Gmail to Office 365 migration

Google Workspace is the rebranded and advanced version of G Suite. It's designed to help teams and businesses to work more efficiently and effectively. It includes all the core services such as Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Meet, Chat and more. Additionally, it also includes new features such as Google Workspace Essentials and Google Workspace Advanced, which provide additional security and compliance features, as well as tools for managing and analyzing data.

How is Office 365 different from Gmail and Google Workspace?

Before you migrate Google Workspace to Office 365, you must consider the differences between the two and how the email, apps and services that you are using in Google Workspace might be different in Office 365.

Office 365 is a subscription-based service provided by Microsoft that includes a range of productivity and collaboration tools, including email (Outlook), word processing (Word), spreadsheets (Excel), presentations (PowerPoint), and cloud storage (OneDrive). Office 365 also includes other services such as SharePoint for document management and collaboration, and Skype for Business for online meetings and instant messaging.

In contrast, Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite) is a cloud-based productivity suite from Google. It includes a range of apps such as Gmail for email, Google Calendar for scheduling, Google Drive for cloud storage, Google Docs for word processing, Google Sheets for spreadsheets, and Google Slides for presentations. It also includes other services such as Google Meet for video conferencing and Google Chat for instant messaging.

 Here is a comparison of Office 365 vs Google Workspace

What is the best way to migrate Gmail to Office 365?

EdbMails Gmail to Office 365 migration tool is the best application to migrate all your emails from Gmail to Office 365. You can migrate labels, files, attachments, emails and map the folders and mailboxes to Office 365. The tool enables you to migrate a single or multiple mailboxes with ease and supports secure modern authentication for Office 365. In addition to the Office 365 migration, you can also export your google emails to PST or migrate them to Live Exchange server. In this guide we walk you through the process of setting up Office 365, configuring Office 365, performing and testing the migration, and completing post-migration tasks.

I. G Suite to Office 365 migration checklist

Here is a detailed migration checklist for moving from G Suite (Google Workspace) to Office 365:

1. Plan the migration to Office 365
   • Identify the migration scope such as what data needs to be migrated
   • Establish a timeline and costs for the migration
   • Identify any potential roadblocks or issues that may arise during the migration
   • Create a detailed project plan that includes the steps necessary for the migration
2. Prepare the target Office 365 environment
   • Create and configure all mail accounts in Office 365
   • Ensure that all necessary permissions and access rights have been granted for users to access the data
   • Assign suitable licenses to users in Office 365
   • Create mail-enabled Public folders and enable the In-Place Archive
3. Set up and configure Office 365
   • Set up email routing in Office 365
   • Configure email policies and email archiving
   • Configure spam and malware protection
   • Configure email retention policies
4. Migrate Gmail to Microsoft 365
   • Use EdbMails to migrate all your emails, folders and mailboxes.
   • Import Gmail calendars and contacts to Office 365
   • Import other items such as Conversations and Chats
5. Post-migration tasks
   • Add MX records to direct emails to Office 365
   • Test the migration by sending and receiving emails
   • Monitor the migration for errors
   • Review the migration and make sure that it's working as expected.
   • Update users and stakeholders on the status of the migration
   • Train users on Office 365 and provide them the necessary assistance for the transition
   • Perform regular maintenance tasks, such as backing up data, configuring security settings, and troubleshooting issues.

II. Gmail to Office 365 migration prerequisites

Before you begin the migration operation, it's important to make sure that your system meets the requirements for Office 365. You will also need to determine the number of users that will be migrated and create a plan and schedule for the migration.

• Step 1: Determine the number of users and create an Office 365 migration plan
  • Before you begin the migration, determine how many user mailboxes you plan to migrate to Office 365. Based on this requirement, you can purchase a suitable Office 365 plan for your organization.
  • Create a plan and schedule for the migration such as migration start and end date, the number of users being migrated, and the specific data that will be migrated.
• Step 2: Enable two-step verification and create app password in Gmail
  1. For the email migration from G Suite / Google Workspace to Office 365, you will be using IMAP migration. As a result, you have to enable IMAP for Gmail and Google Workspace accounts.
  2. To connect Office 365 with Gmail, you must enable two-step verification and also create an app password for your account.
• Step 3: Evaluate the bandwidth and network requirements

  When migrating from Gmail to Office 365, it's important to take into account the bandwidth and network requirements of the migration operation. The amount of bandwidth and network resources required depends on the number of mailboxes being migrated, the size of the mailboxes, and the migration method being used.

  1. Connectivity: It's important to ensure that you have a stable connection to migrate all your emails between Gmail and Office 365. See networking roadmap for Office 365 which details the steps to plan and deploy your network for the migration.
  2. Internet bandwidth: The migration requires a reliable and fast internet connection to transfer the data from Google Workspace to Office 365. See bandwidth requirements for Office 365 migration and also consider the Gmail bandwidth limits at the source.
  3. Network latency: The network latency should be as low as possible. A latency of less than 150 ms is recommended. See how Microsoft 365 networking is different from IMAP servers.
  4. Firewall configuration: Make sure that your firewall is configured to allow traffic to and from Office 365 which includes ports that are used for Exchange and Azure AD Connect. See the list of worldwide endpoints for Office 365.
  5. Testing your network connection: With tools like Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer and Microsoft 365 network connectivity test tool, you can test your existing network.

   See best practices for network planning and improving migration performance.

  Note: If you have already configured your Office 365 tenant, you can directly skip to Step 7 in this section.

• Step 4: Choose a Microsoft 365 license option that suits your requirements

  Microsoft 365 is available as a cloud-based subscription service or as a one-time purchase of a perpetual license. Office 365 has different licensing plans each suited to different user requirements.

  It is recommended to thoroughly evaluate the Office 365 business plans and Office 365 enterprise plans to determine which one aligns with your organization's requirements. Alternatively, you can also sign up for a 30-day free trial of Office 365 and test the various plans before making a final decision.

• Step 5: Set up your target Office 365 tenant for the migration

  Setting up the target Office 365 for the migration involves creating the tenant and configuring it to receive the migrated data from Gmail.

  1. Create an Office 365 tenant: Plan for the tenant creation and deployment. See the tenant roadmap for Office 365.
  2. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center: Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center (https://admin.microsoft.com/) and sign in with your global administrator credentials.
  3. Customize the tenant settings: After the tenant is set up, you can configure and customize the settings such as email domains, language, and time zone to suit your organization's needs.
  4. Configure email clients and apps: If you want to install Office 365 apps and Outlook, see system requirements for Microsoft 365 and Office configuration support matrix. Because Office 365 is a cloud based solution, it is also important to learn where your Microsoft 365 customer data is stored.
  5. Set up Office 365 services: Besides email, you may want to set up additional services such as SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and OneNote.
  6. Establish data retention policies: With Office 365, you have the ability to retain data in accordance with compliance and legal requirements. Set up data retention policies to meet your organization's compliance needs, and if necessary configure retention policies for specific mailboxes or groups of users
• Step 6: Add and verify the custom domain on Office 365

  If you have a custom email domain from your hosting provider (such as GoDaddy, Cloudflare, AWS) to which you want to migrate and receive emails, you must add and verify the domain on Office 365. This will enable you to use your own domain name (such as example.com) for your email addresses and other Office 365 services.

   To set up your custom domain, follow these steps:

  1. Verify that you own the domain by adding a TXT record to your DNS configuration. If you have your domain registered with GoDaddy, follow the instructions to connect your DNS records at GoDaddy to Microsoft 365.
  2. Add a new domain to your Office 365 tenant. You can use an existing domain that you own or purchase a new one. The domain is used to access your Office 365 services.
  3. Update your DNS records to point to Office 365. This step is required to ensure that your email is delivered to the correct mailbox. You can also perform this step at the end after the migration is complete.
• Step 7: Create mailboxes and mail-enabled Public folders

  Before you migrate to Office 365, ensure that you create mailboxes for users in your organization and assign suitable licenses to them.

  1. Add users and assign licenses to Office 365 users
  2. Add several users at the same time to Office 365
  3. Assign Microsoft 365 licenses to user accounts

  If you want to migrate your Google emails to Office 365 Public folder, ensure that you create and configure Public folders and make them mail enabled on Office 365.

  1. Create Office 365 Public folder and assign mailbox user
  2. Enable In-Place Archive mailboxes in Office 365
• Step 8: Set the impersonation role on the source to the admin user

  Ensure that you set the following permissions to the admin account on the source and target server and that the mailboxes you migrate are not hidden from the address lists.

  1. On the source
     1. Google Cloud platform permissions
     2. View-Only Configuration - Run the cmdlet ApplicationImpersonation

  Setting impersonation rights in Office 365 is a simple process that can be done quickly using the Admin Center. Assign the Organization Management role group to the admin user in Exchange online. It is an elevated permission that is required to migrate Public folders.

• Step 9: Configure Office 365 to send and receive large messages

   Follow the steps to increase the message size on Office 365 to 150MB.