there are users in one project with domain names Sourcedomain.com and Destinationdomain.com, then it is important to ensure that both of these are added under Your Domains when creating the endpoints. When you add a domain, you need to click on the "+" button.
- Enter Administrative email address. This is the account that has admin access level to the Google admin portal.
Set the Project Advanced and Support Options
The following options are the most valuable for this migration scenario:
- Under Filtering, add:
(^All Mail$|^All Mail/)
- This will filter out the All Mail label from your migration passes. It will also speed up your migration passes.
- You will remove this folder filter before performing your final migration pass. These steps are included later in this section.
- Set the Maximum concurrent migrations value.
- The default value is 100. For cloud to cloud migrations, this value can be set to a very high number, such as 500, because both the Source and Destination environments can handle a large number of concurrent migrations.
- Under Support/Support options, add:
StoreOverflowGooglePropertiesInNotes=1
-
StoreOverflowGooglePropertiesInNotesPrefix="enter your text here"
Launch the Migration
The following sections will guide you through setting up and launching your migration. Each header is one step, with its component steps below. Follow these steps in order, and read the notes for important information about dependencies or best practices.
Run Verify Credentials
- Open the Project containing items you wish to validate.
- Select the items you wish to validate.
- Click on the Start button in your dashboard.
- Select Verify Credentials from the drop-down list.
- Once complete, the results of the verification will be shown in the Status section.
Notify Users
Send out the final notification that the migration is beginning. Include when the migration will start, expected duration, any usage instructions during migration, and any expected steps or notifications for the post-migration timeline.
If using DeploymentPro, refer to this article for some sample text and screen shots that can be included in this email.
Pre-Stage Pass
- Select the users
- Click the Start button from the top, and select Pre-Stage Migration
- Under the Migration Scheduling section, from the drop-down list, select 90 days ago
- Click Start Migration.
MX Record Cutover
Change over MX records on the DNS provider's portal. Also, include the AutoDiscover (CName) setting. If Mail Coexistence if Required
If mail coexistence is required, you must set up mail forwards against those user accounts that are in the migration batches. Google documentation explains how: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10957
If you are migrating in batches, you will not be cutting over the MX records until your final batch of users has been migrated.
Run Full (Delta) Pass Migration
- Select the users – you may either select individual users, or select all users in a project by clicking the checkbox to the left of Source Email.
- Click the Start button from the top
- Select Full Migration. If you want to delay your migration, then select the checkbox marked "Automatically start the migration at", and enter the date and time to have the migration start. To start a migration immediately, you do not need to select the scheduling option.
- Click Start Migration.
Run Retry Errors
Each error logged represents an item that was not migrated. MigrationWiz contains a mode in which you can resubmit the migration to retry failed items. This mode of operation is always free of charge. You may only submit mailboxes in this mode only if they satisfy all of the following conditions:
- The last migration completed successfully.
- The mailbox contains at least one error.
If your mailbox does not satisfy these conditions, you will receive a warning when submitting the migration in this mode and your request will not be fulfilled.
To submit one or more mailboxes in retry mode, perform the following steps:
- Click the Go To My Projects button.
- Select the project that contains the mailboxes that you want to retry.
- Select the mailboxes that have migration errors.
- Click on the Start button.
- Select Retry Errors from the menu.
- Click the Retry Errors button.
When errors are repaired, they will disappear from the error log. Some errors may not disappear if the Source item was not reprocessed (due to filters, for example), has been deleted or moved, or if the item failed again.
Run Final Full Migration Pass
- Under Project Advanced Options, navigate to filtering section
- Delete:
(^All Mail$|^All Mail/)
- Select the users
- Click the Start button from the top, select Full Migration
- Click Start Migration
Post Migration
Click the bar chart icon in the MigrationWiz dashboard to receive an email containing all the project migration statistics.