Migrating to Google Workspace? Here’s everything you need to know about it

Do you need to migrate to Google Workspace, and don’t want to lose everything you have in your current inbox? So you need a complete guide to help you do it the proper way! This article will guide you through all the steps you will need to take. Also, we advise you to separate some time to migrate to Google Workspace since it can vary in each case.

You will learn the basics of how to use Google’s Migration tool, useful for migration between an email server using IMAP, or even from Gmail.

Migrating from Gmail to Google Workspace

If you need to migrate to Google Workspace from a Gmail account, you just need to forward Gmail messages automatically. You can do this with all the new messages or just some kinds of messages. The good news is that spam is not included in the messages you will receive.

You can do the automatic forwarding by following these steps:

1. Access Gmail from your desktop, because it’s not possible to do the proceeding in the mobile app.
2. Choose the account from which you want to forward the messages. Be aware that it can’t be an email group.
3. Click on the gear icon located at the top right of the page, then on Settings.
4. Choose on the tab  “Forwarding and POP/ IMAP”
5. Click on the button “Add a forwarding address”
6. Type the new address from Google Workspace, then click “Next”

 

 

• A new window will appear, and you need to click on “Proceed” to continue. Then press “ok”.
• Google will send a verification message to the Google Workspace account. So click in the verification link in this message.

After that, you can go back to the Gmail account where you are migrating your emails from. Go to the settings page and refresh the browser. Click again on the tab “Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab”. Then select “Forward a copy of incoming mail to”. There you can choose what will happen with copies of your emails in this Gmail account. It’s highly recommended that you keep these copies in the Gmail Inbox. Finally click on “Save”, to conclude the process.

How to migrate to Google Workspace from other email accounts

First of all, you must have administrative access to Google Workspace in order to start this process. Also, you are going to need some information, that you can write down now, before proceeding to the step by step. This includes the server name

Note that it’s only possible to proceed with this if your domain has an SSL Certificate. On the other hand, you can use the manual migration method. Moreover, your domain must have been verified by Google, besides using IMAP protocol, such as Yahoo!®, Apple® or Outlook.com.

Step by step

1. First of all, you must be logged in to the Super Admin access to Google Workspace. Next, you need to create a new account for the person who wants to migrate their emails from another email server. If you have done this already, go to step 2.
2. Access the Google Workspace dashboard and select Data migration. You might have to click More controls at the bottom to see this option.
3. Click on the option “Email” and then Continue.
4. A new screen will appear and you will need to fill this information:

• First, in the Migration source list, select the option “I don’t know/Other IMAP server”.
• Second, in the Connection protocol list, choose IMAP. Then you will have two alternatives:
  • to enter the name of the IMAP server (e.g. imap.yourdomain.com) or;
  • to enter the IMAP server name and port number. In this case, the format must be Name: Port.

• Third, type the email address and password for the account where you are migrating from.

5. At last, click on Connect to see if the connection works.

In case the connection fails, you need to verify the data you have entered in the Migration Screen. Correct what is necessary and try to Connect one more time.

If the connection works you will be able to see some options sections, such as Migration Start Date and Migration Options. You can either agree to keep the default options or exclude the data you don’t want to migrate to Google Workspace.

Next, you need to complete some more steps to have your new account all set up:

1. Hover your cursor on Add and then access Select Users.
2. There is a Migrate From field, where you need to type the email from where the user is migrating from.
3. In the Migrate To field, type the new G Suite email address. A list of users will appear and you can select from it too if you start typing.
4. Finally, click on Start.

After completing a migration select the option Exit Migration in settings (represented by the three-dot icon).

Wrapping Up

Migrating to Google Workspace is a simple process that you will master easily by following our step by step. But now that the migration is complete you should certainly learn how to keep your inbox organized, so you can improve your daily work in your new Google Workspace email.

That’s why you should take a look at this article we wrote about How to organize Gmail. We hope you enjoy it!