Frequently Asked Questions: Migration Manager Google

Question: Are there any other tools available to migrate my Google accounts?

Answer: Currently, Migration Manager is the tool to use for migrating Google content.

Question: Is Migration Manager Google available for GCC, GCCHigh, DoD tenants?

Answer: For the latest updates, refer to specialty environments support.

Question: What gets transferred?

Answer: Migration Manager copies supported files and folders within the selected personal or shared drive paths, subject to access, migration settings, and exclusions. Review unsupported files, including orphaned Google files that aren't scanned, migrated, or included in reports. Any items the user doesn't have permission to access are excluded from the migration.

Complete identity mapping and review permission settings. File-level permission migration is off by default; files otherwise inherit destination folder permissions. Verify the resulting access rather than assuming that identity mapping alone preserves every source permission.

Question: Does Migration Manager sync files from Google after first migration?

Answer: After you complete a migration task for the first time, selecting Migrate again initiates a delta sync (incremental migration run). By default, Migration Manager compares the destination directory with the source and transfers only new or modified files. Here are a few examples of how Migration Manager handles changes:

• Content changes: New or updated source files are considered for transfer. In the default mode, a destination file with a newer modification time isn't overwritten, even if the source was also edited.
• Destination name changes: If you rename the migrated destination folder /Sales/Clients to /Global Sales/Clients while the source path stays /Sales/Clients, a later run can copy the source to /Sales/Clients again, leaving both destination paths.
• Source name changes: A renamed source path can be copied to its new destination path while the previously migrated copy remains.
• Permission-only changes: Permissions are updated when the corresponding files are transferred. A permission change alone might not cause a file to be transferred in the default mode.

The option to migrate all files and overwrite existing destination files can transfer permission changes with unchanged content, but also overwrites destination edits. Review delta-sync behavior before choosing this mode.

Question: Does Migration Manager delete my files?

Answer: No. Migration Manager never deletes source data. It copies data from the source to the destination, similar to copy and paste rather than cut and paste. Migration Manager also doesn't retain your cloud storage data.

Question: Can I rearrange content during a migration?

Answer: Rearranging content during migration isn't recommended. Make major directory structure changes before or after migration. The incremental process sees rearranged content as new data, which can create duplicates. For example, if you rename a root folder, Migration Manager detects it as a new folder and transfers all its content again. When sharing permissions are transferred, both owners and collaborators might receive duplicate data.

Question: What happens to external sharing links?

Answer: Migration Manager doesn't recreate external sharing links. Recreate the links manually in the destination after migration.

Question: What about external collaborators?

Answer: Migration Manager doesn't share content with external collaborators. This policy protects your organization by preventing sensitive internal data from being shared with guests automatically.

Question: Does Migration Manager preserve file versions?

Answer: Migration Manager supports version migration, but the default is to copy only the most recent version. To retain older versions, configure File versions in Project Settings or the applicable Task settings before migration. Review version settings and reporting, and verify the required history at the destination before retiring the source.

Question: Does Migration Manager automatically notify users?

Answer: Migration Manager allows you to customize email notifications to track migration progress. Learn more about email notifications.

Question: Does Migration Manager transfer permissions for shared drives?

Answer: Yes. To migrate Google shared drive permissions correctly, complete these steps before starting the shared drive migration:

• Recreate a Microsoft 365 group that has the same memberships as the Google Drive group. You can either create a new group, or edit the group linked to the Team site you designate as the migration destination of the Google Shared Drive.
• In the Map identities setting, map the original Google Drive group of the shared Drive to the Microsoft 365 group recreated in the previous step.
• Review permission settings, including file-level permission migration and the source root-folder exception when a SharePoint library root is the destination.
  
  

Question: What can't Migration Manager migrate from Google?

Answer: Google doesn't allow us to export sites and maps from Google Drive. Learn more about what isn't migrated.

Question: Does Migration Manager migrate Google Forms?

Answer: Yes. Migration Manager now migrates Google Forms. Forms destinations are required to make it work. Learn more about Forms destination editing.

Question: Why does the data size shown for a Google Drive scan or migration task differ from what appears in the Google Admin Console?

Answer: This discrepancy can occur for several reasons:

• Files stored in another user’s drive: If user A has files located in user B’s personal drive, the storage usage appears in the Google Admin Console but isn't reflected in A’s scan or migration tasks. These files can only be scanned or migrated as part of the folder owner’s task.
• Google proprietary file size calculation: Google began including the size of its proprietary files—such as Docs, Sheets, Forms, and Slides—on May 2, 2022. Files created or modified before this date don't include size information in the metadata returned by API calls. As a result, these files default to a scanned size of 1 byte and are reported as such in the Scan Summary report.
  
  

Question: What happens to the files with the same name in the same folder after they are migrated to Microsoft 365?

Answer: Files with the same name are renamed with suffixes (1), (2), and so on.

Question: Does Migration Manager support migrating two Google Drives with the same name?

Answer: No, it doesn't. Only the first discovered Drive is migrated.

Question: Can I migrate Drives with "/" in their names?

Answer: A slash embedded in a Google Drive's display name isn't supported, even if you configured invalid-character replacement in Project settings. This restriction doesn't prohibit the separators in a source path. For example, /SharedDriveName identifies a shared drive, and user@contoso.com/folder01 identifies a personal-drive subfolder. See CSV source-path formatting.

Question: Why can't I see some of my SharePoint sites while assigning destinations in the UI?

Answer: If SharePoint or Teams sites in your tenant aren't visible in the UI while assigning destinations, there could be a few reasons for this lack of visibility:

• SharePoint admins only see sites where they're at least a member, as sites are searched using a user-scoped delegated token.
• Admins might not see sites for a multi-geo tenant because of limitations in the Microsoft Graph API.
• Sites that are recently created might take a couple of hours to sync and appear in the UI.
• SharePoint site search in the UI might not work in some special cases (for example, when there are special characters in the destination path).

If you can't locate a destination in the "Edit destination" panel, upload the destination using a CSV file.

Question: Why am I receiving the "MEXPORTFILERESTRICTED" failure code in Migration detailed report when attempting to migrate a specific file?

Answer: The file is marked as restricted or not copyable for the migration operation. A restriction can be intentional; don't treat it as an incorrect organization-wide setting.

1. Review the affected file's sharing and download/copy restrictions and the migration account's access. See Google's download and export guidance.
2. Ask the content or policy owner whether the file is approved for migration. If an approved restriction change is needed, apply it only to the necessary files or users through the appropriate Google administrator or file owner.
3. Retry the affected task and inspect its detailed results. If the restriction must remain, record the file as an exclusion and agree on its disposition.

Question: Why am I receiving the "MAUTHACCESSTOKENINVALID" or "MAUTHREFRESHTOKEN" failure code in Migration detailed report when attempting to migrate a specific file?

Answer: These codes indicate an authentication or authorization failure; they don't uniquely identify a disabled Google service. Review the underlying error and the migration app's authorization before changing service policies.

1. Check whether the Google account and the migration app still have the required authorization. If access was revoked or credentials are no longer valid, reconnect to Google using an authorized administrator.
2. Verify that Drive and Docs is enabled for the affected users. Google supports service access for organizational units and access groups as well as the whole organization. See Turn Drive and Docs on or off.
3. Apply only the approved correction for the diagnosed cause, retry the task, and review its detailed report. Don't enable the service for the whole organization solely because one of these codes appears.

For more information, see Google's authentication error guidance.