Microsoft 365 tenant-to-tenant migration with ShareGate

Wondering how to transfer Microsoft 365 content after a merger or acquisition? We explain how ShareGate helps move SharePoint and OneDrive content in a Microsoft 365 tenant-to-tenant migration.

You did it! You made the move to Microsoft 365! You’re ready to settle down and stay awhile. Until one day, your boss knocks on your door and says the company is merging domains following a recent acquisition. Luckily, the other company’s intranet is also hosted in Microsoft 365. But what happens next?

The thought of a second migration might be daunting—but there’s no need for fear with ShareGate here! Our handy migration tool can also help you easily accomplish a tenant to tenant migration —something that’s especially useful in the context of a business merger or acquisition.

In this article, we walk you through the process step-by-step!

Preparing for your Microsoft 365 tenant-to-tenant migration

Like any other migration, the first thing you should do is prepare accordingly. Our ultimate Playbook for tenant-to-tenant migrations is an invaluable resource when it comes to avoiding costly mistakes and ensuring everything runs smoothly from start to finish.

Playbook

Tenant-to-tenant migrations

How to efficiently plan and execute migrations for mergers & acquisitions or a reorganization.

Get the playbook

Features in the Plan section of the ShareGate app can also help you stay on top of things:

• Use the Source analysis report to get a complete understanding of your environment’s inventory and usage. Knowing exactly what you have—and where it’s located—will help you assess what should and shouldn’t be moved.
• Our Permissions matrix report uncovers the access permissions your users and groups have for a given site—quickly telling you who has access to what and the various users who may be inside.

You can also take advantage of these other built-in reports to help you plan your migration:

• Site report: View crucial information (e.g. owner, size, date created, date last modified) about the sites in your source environment to help organize and streamline your migration plan.
• Site collection report: Assess your environment with insights on your top-level site (e.g. site collection admin, size, date created, date last modified).
• Checked-out documents report: Find all checked-out files and files with no checked-in versions, and check them in before copying them so no data is left behind.
• Sites with custom permissions report: View all sites which do not inherit permissions from their parent.
• Unused site report: Get a list of unused or abandoned sites that you may want to exclude from your migration, then download their content and delete them if necessary.
• Documents with migration limitations report: Find all documents that will slow down your migration to Microsoft 365 by making it fall back to normal mode.
• Workflow report: View all your list and site workflows.
• Lists with workflows report: View all lists with workflows to avoid losing progress while a list is being copied.

Once you’re ready to begin setting up your migration, head to the Copy section of the ShareGate app:

Select the type of migration you want to run and follow the prompts to connect to your source and destination environments…

… then click on Run pre-check in the bottom right corner. Our pre-check report lets you simulate your migration before running it for real—so you can see and address potential issues without impacting your actual live environment.

Thankfully, at ShareGate we’ve put together a comprehensive Office 365 migration checklist so you don’t miss any essential steps.

What to expect during your Microsoft 365 tenant-to-tenant migration

You already know ShareGate can seamlessly handle a SharePoint to SharePoint migration. But what should you expect when it comes to other Microsoft 365 applications?

OneDrive for Business to OneDrive for Business

ShareGate can also help move your users’ content from one OneDrive for Business to another.

To complete a OneDrive for Business migration:

1. Create a CSV guide for your migration by following the step-by-step guide in our ShareGate support documentation.
2. Copy and paste the following script in the PowerShell application of your choice:

Import-Module Sharegate
$csvFile = "C:\CSV\CopyContent.csv"
$table = Import-Csv $csvFile -Delimiter ","

$srcUsername = "sourceusername"
$srcPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString "sourcepassword" -AsPlainText -Force

$dstUsername = "destinationusername"
$dstPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString "destinationpassword" -AsPlainText -Force

Set-Variable srcSite, dstSite, srcList, dstList
foreach ($row in $table) {
    Clear-Variable $srcSite
    Clear-Variable $dstSite
    Clear-Variable $srcList
    Clear-Variable $dstList
    $srcSite = Connect-Site -Url $row.SourceSite -Username $srcUsername -Password $srcPassword
    Add-SiteCollectionAdministrator -Site $srcSite
    $dstSite = Connect-Site -Url $row.DestinationSite -Username $srcUsername -Password $srcPassword
    Add-SiteCollectionAdministrator -Site $dstSite
    $srcList = Get-List -Site $srcSite -Name "Documents"
    $dstList = Get-List -Site $dstSite -Name "Documents"
    Copy-Content -SourceList $srcList -DestinationList $dstList
    Remove-SiteCollectionAdministrator -Site $srcSite 
    Remove-SiteCollectionAdministrator -Site $dstSite 
}

Paste this script in whatever PowerShell application you prefer.
Source: ShareGate help: Migrating OneDrive for Business to OneDrive for Business with PowerShell

Migrate Microsoft Teams from one tenant to another

Productivity tools like Microsoft Teams have become integral to how we work. 

That’s why, in the context of a business merger or acquisition, migrating this data over to the new location is no longer a nice-to-have. We need to be able to bring our existing Teams resources with us.

Luckily, it’s easy to do a Teams tenant-to-tenant migration with ShareGate!

To copy teams and their channels as part of a Microsoft Teams migration:

1. Click Copy in the menu at the left (the same screen you start at for a SharePoint migration), then select Copy teams.
2. Decide whether you want to copy an entire team(s) with all the channels. Or, you can choose to only migrate specific channels.
3. Follow the prompts to connect to your source and destination tenants. Then, select Copy as a new team next to a team to migrate that team and channels as a new team in the destination. Or, select Copy channels in an existing team to migrate your channels to a team in the destination.

With ShareGate, you can also migrate private channels!

Head to our support documentation for more details and a step-by-step walkthrough of the Copy teams feature.

Migrate Exchange Online mailboxes tenant to tenant

ShareGate offers Exchange Online migrations as an add-on to any new or existing ShareGate subscription. With our tenant-to-tenant mailbox migration functionality, you can copy mailboxes right out of the box.

What about speed?

If you’re moving from on-prem to on-prem, then speed will be a factor in your own environment’s making! But if you’re moving from one Microsoft 365 environment to another, you are now on Microsoft’s turf and you may come across some issues with throttling.

Because Microsoft 365 continues to draw more and more customers and therefore more and more traffic, Microsoft needed to put mechanisms in place to ensure stability for all their customers – which is where the throttling comes into play.

Luckily, ShareGate’s tenant-to-tenant migration tool also has mechanisms in place to avoid being throttled by Microsoft 365. Here are some tips to keep your migration running at optimal speed with ShareGate:

• Provide consent to the Azure application in ShareGate. This consent will confirm for Azure that calls are coming from the known and trusted ShareGate app and alleviate any throttling.
• Use ShareGate’s Insane Mode. Using the Insane Mode leverages Microsoft’s Import and Export APIs to bulk data and move it.
• Migrate during off hours. This tried and true best practice is facilitated with ShareGate’s scheduling options.
• Make sure your bandwidth is at its strongest. The operations are all done online, so having strong bandwidth is key.

When everything is finished, run a migration report to make sure everything was transferred over to your destination.