The map
- Gmail
- Microsoft 365An Exchange Online mailbox, read in Outlook
- Good to knowMicrosoft documents a migration path for mail, filters, calendars and contacts. Microsoft Learn
- Gmail labels
- Microsoft 365Outlook categories or folders
- Good to knowA message can carry several labels, and an Outlook item can carry several categories. Google, Microsoft Support
- Gmail filters
- Microsoft 365Outlook rules
- Good to knowMicrosoft's tool brings them across but leaves them turned off. Microsoft Learn
- Vacation responder
- Microsoft 365Automatic replies
- Good to knowMicrosoft's tool does not move it. Microsoft Learn
- Shared drives
- Microsoft 365A document library on a SharePoint site, or a team in Teams
- Good to knowFiles that belong to a team, such as a company-wide drive or a drive for Finance. Google
- Docs, Sheets, Slides
- Microsoft 365Word, Excel and PowerPoint files
- Good to knowConverted on the way. Microsoft Learn
- Google Forms
- Microsoft 365Forms files held by a Microsoft 365 user
- Good to knowMicrosoft's tool moves them by default. Microsoft Learn, Forms destination
- Google Sites, Google Maps files
- Microsoft 365No match
- Good to knowGoogle does not allow them to be exported from Drive. Microsoft Learn
- Google Calendar
- Microsoft 365The Outlook calendar
- Good to knowMicrosoft's tool leaves shared calendars and event colors behind. Microsoft Learn
- Rooms and resources
- Microsoft 365Room and equipment mailboxes
- Good to knowMicrosoft's tool does not move room bookings. Microsoft Learn
- Google Contacts
- Microsoft 365Outlook contacts
- Good to knowMicrosoft's tool carries up to three email addresses per contact. Microsoft Learn
- Email aliases
- Microsoft 365Aliases on the person's mailbox
- Good to knowGoogle allows 30 per user. Microsoft allows hundreds per mailbox. Google, Microsoft Learn
- Shared addresses, such as support@
- Microsoft 365A shared mailbox
- Good to knowSeveral people work from one address. Microsoft Learn
- Google Groups
- Microsoft 365A distribution group, a Microsoft 365 group or a shared mailbox
- Good to knowThe right one depends on how the group is used. Microsoft Learn
- Meet recordings
- Microsoft 365Files in the organizer's Drive
- Good to knowSaved to the Drive of whoever organized the meeting. Google
- Google Chat
- Microsoft 365No documented path
- Good to knowMicrosoft lists a chat path from Slack to Teams, and none from Google Chat. Microsoft Learn
- Vault holds and retention rules
- Microsoft 365Retention policies and holds in Microsoft Purview
- Good to knowGoogle disables Vault rules and holds when Workspace is canceled. Google
Each person's Gmail becomes an Exchange Online mailbox, which they open in Outlook.
Labels
Gmail labels work differently from folders, and one message can carry several labels at once (Gmail Help, Google). A message about one client's invoice, for example, can carry both the client's label and an Invoices label. Outlook has two close matches. A folder holds each message in one place. A category is a tag, and one item can carry more than one (Microsoft Support).
Filters and automatic replies
Microsoft's migration tool brings Gmail filters across as Outlook rules, turned off by default, and Microsoft advises checking each rule before turning it on (Microsoft Learn). The same tool does not move vacation responder settings, so automatic replies are set again in Outlook (Microsoft Learn).
Files
Microsoft describes OneDrive as storage for individual use with occasional sharing, and a SharePoint team site as the place for files with shared ownership (Microsoft Learn). Google describes shared drive files the same way: they belong to the team (Google). So My Drive maps to OneDrive, and each shared drive maps to SharePoint.
A common setup is one company-wide drive that everyone can open, plus a drive for each department whose files only that team should see, such as Finance, HR or Legal. Files in a department drive belong to the department, so they stay put when someone on the team leaves (Google).
Google files become Office files
Google Docs, Sheets and Slides become Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Microsoft's Migration Manager converts them through Google's export and turns Google Drawings into PNG images by default (Microsoft Learn). Microsoft notes that Google does not allow Google Sites or Google Maps files to be exported from Drive, so they do not move (Microsoft Learn).
Sharing and versions
By default, Migration Manager migrates folder permissions (Microsoft Learn), and each file takes the permissions of the folder it lands in (Microsoft Learn). If the destination is the top level of a document library, the permissions on the source's top-level folder do not move (Microsoft Learn). Migration Manager does not re-create external sharing links (Microsoft Learn), such as a price sheet shared with a vendor or a folder shared with an outside accountant. It copies only the latest version of each file unless set to copy more (Microsoft Learn).
Calendars and rooms
Each person's Google Calendar becomes their Outlook calendar. Microsoft's tool leaves shared calendars, event colors and room bookings behind (Microsoft Learn). A team calendar for time off or field visits is one example of a shared calendar.
Microsoft 365 books rooms and equipment through resource mailboxes. A room mailbox is for a physical place, such as a conference room. An equipment mailbox is for something not tied to one place, such as a projector or a company car. People add either kind to a meeting request to reserve it (Microsoft Learn).
Contacts
Google Contacts become Outlook contacts, for example a salesperson's list of clients. Microsoft's tool carries up to three email addresses per contact and does not move Gmail tags, contact URLs or custom tags (Microsoft Learn).
Google also keeps a list called Other contacts. Google adds to it the addresses of people someone emailed but never saved (Google Contacts Help). They are separate from saved contacts.
Addresses and groups
Each Google user becomes a Microsoft 365 user with a mailbox.
Aliases
An alias gives a person a second address, for example a sales rep who also receives mail at an older company domain. Google allows up to 30 email aliases per user (Google), and a user alias domain gives every user a second address at that domain (Google). In Microsoft 365, each of these addresses becomes an alias on the person's mailbox, and the limit runs to hundreds per mailbox (Microsoft Learn).
Shared addresses
An address that several people answer, such as support@, billing@ or info@, is usually one of two things in Google Workspace: a Gmail account of its own that a few people share, or a Google group. Any group can also be a Collaborative Inbox, where members take, assign and complete conversations (Google).
In Microsoft 365, the closest match for an address a team answers is a shared mailbox. Several people work from one address. The mailbox needs no license up to 50 GB, and only people inside the organization can use it (Microsoft Learn). Each of those people needs a licensed mailbox of their own. One shared mailbox supports up to 25 users, and for more, Microsoft points to a Microsoft 365 group (Microsoft Learn). Who can read and send from it is set in Microsoft 365, so the list of people who answer the address is set up again there.
Google Groups
A Google group gives a set of people one address (Google Groups Help). Microsoft 365 has several kinds of group, and three of them cover the usual ways a Google group is used (Microsoft Learn):
- A distribution group sends email to a list of people, for example an all-staff address or a list for the sales team.
- A Microsoft 365 group is for collaboration with people inside and outside the organization, for example a project team that works with a client.
- A shared mailbox, described above, suits an address that a team answers together.
Microsoft notes that a shared mailbox cannot be migrated to a Microsoft 365 group (Microsoft Learn). Microsoft's tool lists mail, rules, calendars and contacts as what it moves, and a group's conversation history is not among them (Microsoft Learn).
Meet, Chat and Sites
Meet recordings, such as a recorded training session, are saved in the meeting organizer's Google Drive, in a folder named Google Meet (Google Meet Help). A recording of a meeting organized by someone who has left the organization sits in that person's Drive, and deleting a user deletes their data (Google).
Microsoft lists a chat migration path from Slack to Teams, and none from Google Chat (Microsoft Learn).
Google Sites, such as an internal employee handbook site, do not export from Drive (Microsoft Learn). A site that still matters is rebuilt, for example as a SharePoint site.
What has no home in Microsoft 365
With Microsoft's own tools, these stay in Google:
- Vacation responder settings (Microsoft Learn)
- Shared calendars, event colors and room bookings (Microsoft Learn)
- Contact tags, contact URLs, and email addresses past the third (Microsoft Learn)
- Google Sites and Google Maps files (Microsoft Learn)
- Drive shortcuts, and files Google lists as unorganized (Microsoft Learn)
- External sharing links (Microsoft Learn)
- Google Groups conversation history, which is not among the items the tool lists (Microsoft Learn)
- Google Chat (Microsoft Learn)
- Vault retention rules, holds and matters, which Google disables when Workspace is canceled (Google)
Vault and retention
Vault matters to a business that keeps records for a set time, for example for tax or legal reasons. When Google Workspace is canceled, or moved to an edition without Vault, Google disables every retention rule and hold. Thirty days later, it deletes all retention rules, matters and holds (Google). Deleting a user deletes their data, including data Vault holds (Google). A Vault export contains copies of the data that matched its search, with Gmail as PST or mbox files (Google).
In Microsoft 365, Purview retention policies keep content for a set period and can then delete it (Microsoft Learn). A Litigation Hold keeps an Exchange Online mailbox's content, including deleted items, and needs a license that covers it, such as Exchange Online Plan 2 (Microsoft Learn). Both are set up new in Microsoft 365.
How MigrationSanity moves these items
MigrationSanity runs the move for you. A few of your people move first as a proof batch, and the move ends with a report of what moved, what was skipped and what failed. Each item that moves lands where your people will look for it.
Labels become categories, not folders
A folder holds one copy of a message. Filing a message with three labels into folders means making three copies of it, or keeping one label and dropping two. MigrationSanity turns every Gmail label into an Outlook category of the same name instead, so the message arrives once and stays findable under all three categories. Nested labels keep their full path, such as Clients/Acme.
The rest of the move
- Starred mail arrives flagged, and mail archived out of the Inbox lands in the Outlook Archive folder.
- Recurring meetings arrive on the same dates as in Google, most of them as a recurring series, and every meeting keeps its own time zone.
- Calendar sharing between colleagues in the same move is re-created.
- Each shared drive gets its own SharePoint site by default, so a Finance drive becomes a Finance site, with its eligible members added by role.
Where MigrationSanity goes further than Microsoft's own tools
- Who runs the move
- Microsoft's own tools, by defaultYour Microsoft 365 administrator (Microsoft Learn)
- MigrationSanityRun for you. A few of your people move first, and you check them before the full move
- Gmail labels
- Microsoft's own tools, by defaultMicrosoft documents labels as folder names to include or leave out, and does not mention categories (Microsoft Learn)
- MigrationSanityEvery label becomes an Outlook category, so a message with several labels arrives once, with a category for each
- Sharing in My Drive
- Microsoft's own tools, by defaultEach file takes the permissions of its folder (Microsoft Learn)
- MigrationSanityEach file is shared again with the same people in the move, without notification emails
- Department shared drives
- Microsoft's own tools, by defaultA OneDrive, SharePoint or Teams path chosen for each drive (Microsoft Learn)
- MigrationSanityA new SharePoint site per drive by default, with eligible members added by role through a setup script your SharePoint administrator runs
- Files shared outside the company
- Microsoft's own tools, by defaultExternal sharing links are not re-created (Microsoft Learn)
- MigrationSanitySharing outside the company is not re-created either. The report lists it, so re-sharing is a deliberate choice
- Shortcuts and files Google lists as unorganized
- Microsoft's own tools, by defaultShortcuts are skipped, and unorganized files are left out of the reports (Microsoft Learn)
- MigrationSanityShortcuts are listed in the report. Unorganized files are copied into a folder named Migrated from shared folders and listed in the report too
- Contact labels
- Microsoft's own tools, by defaultGmail tags and custom tags are not migrated (Microsoft Learn)
- MigrationSanityLabels you created become Outlook categories, and starred contacts get a category too
- Contacts with more than three email addresses
- Microsoft's own tools, by defaultUp to three per contact (Microsoft Learn)
- MigrationSanityThree go into Outlook's fields, and the rest are kept in the contact's notes
The Microsoft column describes each tool's documented default. The MigrationSanity column describes the service on How it works and the migration behavior in the Known Limitations documents each client receives. Known Google limitations summarizes those documents.
Vendor pages checked October 2026. Microsoft and Google change their tools often, and the linked pages are the reference.