Moving Your Email From Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 Without Losing Messages

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: Moving Your Email From Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 Without Losing Messages. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

Moving your business email from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 requires careful planning to ensure no messages are lost and your team can continue working without interruption. This guide walks Australian small businesses through the process of migrating email, contacts, and calendars to Exchange Online, while setting up professional shared inboxes and improving email deliverability.

Pre-Migration Checklist

Before starting the migration, complete these preparation steps to avoid data loss and configuration errors.

1. Add and verify your domain in the Microsoft 365 admin centre.
2. Ensure you have administrator access to both the Google Workspace admin console and Microsoft 365.
3. Create user accounts in Microsoft 365 for every Google Workspace user and assign appropriate licenses.
4. Back up critical email data using Google Takeout or a third-party backup tool.
5. Lower the TTL (Time to Live) on your domain's MX records to 300 seconds at least 24 hours before switching.
6. Create an app password in Google Workspace or enable API access for the migration account.

Do not cancel your Google Workspace subscription until you have confirmed that all email, contacts, and calendars have successfully migrated to Microsoft 365.

Migrating Email, Contacts, and Calendars

Microsoft 365 includes built-in tools to migrate data from Google Workspace. For larger organisations, consider using a third-party migration service.

Using the Microsoft 365 Migration Tool

1. Sign in to the Exchange admin centre.
2. Navigate to Recipients > Migration.
3. Select + and choose Migrate to Exchange Online.
4. Select Google Workspace (Gmail) as the source.
5. Enter your Google Workspace administrator credentials and authorise Microsoft to access the data.
6. Select the users you want to migrate and choose whether to migrate email, contacts, and calendars.
7. Start the migration and monitor progress in the migration dashboard.

Creating Shared Mailboxes

Replace generic login accounts with proper Microsoft 365 shared mailboxes for addresses such as accounts@ and sales@.

1. In the Microsoft 365 admin centre, go to Teams & groups > Shared mailboxes.
2. Select Add a shared mailbox.
3. Enter the email address (for example, [email protected]) and a display name.
4. Select Save changes.
5. Select the new shared mailbox and choose Add members to grant staff access.
6. Assign Send as or Send on behalf permissions as required.

Configuring Professional Email Features

Centralised Email Signatures

Use Microsoft 365 transport rules or a third-party signature manager to apply consistent signatures across all user mailboxes.

1. Go to the Exchange admin centre.
2. Navigate to Mail flow > Rules.
3. Create a new rule to append a disclaimer or signature to outgoing messages.
4. Test the rule by sending an email to an external address.

Shared Calendars

1. In Outlook on the web, right-click My Calendars and select Add calendar.
2. Create a new calendar for shared business use.
3. Share the calendar with relevant staff and set appropriate permission levels.

Updating DNS and MX Records

Once migration is complete, update your domain's DNS records to direct email to Microsoft 365.

1. Log in to your domain registrar or DNS hosting provider.
2. Locate the MX records for your domain.
3. Replace existing MX records with the Microsoft 365 values provided in the admin centre.
4. Add the required SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to prevent your emails from landing in client junk folders.
5. Save changes and allow time for DNS propagation.

Changing MX records will interrupt email delivery during propagation. Schedule this change outside of business hours to minimise disruption.

Testing and Verification

1. Send test emails from Microsoft 365 to external addresses and check that they are not marked as spam.
2. Send test emails to shared mailboxes and confirm members can receive and send messages.
3. Verify that shared calendars are visible to authorised users.
4. Ask staff to check that their contacts and calendar events migrated correctly.
5. Test internal email flow between migrated users.

Keep Google Workspace active for at least two weeks after migration as a fallback in case any data was missed.

Troubleshooting

Emails Going to Junk Folders

If clients report your emails in their spam folder, verify that your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly configured. You can use the Microsoft 365 admin centre to run a connectivity analyser and check DNS records.

Missing Migrated Messages

If messages are missing after migration, check the migration dashboard for failed items. You may need to re-run the migration for affected users or restore from your pre-migration backup.

Shared Mailbox Access Issues

Ensure members have been added to the shared mailbox and that permissions have fully propagated. It can take up to 24 hours for new permissions to appear in Outlook.

If you encounter issues during your migration, contact your IT support provider for assistance.

Still Having Issues?