Migration Guide
A Google Workspace migration moves your email, calendars, contacts, and files from your old system to Google Workspace, with zero downtime. The short version: I plan the move and you approve it, I build your Workspace, the data copies in the background while your team keeps working, I verify everything lines up, then I switch email over on a weekend and support your team for 30 days afterward.
Your old email stays the live system the entire time, right up until the switch. Nothing is deleted from the source. Below is what each step actually involves. If you just want the price, you can run the cost calculator instead.
First I look at what you have today. I document every user, mailbox size, shared drive, file store, and the third-party apps your team depends on. This tells me how much data is moving and where the tricky parts are, before any of it becomes a surprise.
I write a plan built around your business: the order accounts move in, the cutover timing, what your team needs to know, and how I roll back if anything looks wrong. You read it and approve it before I touch a thing. The deliverable is a written plan with a timeline, responsibilities, and a clear definition of done.
I build your Google Workspace: user accounts, security settings, groups, organizational units, and the DNS records that will route email later. This happens quietly in the background while your current email keeps running normally.
I run the copy. Email, calendars, contacts, and files move over while your team keeps working in the old system. Email is the slow part, so I start it early and let it run in the background for as long as possible. I watch progress and fix errors as they come up.
Before anything switches, I check the copy against the source: item counts, file access, permissions, and calendars. The cutover does not happen until the data lines up. Your old system is still the live one this whole time.
When the data checks out, I update your domain MX records so new email lands in Gmail. I schedule this for a Friday evening or Saturday to keep it out of your work hours, then watch email flow for 24 to 48 hours to confirm everything is landing where it should.
After go-live I train your team on the everyday tools (Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Meet) and stay on for 30 days of support. You get direct access to me for questions and cleanup, not a ticket queue.
Everything that moves from your old system to Google Workspace.
Note: The data types listed below represent what can be migrated depending on your selected migration path. Not all data applies to every migration type. For example, in a Google-to-Google migration, SharePoint data is not applicable, while in a Microsoft 365-to-Google migration, SharePoint sites can be migrated to Google Shared Drives.
Admin access to your current email and your domain DNS, a list of users, and a short window to approve the plan. That's it. The technical work is mine, and I keep you posted at each step so there are no surprises on cutover weekend.
It depends on how much data is moving, and email is the slow part, not files. A single 20 GB mailbox might finish in about a day, but two mailboxes of the same size can take very different amounts of time depending on what's inside them. A mailbox that's 200,000 small messages takes longer to copy than one that's 10,000 messages with larger attachments, because the count of items matters more than the raw size. The earlier the copy starts, the more of it runs in the background before cutover, so I set timelines per project once I see the data.
No. Email keeps running the whole time. The only change you might notice is a brief DNS update at cutover, which I schedule outside work hours.
No. Your original system stays untouched until you're happy with the result. I verify item counts and access before the switch, and nothing is deleted from the source during the move.
Admin access to your current email and your domain DNS, a list of users, and a short window to approve the plan. I handle the rest.
Last updated: June 2026
Written by Christopher K. Samuels, Google Workspace Certified Administrator and Lead Technologist
Run the calculator for an instant estimate, or tell me your details and I'll send back a fixed price and a plan.
Most teams don't want to manage Google Workspace day-to-day after they move. Onboarding new hires, offboarding departures, policy enforcement, and Google Workspace break-fix support is ongoing work. Because I build your environment correctly during the migration, ongoing management can start right away.
Learn about CompanionPage last updated: June 3, 2026