If you are trying to transfer users from one Google Workspace to another, you need to set up Google Workspace Migrate.
***Please note: you don’t need Google Workspace Migrate if you just want to transfer email or Google drive data.
Also, you can’t transfer the users directly from one Google Workspace to another. But, you can create user accounts in the target Google Workspace (of the users that you want to migrate) and transfer their data from the source Workspace.
Let’s dive in.
This guide walks you through the complete Google Workspace migration process using Google Workspace Migrate, Google's official data transfer tool. You'll get the full step-by-step setup, the exact configuration details that are easy to miss, and a section specifically for teams running cold outreach, because a domain migration will break your sending infrastructure if you don't handle it in the right order.
What this covers: The complete Google Workspace migration process using Google Workspace Migrate, including hardware setup, source and target connections, scan, execution, and post-migration verification. Includes a dedicated section for cold outreach teams, because a domain migration breaks your email deliverability in ways the standard guides do not cover.
What Google Workspace Migrate does: Transfers emails, calendar events, contacts, Drive files, and shared drives from a source environment into a Google Workspace domain. Supports migrations from Google Workspace, Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Box, and file shares.
What it does not do: Transfer user settings, email filters, labels, or domain aliases. Update DNS records. Reconnect third-party apps. Carry over Admin console configurations. All of these require manual work after the migration.
What breaks for outbound teams: OAuth connections to your sending platform expire when your domain changes. Sequences stop sending. Warmup reputation resets on the new domain. DNS misconfiguration causes inbox placement to drop. All three need to be fixed in a specific order after cutover.
The correct order for outreach teams after migration: Pause campaigns before cutover, disconnect old domain accounts from Smartlead, verify DNS (DKIM and DMARC active), reconnect via OAuth on the new domain, re-enable warmup, wait 14 to 21 days for inbox placement to stabilise, then resume sequences.
Setup time: Under five minutes to reconnect Smartlead after migration. 14 to 21 days for warmup to stabilise before full send volume.
Hardware required: Windows Server 2016 or 2019, one platform server (4 cores, 16 GB RAM), two database servers (16 cores, 64 GB RAM each), one or more node servers (4 cores, 32 GB RAM).
Google Workspace Migrate is Google's enterprise data migration platform. It transfers large volumes of content, including emails, calendar events, contacts, Google Drive files, and shared drives, from a source environment into a Google Workspace domain.
It supports migrations from Google Workspace (to a new domain), Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive, Box, and file shares. You can run it on-premises or in the cloud. Admins control migration timing and destination, so different departments or user groups can be moved on different schedules.
What Google Workspace Migrate does not do:
It does not transfer user settings, email filters, or labels. It does not carry over domain aliases. It does not automatically update DNS records including MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. It does not reconnect third-party apps like your CRM, cold outreach platform, or calendar booking tools. It does not transfer Google Workspace Admin console configurations.
These items require manual reconfiguration after migration. This is where most teams lose time, and where outbound sales infrastructure quietly breaks.
One important distinction before you start: you cannot transfer user accounts directly between Google Workspace domains. You create new accounts on the target domain and migrate the data into them.
Go to Google Admin, then Security, then Access and data control, then API controls, then App access control. List every application with OAuth access to your domain. Every one of them will need to be re-authorised after migration.
For teams running cold outreach, this list matters more than it might seem. If your email accounts are connected to a sending platform like Smartlead, those connections are tied to OAuth tokens from your source domain. Once you migrate, every connection breaks silently, without error messages, and your cold email sequences stop sending.
Document before you start: which email accounts are connected to your outreach platform, which accounts are currently in warmup and their current send volume, and active campaign schedules and lead enrollments.
Before migrating any data, confirm your target domain has MX records pointing to Google's mail servers, an SPF record including include:_spf.google.com, DKIM keys generated and active in Google Admin, and a DMARC policy configured (at minimum p=none).
Misconfigured DNS after migration is the leading cause of email deliverability problems. Fix it before go-live, not after.
If you are running sequences from any Google Workspace mailbox, pause them before the migration window. Sending from accounts mid-reconnection generates authentication errors that can affect your sender reputation.
Google Workspace Migrate runs as a cluster of Windows servers.
Platform server (1 required)
OS: Windows Server 2016 or 2019. CPU: 4 cores minimum. RAM: 16 GB. Storage: 200 GB SSD. Runtime: Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 or later.
Database servers (2 required)
CPU: 16 cores each. RAM: 64 GB each. Separate performance SSD for database data. MySQL requires approximately 1 TB per 100 million objects. CouchDB requires approximately 1 TB per 40 million objects. Note: CouchDB requires .NET Framework 3.5 specifically.
Node servers (1 or more)
CPU: 4 cores minimum. RAM: 32 GB. Storage: 200 GB SSD.
Set all Windows machines to the high-performance power plan. Handle Windows updates separately from migration. An accidental restart mid-migration will interrupt the process and require restart from that phase.
All platform and node servers must have network access to all data sources. Servers should be physically co-located to minimise latency between them.
Required open ports: 443 (HTTPS), 3306 (MySQL), 5984 (CouchDB), 8080 and 8443 (Google Workspace Migrate platform).
On your target domain: super administrator account, user accounts created for each person whose data you are migrating, Google Workspace licences assigned, Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive services enabled for users and the admin.
On your source domain (if migrating from another Google Workspace): the same services enabled, and admin and all users must have Google Drive API access enabled.
A source connection tells Google Workspace Migrate where to read data from.
Open Google Cloud and go to IAM and Admin, then Service Accounts. Click Create Service Account. Enter a name. The service account ID generates automatically. Skip the role assignment step as it is not required for Google Workspace Migrate. Click Done. Click the service account's email address. Go to Keys, then Add Key, then Create new key. Select JSON as the key type and click Create. Save the downloaded JSON file as you will need it in the next step.
Sign in to Google Admin as a super administrator. Navigate to Security, then Access and data control, then API controls, then Manage Domain Wide Delegation. Click Add new. Enter the service account's client ID, found in the JSON file under the client_id field, or in Google Cloud under IAM and Admin then Service accounts. Paste the following OAuth scopes in a single comma-separated line:
Click Authorise. Click View details on the new entry to confirm all scopes are listed. If any are missing, click Edit, add the missing scope, and re-authorise.
If you get the error "Client is not authorised to retrieve access tokens": re-run the authorisation, double-check the client ID against the JSON file, and if the error persists, wait up to 24 hours as authorisation propagation can take time.
In the platform, click New, then Connection. Enter a connection name. Select Google Workspace as the connection type. Enter the super admin email address for your source domain. Under Account, select Add a new account. Under Service certificate, click Upload file and select the JSON key file. Click Create.
If you are migrating more than 400,000 files from Google Workspace to Google Drive, create a sharding users list. This distributes the migration write load across multiple accounts to prevent API bottlenecks.
Calculate the number of shard users by taking the larger of: one account per 400,000 files being migrated, or 10 accounts per node server.
Create temporary Google Workspace users with obvious names such as shard-user1 and shard-user2. These accounts need a licence matching the highest Workspace edition on your target domain, plus Drive API access. Delete them after migration is complete.
To add the list: in Google Workspace Migrate, click New, then List. Name it, select Users, upload your CSV (UTF-8 encoded, one email per line, no headers), and click Create.
A scoped view limits which source data a scan or migration accesses. Use it when you want to migrate a subset of users or content rather than the entire domain.
To create one: in the platform, go to Connections, then Scoped views next to your connection. Click Add, name it, upload a CSV defining the scope, and click Create.
A scan evaluates the source data before migration. It measures data volume by user and type, identifies errors, and gives you the information you need to plan migration phases.
Click New, then Scan. Enter a name. Select your source connection. Select Full scan under Scan scope. Click Create, then Run.
Advanced options (optional): Crawl rules let you choose between Domain discovery (owned content and shared drives) or User Drive discovery (hierarchical crawl of each user's Drive). Generator rules let you check Scan Calendar Resources or Scan Groups if you need accurate object counts for those types.
After the scan completes, review three things.
Object totals report shows data volume by user. Use this to identify data-heavy users and plan which migration phase they go in.
Error report lists issues found in the source data. Resolve significant errors before migrating. If you make substantial changes, rescan before proceeding.
Source data structure helps you understand how data is organised. Decide whether to replicate the same structure on the target domain or reorganise.
To view the scan summary: Scans, then select your scan, then Logs, then Scan summary. Group by identity, source type, or error code depending on what you are investigating.
To download reports: Scans, then your scan, then Logs, then Reports. Check the reports you want and click Download. Reports arrive as a zip file.
Repeat the same service account process for your target domain.
In Google Cloud on the target domain, create a new service account (or reuse the one from Step 1 if it has access to both domains). Download the JSON key. In the target domain's Google Admin, add the service account client ID to Domain Wide Delegation with the same OAuth scopes listed above.
In Google Workspace Migrate, click New, then Connection. Name the connection, select Google Workspace, enter the target domain super admin email. Upload the target domain's JSON key file. Click Create.
Most enterprise Google Workspace migrations use three to four phases. A common approach is: Phase 1 for a pilot group of 5 to 10 users, Phase 2 for department leads and power users, Phase 3 for the bulk of remaining users, and Phase 4 for archive data only after all active users are confirmed working.
For outreach teams specifically: put your cold outreach mailboxes in their own phase. These accounts need post-migration reconnection steps that regular user accounts do not require.
Do not move users between phases mid-migration. It causes data duplication.
A mapping defines which source data goes to which target destination.
Using CSV (recommended for multiple users): Click New, then Mapping. Enter a name, select source and target connections. Upload your CSV. Source column headers start with "Source," target headers start with "Target," all values are case-sensitive, and encoding must be UTF-8. Click Create.
Manually (for small sets): Click New, then Mapping, then name it, select connections, and click Create. Point to the mapping, then Entries, then Add, then Add entries manually. Expand the hierarchy, check source items, click Next. Expand the target hierarchy, select destination, click Next. Enable "Map content only" if you want to migrate folder contents without the folder itself.
To validate entries: point to the mapping, then Entries, then check all, then Validate. Green check means valid. Red cross means error with message. Gray clock means expired.
An identity mapping links user identities from source to target domain, preserving sharing permissions, file ownership, and calendar metadata.
CSV format: column 1 is the source identity, column 2 is the target identity. For groups, use group name as source and group email address as target. UTF-8 encoding required.
A few things that prevent problems: include all identities even if you are not migrating all their data, since they may be referenced in shared content. Never map one source identity to multiple target identities. Add a domain-level entry for organisation-wide sharing permissions. If calendar events have external organisers, map those email addresses too.
To create: New, then Other mapping. Name it, select Identities as type, upload CSV, click Create.
A settings template defines what content gets migrated and how it appears in the target domain. Use the default template that matches your connection type and migration target. You cannot migrate to both My Drive and shared drives in one bridge.
If you need custom settings, point to a default template, then Template, make changes, and create a new template with a new name.
Do not modify a settings template while a bridge is running. It creates inconsistent results mid-migration.
A bridge is the migration job. It combines your source connection, target connection, mapping, identity mapping, and settings template into one executable run.
Click New, then Bridge. Enter a name. Fill in source connection, target connection, settings template, mapping, and identity mapping. If you created a sharding users list, click More options and add it. Click Create. In the Bridges section, select your bridge and click Run, then Run.
In the Bridges section, track four real-time counters.
Completed shows successfully migrated objects. Warning shows objects migrated with non-critical issues. Failed shows objects to review in the transaction log and retry after resolving the underlying issue. Skipped shows items determined not to need migration.
The "Data migrated" figure shows binary data size: email messages with attachments, files with revisions, calendar attachments, and contact photos.
Log types and when to use them:
Migration summary log gives a high-level overview grouped by identity, source type, or error code. Use it to spot patterns and bottlenecks. Transaction log gives detail on every processed object. Filter by state or error. Use it to investigate specific failures. Execution log shows operational steps and errors in the bridge. Use it when a partition fails. Partition log shows created and executed partitions. Filter by state: Ready, Processing, or Completed. Execution history log covers all logs for every full and delta run of the bridge.
To download logs and bridge settings: Bridges, then point to bridge, then More, then Download Bridge Reports. The zip file includes migration summary, transaction, execution, and partition logs.
To check node health: go to Servers. If a node becomes inoperable, its partition automatically re-queues and another node picks it up. Do not decommission nodes while migration is running.
A delta migration runs after the main migration and captures any content that was created or modified since the main run. It avoids duplicates and retries failed transactions from the main run automatically.
To run: Bridges, then your completed bridge, then Run, then Run delta. Run this as close to go-live as possible, ideally within 24 hours of cutover.
If your organisation uses Google Workspace mailboxes for cold outreach, connecting them to a platform like Smartlead to run sequences, warm up domains, and manage replies via the Master Inbox, a Google Workspace migration will quietly break your entire sending setup.
Here is what stops working and why.
Email account connections break immediately. OAuth tokens are domain-specific. When your domain changes, every OAuth connection your sending platform holds against those accounts expires. Sequences stop. Accounts show as connected in your platform but are not actually sending. No error is surfaced until you check manually.
Warmup reputation resets on the new domain. Warmup reputation is attached to sending history and sender domain, not to the Google account itself. When you move to a new domain,
Google's systems treat those mailboxes as brand new senders, even if the person has been sending from that account for two years. A mailbox that was eight weeks into warmup and sending 80 emails per day needs to restart from zero on the new domain.
DNS misconfiguration silently drops deliverability. If DKIM or DMARC is not active on the new domain before you resume sending, receiving servers will reject or filter your email. This shows up as a sudden drop in open rates and reply rates that looks like a copy problem but is actually an infrastructure problem. Read more about how to improve email deliverability after a domain change.
Do these steps in this order. The order matters.
Before DNS cutover, pause all active campaigns connected to the accounts you are migrating. In Smartlead, go to Settings, then Email Accounts, and disconnect the old domain accounts. Verify DNS first: confirm DKIM and DMARC are active on the new domain before reconnecting anything. Reconnect by adding the accounts back using Google OAuth in Smartlead, which generates fresh tokens against the new domain. Then re-enable warmup before you start any sequences.
Recommended warmup approach after migration: re-enable Smartlead warmup two to three weeks before you plan to reactivate sequences. Start at 10 to 20 warmup emails per day per account. Do not run live cold outreach and warmup simultaneously in the first week. Monitor inbox placement rate daily, as it typically stabilises within 14 to 21 days. Resume sequences only after inbox placement rate is consistently above 85%.
Smartlead's warmup network runs across thousands of real inboxes. Reconnecting your Google Workspace accounts after migration takes about two minutes and you can resume warmup immediately after reconnecting with no manual configuration needed. Start free
Do not mark the migration complete until every item on this list is confirmed.
DNS and email delivery: MX records updated and propagated. SPF record includes include:_spf.google.com. DKIM record active and signing. DMARC policy configured. Test email sent and received from each migrated account. Check Smartlead's email deliverability test to verify inbox placement on your new domain.
Google Admin reconfiguration: Domain aliases recreated. Email routing rules reviewed and recreated. User signatures and vacation responders reconfigured. Shared drives and permissions verified. Calendar resources confirmed accessible.
Cold outreach reconnection: All outreach mailboxes disconnected from old domain and reconnected via new domain OAuth in Smartlead. Warmup re-enabled for every migrated account. 14 to 21 day warmup period completed before resuming sequences. Inbox placement rate confirmed stable before full send volume resumes. Campaign lead enrollments verified with no leads stuck mid-sequence in the Master Inbox.
Clean up: Uninstall Google Workspace Migrate platform, nodes, MySQL, and CouchDB. Securely delete migration data from all Windows instances. Decommission Windows instances. Delete temporary shard users if created.
Yes. MX records, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are all domain-specific. They do not transfer automatically. You need to configure each one in your domain registrar and Google Admin after switching to the new domain. Missing or incorrect DNS records are the most common cause of email delivery problems after a migration.
None of these transfer automatically. Google Workspace Migrate focuses on data including emails, files, calendar events, and contacts. User settings like email filters, labels, signatures, vacation responders, and domain aliases must be manually recreated in the new account.
Yes. Set up two separate connections in Google Workspace Migrate, one for the source domain and one for the target domain, then create a mapping between the source and target users. The process is the same as migrating from Exchange or another platform.
Migration time depends on data volume. Google Workspace Migrate can process millions of objects, but large migrations are measured in days, not hours. Running multiple node servers in parallel speeds this up. Use the scan results to estimate volume before committing to a timeline.
Email messages with attachments, Google Drive files with revisions, calendar events with attachments, and contacts with photos. It does not move email filters, labels, signatures, domain aliases, or Admin console configurations.
Three things usually cause this. First, email account connections to your sending platform break when OAuth tokens expire, so sequences either stop or send from disconnected accounts. Second, your mailbox warmup reputation resets on the new domain, so inbox placement drops until warmup stabilises, typically 14 to 21 days. Third, DNS misconfiguration causes receiving servers to reject or filter your email. Fix all three in order: reconnect accounts, re-enable warmup, verify DNS.
A delta migration is a targeted follow-up run that identifies and transfers any content created or modified after your main migration. Run it as close to your go-live date as possible, ideally within 24 hours of cutover. It also automatically retries failed transactions from the main run, so you do not need to handle those separately.
Account suspensions after migration are usually caused by one of three things: a billing issue on the new domain, a terms of service violation triggered by the migration process, or a problem with the admin account setup. Check the suspension notice for the specific reason and contact Google Workspace support. Ensure all billing information is current and valid before migration begins.
Check Bridges, then Logs, then Migration Summary. Look at the counts for Completed, Warning, Failed, and Skipped. Download the bridge report for a full CSV breakdown by user and source type. A successful migration has zero or near-zero failed transactions and no pattern of errors in the summary.
No. Always migrate active, in-use data first, confirm everything is working, and then run a separate phase for archive data. Mixing active and archive data in the same phase makes troubleshooting harder and increases the risk of missing something critical before go-live.
A Google Workspace migration is not just an IT project. For any team running cold outreach, it is an infrastructure event that touches every part of your sending stack: your domain reputation, your OAuth connections, your warmup progress, and your active sequences.
The teams that get through it cleanly are the ones who treat the outbound layer as a first-class concern from the start, not an afterthought to sort out after the data has moved. That means auditing connections before you touch anything, pausing campaigns before cutover, verifying DNS before reconnecting, and giving warmup enough runway before sequences go live again.
None of this is complicated. It is just the kind of detail that gets skipped when everyone is focused on the migration itself and nobody is thinking about what happens to reply rates three weeks later.
If you follow the order in this guide, your outbound should come back clean. Your deliverability will stabilise within the warmup window. Your sequences will pick up where they left off. And the migration will be exactly what it should be: invisible to your pipeline.
Smartlead helps sales teams run cold outreach at scale across multiple Google Workspace and non-Google mailboxes. After a domain migration, reconnecting your email accounts and restarting warmup takes under five minutes. Start free
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