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SharePoint Sites to SharePoint Sites Migration Guide

This article will guide you through the site migration from SharePoint Sites to SharePoint Sites (tenant to tenant).

You need to set up a Document Project and use the Flex Collaboration license to migrate SharePoint Online sites from one Microsoft 365 tenant to another. Each site is migrated as one line item, together with its subsites, document libraries, site-level content, metadata, versions and permissions. Only the Flex Collaboration license types can be utilized for this migration project.

Prerequisites

It is important to highlight the following prerequisites for a smooth migration project:

  • If using Application Permissions, you will need a Global Administrator to consent to the SharePoint Full Control App.
  • If using Delegated Permissions or Delegated Permissions w/Sensitivity Labels, review the requirements in the Using Delegated Permissions for OneDrive, SharePoint, SharePoint Sites, and Teams migrations article under Permission Requirements for SharePoint Sites.
  • Enough Flex Collaboration licenses must be available for the sites being migrated.

Important

You can use the site count and storage report in the SharePoint Admin Center (Active sites) to estimate how many licenses you need. Ensure that you do not include sites that are Teams enabled in your estimate.

Licensing

The Flex Collaboration License type is required for this type of migration. Please consider the following points before starting your migration:

  • The Shared Document license is not accepted for SharePoint Sites migrations.
  • Each license allows up to 100GB of data to be migrated per license per site.
  • If more than 100GB of data per Site is being migrated, purchase enough licenses to cover the total amount of data being migrated for the project. For example, if you have six sites and two have 200GB of data you must purchase eight licenses.
  • Ensure the following section in the Advanced Options > Licensing > Maximum number of licenses to consume per item is set for the largest site in your project. The default setting shown below "1", will only allow 100GB of data to be migrated per site in your project. Any sites with more than 100GB will stop once 100GB has been reached with a transfer limit message. To avoid this, set the number of licenses for the largest site you are migrating in your project. For example, if your largest site in your project is 150GB, set this value to "2", which will allow up to 200GB to be migrated per site with the available licenses you have.
    Licensing Example.png
ConsiderationsPurchase licenses

​​Licenses are released once payment has been received:

  • Licenses are available immediately upon payment if you purchase via credit card.
  • If you purchase via wire transfer (100+ licenses), the licenses will be available once payment is received and accepted.
  • We do not accept purchase orders because of processing overhead.

In both cases, you will be notified by email that payment has been accepted and licenses are available in your account upon notification.

For more information on licensing, including coupon redemption and other licensing types, see our Which Migration License Do I need? guide.

Limitations

The following are some limitations for SharePoint Sites to SharePoint Sites migrations. Some of them are an inheritance from the APIs used as well as the capabilities of the current destination.

  • The source tenant root site (for example, https://contoso.sharepoint.com in your source endpoint) cannot be migrated to the destination tenant root site and must be migrated to a different SharePoint site in the destination that is not the root site.

    Note

    Review the Autodiscover Sites section of this guide for more information.

  • The following sites are not listed by Autodiscover: Teams enabled SharePoint sites, the SharePoint Search Center, the Content Type Hub, personal OneDrive sites, and SharePoint Embedded containers (used by Loop, Copilot Pages and Designer).
  • Although supported, sites whose address ends in /search, /appcatalog or /contenttypehub are not discovered using Autodiscovery, so these sites need to be manually added using Quick Add or Bulk Add. (Quick Add and Bulk Add are outlined later in this guide).
  • External and guest users are not migrated in groups, site, library, item and page permissions, by design. Re-add external and guest permissions at the destination after the final migration pass. 
  • Permissions are re-synced on every pass. Permissions and group members added directly at the destination are removed on the next pass if they do not exist at the source.
  • Governance and policy settings are not migrated: retention policies, DLP, site-level sensitivity and label policy administration, audit and compliance settings, and external-sharing governance.
  • The root site logo, the header banner image, the site description and the time zone are not migrated for any site. Manual addition is required for them at the destination site.
  • Custom list items and views are copied only on the pass that creates the list at the destination. New or changed source items are not copied on later passes. It is not recommended to change any of these items after you start your migration and wait until your migration is completed and perform this task in the destination. (FAQ)
  • Multi-value managed metadata columns are not migrated in any case. Renamed or deleted terms at the source are not carried over to the destination. If you wish to rename or delete terms, do so after your migration is completed in the destination. (FAQ)
  • Existing destination columns are never updated. A column created by an earlier migration keeps its settings. 
  • Pictures in image columns larger than 25MB are skipped and reading stops at 200MB of pictures per library.
  • Lookup column values are set on the current version of each file only. Ratings are carried only partly, the average arrives, but "Number of Ratings" and "Rated By" may not match the source.
  • Files with a sensitivity label are skipped with a warning unless the project uses Delegate Permissions w/Sensitivity Label Support when setting up your source and destination endpoints for your project.

Migrated Items

In the following sections, you can find all the migrated items in a SharePoint Sites to SharePoint Sites migration besides the mapping migration.

Which items are migrated?
MigratedNot Migrated

MigrationWiz migrates the site and every subsite in scope. Each kind of content is a separate option on the Select what to migrate step, and all of them are selected by default.

  • Site Settings: Creates missing subsites (same template, title and language) and applies each subsite's logo.

  • Site Theme: Colour theme, header layout and emphasis, footer layout and visibility, mega menu and Quick Launch visibility.

  • Regional Settings: Locale, calendar, first day of week, work days and hours, and 24-hour time.

  • Site Features: The site features active on the source.

  • Content Types: Site columns, content types, document templates and the term store (term groups and term sets used by the site's columns).

  • Custom Lists: Generic, Calendar, Tasks, Discussion board and Project tasks lists, with their columns, views and items.

  • Folders & Files: Every document library in scope, with folders and files.

  • Metadata / Versioning: Column values (including managed metadata and image columns), file versions with their own Created By and Modified By, and each library's versioning and rating settings.

  • Permissions: SharePoint groups and their members, permission levels, and unique permissions on libraries, folders and files.

  • Site Permissions: Who has access to the site and each subsite, and whether each subsite inherits from its parent.

  • Site Navigation: Quick Launch and Top Link Bar, with links pointed at the destination.

  • Site Pages: Modern pages, page templates, permissions and the site's home page.

  • Link Resolution: A final pass that points links in navigation and pages at the destination.

  • Hub Association: Registers the destination as a hub site, or joins it to its destination hub.

  • Sensitivity labels (including sub-labels) on library files, when the project uses Delegate Permissions w/Sensitivity Label Support.

  • Pictures up to 25MB.

Important

The site's default Documents library is always migrated and can't be filtered out.

Prepare the Source Environment

SharePoint Sites Source Endpoint

This endpoint requires the source tenant URL (for example, https://contoso.sharepoint.com). The MigrationWiz application must be consented on the source tenant. 

Prerequisites

  • If using Application Permissions, you will need a Global Administrator to consent to the SharePoint Full Control App.

  • If using Delegated Permissions or Delegated Permissions w/Sensitivity Labels, review the requirements in the Using Delegated Permissions for OneDrive, SharePoint, SharePoint Sites, and Teams migrations article under Permission Requirements for SharePoint Sites.

    Note

    To migrate Sensitivity Labels, the Delegate Permissions w/Sensitivity Labels must be used in both the Source and Destination tenants.

Review the Source Sites

  1. Go to the SharePoint Admin Center and open the list of active sites.
  2. Note the sites to migrate and their storage size. Each site uses at least one Flex Collaboration license for up to 100GB of data. For any sites of more than 100GB of data, will require an additional Flex Collaboration license for every 100GB of data.
  3. Identify hub sites using the filtering options in the SharePoint Admin Center. Hub sites must be migrated before their member sites 

Prepare Destination Environment

Prerequisites

  • If using Application Permissions, you will need a Global Administrator to consent to the SharePoint Full Control App.

  • If using Delegated Permissions or Delegated Permissions w/Sensitivity Labels, review the requirements in the Using Delegated Permissions for OneDrive, SharePoint, SharePoint Sites, and Teams migrations article.

    Note

    To migrate Sensitivity Labels, the Delegate Permissions w/Sensitivity Labels must be used in both the Source and Destination tenants.

SharePoint Sites Destination Endpoint

Prepare the destination environment by following the steps below:

  1. Make a note of the destination tenant URL. Sites attached to the root destination tenant site do not need to exist. MigrationWiz creates it at the same path as it is shown in the root source tenant site. If you want to use an existing site, make a note of its URL as you will need to add those URLs to the project manually.
  2. If using Delegated Permissions and manually creating the destination SharePoint Sites, review the requirements in the Using Delegated Permissions for OneDrive, SharePoint, SharePoint Sites, and Teams migrations article under Permission Requirements for SharePoint Sites.
  3. Ensure all necessary users and groups are set up in the destination tenant. Users that cannot be found at the destination are skipped. Use the UserMapping Advanced Option if usernames or domains differ.

Sensitivity Labels

To keep Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels on library files, review the Migrating Sensitivity Labels with SharePoint Sites article to prepare the destination tenant before migrating.

MigrationWiz Steps

Important

If your migration includes hub sites, migrate the hub site first and then its member sites. Make sure to review the Performing a Migration steps later in the guide.

Set Up a Document Migration Project

Please follow these steps to perform a SharePoint Sites to SharePoint Sites migration.

Source Endpoint

  1. From the MigrationWiz dashboard, click Go To My Projects.
  2. Click Create Project.
  3. Select a Document Project migration type.
  4. Update the project information: add a Project Name, select a Customer from the drop-down or create a new one, then click Next Step.
  5. Click New.
  6. Enter a name in the Endpoint Name field.
  7. Select SharePoint Sites from the Endpoint Type drop-down menu.
  8. Enter the URL for the source SharePoint tenant (for example, https://contoso.sharepoint.com). This is not the SharePoint Admin Center URL.
  9. Click Add.

Destination Endpoint

  1. Click New.
  2. Enter a name in the Endpoint Name field.
  3. Select SharePoint Sites from the destination Endpoint Type drop-down menu.
  4. Enter the URL for the source SharePoint tenant (for example, https://contoso.sharepoint.com). This is not the SharePoint Admin Center URL. 
  5. Click Next Step.

Application Permissions for SharePoint Sites

Continue configuring your environment by selecting one of these application permissions options for the source and destination and following the steps to enable permission levels.

App-Based AuthenticationDelegated AuthenticationDelegated with Sensitivity Label Support

Important

Please note that a Global Administrator account is required to complete the consent process for App-based Authentication. This is the recommended option for the source, as Autodiscover lists every site in the tenant.

When using Application Permissions:

  1. Select the Use Application Permissions radio button.

  2. Fill the Tenant ID and the Migration Service Account fields.

    Important

    The Migration Service Account field under Permissions, can be filed with any user account that exists in the tenant, it is only used for backup domain discovery and does not require any licenses to be assigned in the tenant or any elevated permissions.

  3. Click on the Next Step button to finish setting up your SharePoint Sites tenant settings for your migration.
    SharePoint Sites Source App.png

Note

The information above can be found in the Endpoints Setting Guide to configure your Endpoints and Application Permissions for your migration.

Auto-Provisioning

MigrationWiz supports auto-provisioning of the SharePoint Site at the destination for this migration type. If the destination site does not exist, MigrationWiz creates it at the same path as the source site (for example, /sites/HR).

Add Sites

Add the sites that will be migrated, which are also referred to as items, to a project using one of the following options. Each site becomes one line item.

  • Autodiscover Items: This option lists the sites of the whole source tenant, including the root site (shown as /), so you can pick the ones to migrate. See the steps below.
  • Quick Add: This option allows you to add items one at a time. Provide the Site addresses for the source and destination, respectively (for example, https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/HR).
    Quick Add SharePoint Sites.png
  • Bulk Add: This option allows many Sites to be added to the project via the CSV template. The template has two columns, Source URL and Destination URL. For more information regarding this topic, please review the Bulk Add section of the Advanced Options & General Options article.

In any case, go to your project dashboard, click Add, and select Autodiscover Items, Quick Add or Bulk Add.

Important

When completing the source and destination sites fields, please follow the syntax MigrationWiz suggests. In Quick Add and Bulk Add, the tenant comes from the endpoint and only the site path is kept. A root URL with no site path is not accepted.

Autodiscover Sites

  1. Open the project and go to Add > Autodiscover Items. On an empty project, use the Autodiscover Items button.
  2. Click Start Autodiscover.
    Start Autodiscover.png
  3. Wait for the run in Discovery History to show Completed. The Discovered column shows the number of sites.
    Autodiscover History.png
  4. Choose one of these options:
    • Pick sites: In Discovered SharePoint Sites, select the sites you want. All sites start selected except those marked Already added. Use Search by name to find a site. While a search is active, only the sites shown are imported. Click Import Items.
    • Import everything: Click Import Items on the run's row in Discovery History. This imports every site from that run, including the App Catalog.
    • Download the list: Click the download icon to get the CSV, edit it, and upload it through Bulk Add.
  5. Each site becomes one line item. To send a site to a different destination, open the line item and change the destination SharePoint Site field. A plain name such as HR2 is saved as /sites/HR2.

Important

When using autodiscover, the tenant root SharePoint site for the source and destination tenant will show as / in the UI. You can export from the source root SharePoint site but importing to the destination root SharePoint site is not supported. If you intend to export the source root SharePoint site document libraries, you must edit the / entry for the root SharePoint under Destination SharePoint Sites to point to a new site.

Autodiscover Important.png

To edit the destination site URL for single line items after they have already been added to the project, click on the pencil icon to the far-right side of the line item in the UI:

Autodiscover Important Edit Icon.png

Add new destination site URL in the Destination: SharePoint Sites field using the example format shown.

Root Source SharePoint Sites.png 

Filter Subsites and Libraries (Optional)

Use this option to migrate only part of a site, for example only the subsites and libraries that belong to a business unit being divested. Without a filter, the whole site is migrated.

  1. In the project's line items, click the filter icon on the site's row (Filter subsites and libraries).
    Filter Sites.png
  2. Unselect the subsites and libraries that should not be migrated. The Documents library is always selected and can't be unselected.
    Filter Subsites.png
  3. (Optional) To leave out folders inside a library, open Advanced Options on that library and enter a pattern in Filter Folders (RegEx), for example ^Archive.
    Filter Folder RegEx.png
  4. Click Save Filter.

To undo the filter, open the panel again, click Reset (Select All), then Save Filter.

Advanced Options

Support Tab

Recommended Options

The following options are most valuable for this migration scenario:

  • UserMapping="source@domain.com->destination@domain.com" Maps users whose addresses differ between tenants. A whole domain can be mapped too, for example UserMapping="@contoso.com->@fabrikam.com". The mapping applies to permissions, Created By, Modified By and Person columns.
  • DestinationThemeName=(theme) Applies a built-in SharePoint theme at the destination when the source has no custom color theme to copy. Enter a one-word theme name, for example Teal, Blue or Gray.

Licensing Tab

  • Maximum number of licenses to consume per item: Set a value higher than 1 for sites with more than 100GB of data. Otherwise, the migration stops at 100GB with the status Transfer Limit Reached.

Source/Destination Tab

  • Document versions to migrate (including current version): Leave it empty to migrate all versions of each file. Enter a number to migrate up to that many versions, counting the current one.

Verify Credentials

  1. Open the project containing the items you wish to validate.
  2. Select the line items to validate.
  3. Click the Start button on your dashboard.
  4. Select Verify Credentials from the drop-down list.
  5. Once complete, select the Status section and view the verification results.

Performing a Migration

Please consider the following order when performing your migration.

  1. Make sure to create your sites in the destination first.
    Site Creation.png

    Note

    If you are manually creating the destination sites, it is recommended to create them at least 24 hours before starting your migration.

  2. Migrate the hub sites first (if any).
    • If the destination hub does not exist yet, the member site gets a warning and joins the hub on its next pass.

  3. Migrate the remaining sites.
    Migrate Data Sites.png

     To do so, please consider the following information.

    • Select the line items and click Start.

    • On Select what to migrate, keep the options you need selected: Folders & Files, Metadata, Versioning, Permissions and the site-level options (Site Settings, Site Theme, Regional Settings, Site Features, Content Types, Custom Lists, Site Permissions, Site Navigation, Site Pages, Link Resolution and Hub Association). All are selected by default.

      Note

      When migrating your site theme, please make sure to review the advanced options section to use DestinationThemeName=(theme).

    • Metadata and Versioning must be migrated along with Folders & Files. Keep Permissions selected when using Site Permissions, because it creates the groups.
    • Keep Site Settings selected unless the subsites already exist at the destination.
    • Select Remember my selection for this Project to keep the choice for later passes.
  4. Site-level content is applied to the root site first, then to each subsite, parents before children. Permissions, site permissions, navigation, pages, link resolution and hub association run after the files. 

The Edit, Filter and Delete icons on a line item are disabled while its migration is in progress.

Run Retry Errors

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

Most skipped or failed items are reported in the line item's warnings with the site, subsite, list, page or link name. Column, term store and metadata messages are reported under the Columns folder.

If the issues persist, contact Support.

Multi-pass Migration

On each pass, MigrationWiz re-applies site-level content for a site or subsite only if it changed at the source. Steps that did not finish in the previous pass (for example, a subsite, feature, content type, navigation, site permissions or hub step) are tried again.

Files are handled separately in a multi-pass situation. A file that was already migrated is sent again when it was changed at the source after the previous pass started. Permissions are compared with the source on every pass for every item, including files that did not change.

For more information on the behavior on multi-passes, refer to the SharePoint Sites Migrations -  Multipass Behavior article.

Considerations

Keep in mind the following points when performing a multi-pass migration from SharePoint Sites to SharePoint Sites.

  • Permissions are brought in line with the source on every pass: missing permissions are added, changed ones are updated, ones removed at the source are removed, and inheritance is restored. Permissions added only at the destination are removed. Make permission changes at the source until the last pass.
  • When navigation changes at the source, the destination navigation is cleared and rebuilt, so manual edits to it are lost.
  • When a site's pages change at the source, its pages are written again and overwrite the destination copies.
  • Custom list items and views are copied only on the pass that creates the list at the destination. To copy the items again, delete the list at the destination and run the migration again.
  • Library version limits and draft visibility are reset to match the source on every pass. Versioning is never switched off at the destination.
  • On later passes, columns with a default value, unique values or validation behave like normal uploads: new files that are empty in the column get the default, and files that break the unique values or validation setting are refused.
  • Warnings on list items, pages, the color theme, the time zone or the term store are not retried unless the source changes.

Post Migration Steps

Complete the Manual Configuration (should we include this)

The following items must be set manually at the destination:

  • Root site logo and header banner image.
  • Time zone, in Site Settings > Regional Settings.
  • Page templates on destinations where they can't be created.
  • External and guest access, re-added after the final pass.
  • Governance and policy settings (retention, DLP, labels, audit, external sharing).
  • Web parts that depend on the source tenant (custom SPFx parts, list connections), which arrive as placeholders.
  • Navigation links that could not be resolved, in Site Settings > Navigation.

Remove the Authentication App

You can remove the Authentication App in Entra Center.

  1. Sign in to Microsoft Entra admin center.
  2. Select Microsoft Entra ID.
  3. Go to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications, in the left bar of the window.

  4. In the Manage section, select All applications, look for the application permission you configured (MigrationWiz-SharePoint-Delegated or MigrationWiz-SharePoint-FullControl), and select it. 

  5. Go to Manage > Properties and select Delete from the properties bar. Repeat on both the source and destination tenants.

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