Google Workspace to Microsoft 365: a step-by-step migration plan

A Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 migration, step by step, runs in eight stages: take an inventory of Gmail, Drive, shared drives and calendars; plan licences; prepare the tenant and domain; pre-stage mail, calendars and contacts; move Drive to OneDrive and SharePoint; cut over the MX record; set up devices and train staff; and only then close Google Workspace. Copy data in the background first, so staff notice nothing until the agreed switch-over.

This plan is written for Kenyan organisations of any size, from a 15-person firm in Upper Hill to an NGO with field staff across several counties. It covers the prerequisites, the migration tools you can use, and the decisions that cause most of the trouble when they are left to the last weekend.

Before you start: prerequisites

You need four things in hand before any data moves: admin access to Google Workspace, an admin account in the new Microsoft 365 tenant, control of your domain’s DNS, and an agreed date for the switch-over. Missing any one of them is the most common reason a migration stalls.

• Google admin access. A super admin, or an admin who can create a Google Cloud project and service account and enable the Gmail, Calendar, Contacts and Drive APIs. Microsoft’s own tooling needs these permissions.
• DNS access. Many .co.ke and .or.ke domains sit with a local registrar or a former web developer, and nobody remembers the login. Recover it now.
• A decision maker. One named person who can approve the cut-over date and answer questions about who gets which mailbox.
• A staff message. A short note telling people what will change, when, and who to call on the first morning.

If you are still deciding whether to move at all, our comparison of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace sets out where each one fits, including the cases where staying on Google is the better choice.

The sections below explain each step in more detail, with the points that trip Kenyan organisations up most often.

Step 1: take an honest inventory

The inventory decides how long the project takes and what it costs, so count everything. Google Workspace hides a lot in places people forget: group addresses such as accounts@ that several people read, Drive folders owned by staff who left years ago, and calendars for a boardroom or a vehicle.

• Gmail: users, aliases, Google Groups used as shared inboxes, delegated mailboxes and mailbox sizes.
• Drive: each user’s My Drive, every shared drive, and files owned by suspended or departed users.
• Calendars: personal calendars, shared calendars and resource calendars for rooms or equipment.
• Everything else: Google Forms, Sites, Chat spaces and any third-party apps that sign in with Google, such as an accounting or HR system.

Use the inventory to clean up as well. A migration is the cheapest time to stop paying for an old intern’s mailbox or to archive a shared drive nobody has opened since 2019.

Step 2: plan licences around what people do

Choose licences by role, not one plan for everyone. Every plan you move mail into must include Exchange email, which rules out Microsoft 365 Apps for business on its own.

• Business Basic suits staff who work in the browser and on phones: email, Teams, web and mobile Office apps and 1 TB of OneDrive storage.
• Business Standard adds the desktop Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook apps, which matters for finance teams who live in Excel.
• Business Premium adds Intune device management, Defender for Business, conditional access and data loss prevention, for staff who handle client, patient or payroll data.
• The business plans cap at 300 users. Above that, look at E3 or E5.

Our guide to Microsoft 365 for small and medium businesses compares these plans, and current prices in KES are on our Microsoft 365 pricing page. Group addresses usually become shared mailboxes, which need no licence of their own.

Step 3: prepare the tenant and the domain

Build and secure the Microsoft 365 tenant before any data arrives. Verify the domain with the TXT record Microsoft gives you, create users with exactly the same addresses they use in Google, and turn on multifactor sign-in with the Microsoft Authenticator app.

Microsoft’s batch migration for Google Workspace has its own prerequisites. Its documentation asks you to create a subdomain that routes mail to Microsoft 365, a second subdomain that routes mail back to Google, and mail users for everyone who will move, and to confirm the Google admin can create the project and service account the tool needs (Microsoft Learn, checked 4 October 2026). Microsoft also recommends turning off mail retention and archiving policies during the copy, because they make items look as if they are missing.

Well before cut-over, lower the time-to-live on your MX record so the change spreads quickly when you make it.

Step 4: pre-stage mail, calendars and contacts

Pre-staging means copying the bulk of the data while Gmail is still live, so the final switch only moves what changed. Staff carry on as normal and notice nothing.

You have two main tool choices. Microsoft’s batch migration tool in the Exchange admin center moves mail, rules, calendars and contacts from Google Workspace. Microsoft lists what it does not move, including vacation and automatic reply settings, room bookings, shared calendars and event colours, and it sets a default per-message size limit that you can raise (Microsoft Learn, checked 4 October 2026).

At Priori we run most migrations with BitTitan MigrationWiz, a cloud migration service that handles Gmail mailboxes, calendars and contacts, and Google Drive and shared drives, in the same project. It copies data directly between the two clouds, moves users in batches and runs repeat passes so only new items copy at cut-over (BitTitan, checked 4 October 2026). For small, simple moves, Microsoft’s own tooling is often enough, and we use whichever fits.

Because the copy runs between datacentres, it does not use your office internet line, which matters if you share a single fibre connection across the building.

Step 5: move Drive to OneDrive and SharePoint

Personal files go to OneDrive and shared files go to SharePoint or Teams, not all into one place. A shared drive called “Finance” usually becomes a Finance team in Teams, with its files stored in the SharePoint site behind it.

Microsoft’s Migration Manager, found in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Setup and Migration resources, moves Google Drive files, metadata and permissions to OneDrive and SharePoint. Microsoft says a simplified Lite version is on by default for tenants with fewer than 300 licences, that file-level permissions and older file versions need explicit settings, and that some file types are unsupported (Microsoft Learn, checked 4 October 2026).

• Map every Google user to their Microsoft 365 account before you copy, or sharing links will break.
• Test a sample of Google Docs and Sheets after conversion, especially spreadsheets with formulas and scripts.
• Decide what to do with files owned by people who have left, before they are orphaned.

Step 6: cut over the MX record

The cut-over is the moment new email starts arriving in Microsoft 365 instead of Gmail. Everything before it is preparation, and everything after it is clean-up.

1. Freeze changes. Ask staff not to reorganise folders or Drive on the cut-over evening.
2. Switch DNS. Replace Google’s MX records with the Microsoft 365 record, and add Autodiscover, SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
3. Run the final pass. Once the change has spread, copy anything that landed in Gmail during the switch.
4. Test. Send mail in and out from outside the organisation, including from a Safaricom or Gmail address, and check calendars and shared mailboxes.

Step 7: set up devices and train staff

Staff judge the whole project by their first morning, so make it easy. Sign people in to Outlook, Teams and OneDrive on their laptops, and help them add their work account to the Outlook app on their phones. Our guide on setting up Microsoft 365 email on Android and iPhone walks through the phone part.

Google users need to unlearn a few habits. Labels become folders, links to Drive files become OneDrive and SharePoint links, and shared drives become Teams. Short, role-based sessions work better than one long presentation. Our training and advisory team runs these for staff and managers.

Step 8: decommission Google Workspace

Close Google only after mail has flowed cleanly into Microsoft 365 and users have confirmed their mail and files are complete. When you cancel, you lose access to whatever is still stored there.

• Export any data you must keep for legal or audit reasons, including Vault holds and records of staff who have left.
• Move third-party apps that used “Sign in with Google” to Microsoft sign-in.
• Remove leftover Google records from DNS, and reduce Google licences before the next renewal date.
• Record where your data now lives for your Data Protection Act 2019 documentation.

Then set up independent backup and a security baseline, because the data is now your responsibility in a new place. See our Microsoft 365 migration service for how we run the whole project with you.