Email Migration: Google Workspace & Microsoft 365 | NerdSquad

Can You Migrate Our Emails to or from Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?

Can You Migrate Our Emails to or from Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?

Yes — and it's one of the more satisfying things we get to do for clients.

Email migrations have a reputation for going sideways. Lost messages, broken calendars, a week of staff confusion. Done right, they're almost invisible — your team shows up Monday and everything just works. That's the goal, and we've hit it enough times to have a reliable process.

Whether you're leaving Gmail for Outlook, jumping from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace, or consolidating email after a merger or acquisition, we handle the full migration.

What we actually move

This isn't just getting your inbox from point A to point B. A real email migration covers:

  • Emails — all of them, including sent items, drafts, and archived folders
  • Contacts — personal contacts, shared address books, distribution lists
  • Calendar events — including recurring events, attendees, and meeting details
  • Tasks and notes — where applicable, depending on the source platform
  • Shared mailboxes and aliases — not just individual accounts
  • Folder structure — so your organized staff don't lose 10 years of filing work

We also verify deliverability after cutover — DNS records (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) updated and tested before you go live.

How the migration actually goes

The short version: we plan, we run, we verify, we cut over.

1. Discovery and planning

Before anything moves, we audit the source environment — how many mailboxes, total data volume, any shared resources, any compliance holds or litigation hold flags. This is where surprises get caught early instead of at 11 PM on migration night.

2. Pre-migration cleanup (optional but highly recommended)

Old email is a great time to clean house. Users with 80,000 unread emails from 2009 can decide what to keep. This reduces migration time and, frankly, gives everyone a fresh start.

3. Pilot migration

We migrate a small group first — usually IT staff or leadership — and verify everything landed correctly before moving the rest of the organization.

4. Bulk migration + delta sync

The heavy lift happens in the background while users stay on the old system. As the deadline approaches, we run delta syncs to pick up anything new. The window where users are "on the old system" stays as short as possible.

5. Cutover and DNS update

When we flip the switch, new mail starts routing to the new platform immediately. We monitor the first 24–48 hours and stay reachable the whole time.

6. Post-migration verification

We confirm mail flow, calendar access, mobile device sync, and shared resource availability. If anything's off, we fix it before we close the ticket.

What platforms we work with

We migrate to and from:

  • Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online) — including legacy on-premises Exchange migrations
  • Google Workspace (Gmail) — all tiers
  • Hosted Exchange environments (GoDaddy, Rackspace, etc.)
  • IMAP-based systems — older hosting setups or custom mail servers

So yes, that includes the full round trip: Microsoft → Google, Google → Microsoft, or either direction from an older system.

What about compliance and data security during the migration?

Good question. This matters especially for healthcare and financial services clients.

Data in transit during migration is encrypted. Depending on your compliance requirements, we'll also verify that:

  • HIPAA clients: Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is in place with the new platform before any PHI is migrated
  • Financial services clients: Email retention and archiving settings carry over correctly (SEC and FINRA have specific Books & Records requirements for email)
  • All clients: Email security settings — SPF, DKIM, DMARC — are configured correctly on the new platform to prevent deliverability issues and business email compromise exposure

How long does a migration take?

Depends on the number of mailboxes and total data volume, but here's a rough sense:

  • Small office (5–15 users): 1–3 days
  • Mid-size organization (15–75 users): 1–2 weeks
  • Larger or more complex environments: We'll scope it specifically

The planning phase is the most important part — it's where you buy back time and reduce risk. Rushing that phase to save a day is one of the most common ways migrations go sideways.

Can you migrate us without any downtime?

For most migrations, yes. Staff continue receiving and sending email on the old system throughout the bulk migration. Cutover is typically scheduled for off-hours — early morning or over a weekend — and takes under an hour for well-prepared environments.

There's sometimes a brief delivery delay of a few minutes during DNS propagation. We plan for it, and users are briefed so no one panics about missing the all-hands invite from Tuesday.

Should I move to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?

That's a whole other question — and a valid one if you're currently on neither. If you're undecided, we're happy to walk you through a comparison based on your team's actual workflow. We're platform-agnostic: we support both fully, and we'll tell you honestly which one tends to be a better fit for businesses like yours.

Our Office 365 Support page gives a sense of how we support Microsoft 365 clients day-to-day if that's where you're leaning.

Ready to talk about a migration?

Email migrations go smoothest when planning starts early. If you're considering a switch — or you've already decided and just need someone to run it — reach out.

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