Updated September 28, 2026: We merged in the content of a related article published on September 24, 2026. We also corrected how Annual/Fixed-Term Plans are handled, when the import can start, the procedure for more than 10 users, and how shared mailboxes and file sharing settings are handled, in line with Google's official announcements and Help Center, and removed statements we could not verify, such as how often we receive consultation requests.
When a company of about 10 employees moves from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace, the work falls into two broad parts: preparing accounts on the Google Workspace side, and moving email, calendar events and files. The data import tool in the Admin console does not create the accounts it imports into, so if you use it, you put together a separate procedure: create the accounts first, then move the data.
These two parts are now connected within the Google Workspace initial setup flow. In an announcement on September 11, 2026, Google made generally available a feature that imports Microsoft users and their data together partway through setup. The conditions for using it are clearly defined, however, and those conditions are exactly the line that decides "whether a company can finish its migration during setup."
An import entry point now sits in the middle of setup
What can be imported is the existing users on the Microsoft side, plus their email, OneDrive files, calendar events, contacts and tasks. The announcement describes getting started as two steps: connect to your Microsoft business account with Global Admin credentials, and exclude any users or data types you do not want to import. Once you connect, the users on the Microsoft side are found automatically, and preparations begin to add them to your new Google Workspace account.
In the steps in Google's admin Help Center, after connecting you uncheck anyone you do not need in the list of users to import, choose the data types to import (email, calendar events, contacts, files and tasks), and then start the import. The import runs in the background, so you can continue with the rest of setup in the meantime. The import copies information to Workspace without deleting or modifying the original account. It does not rewrite anything on the Microsoft side, but as described later, mail delivery is switched before this step, so the flow of incoming mail does change.
At the time of the May 2026 announcement, this entry point was a beta that imported users only, and Google's guidance was to move email and other data with the data import tool in the Admin console. What is new with the September general availability is that creating users and importing data became a single flow. Note that when we checked, some Help Center pages, such as the Quick Start Guide for small businesses, still carried a "beta" label.
Ten users, and the Flexible Plan
There are clear conditions on where it can be used.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Number of users | Up to 10 users in the import during setup |
| Payment plan | Assumes the Flexible Plan. Annual/Fixed-Term Plans need licenses added before importing |
| When you can start | After domain ownership verification and MX record activation are complete. The option appears before you complete setup |
| Availability | Available to all Google Workspace customers. Available now on both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains |
The Flexible Plan is billed monthly based on the number of users that month, and you can add or remove users at any time. For Annual/Fixed-Term Plans, Google's guidance is to add licenses before importing users.
The announcement describes this feature as something for small businesses setting up Google Workspace. It applies when you are about to stand up Google Workspace and are moving 10 users or fewer. A company of 20 people cannot move everyone through this entry point alone. Check first which side of the line your company is on.
If you are moving from IMAP email, such as mail that comes with a web hosting plan, the same setup flow has a separate entry point, and it imports only one user. We lay out how the conditions differ in IMAP email import is now part of setup.
If you have more than ten users
For importing more than 10 users, the announcement points to a Help Center page that summarizes the ways to add users. The data import tool in the Admin console does not create accounts, so you prepare accounts and licenses for everyone first. With many users, you can add them in bulk, for example by uploading a CSV file. We cover the account-creation side in standardizing Google Workspace account provisioning and initial setup.
Then you import email, calendar events, contacts and tasks with the Exchange Online data import, and files with the OneDrive data import. The default method for Exchange Online handles up to 1,000 users at a time. You connect as a super admin on the Google side and as a Global Admin on the Microsoft side.
How the setup screen behaves when the Microsoft side has more than 10 users (whether you can select 10 and proceed) is not described in the announcement or the Help Center, and we have not been able to confirm it. The Help Center warns that importing the same content more than once creates duplicate data in Workspace. Decide in advance which users will be imported by which procedure, and do not import the same user through both procedures.
Count what the import does not cover
Even if you have 10 users or fewer and are on the Flexible Plan, that does not mean the whole migration is done. The import during setup covers only the data types listed in the announcement and the Help Center.
| Covered by the import during setup | Not covered; decide or move separately |
|---|---|
| Users (up to 10), email, OneDrive files, calendar events, contacts and tasks | Shared mailboxes and distribution lists, Teams chat history, SharePoint sites (files and permissions), Outlook message rules, resources such as meeting rooms, and settings such as SSO and device management |
Counting the right-hand column is what a migration plan really is. A few notes follow.
Shared mailboxes and distribution lists. In Google Workspace, addresses such as info@ or support@ are received either by a group (a mailing list) or as an alternate address (alias) of a specific user. According to Google's guidance, past email in a shared mailbox can be imported with the data import tool in the Admin console into a group's Collaborative Inbox or into a specific user's account. Which you choose changes who receives the mail and whose name replies go out under. If you switch without settling this, it becomes unclear who handles inquiries sent to your contact addresses.
Teams chat history. It is not covered by the import during setup. The data import tool in the Admin console has a separate import method for Teams, but because it requires a decision including whether to move it at all, running through the perspectives laid out in deciding whether to migrate Teams chat history first will keep you from getting stuck.
SharePoint sites. The import covers OneDrive files; SharePoint sites are not included. The data import tool in the Admin console imports files from SharePoint Online sites into shared drives, and the destination shared drives must be created first. If department files live in SharePoint, design the shared drive structure first. How to think about where files belong is covered in what to decide before moving from My Drive to shared drives, and how to move OneDrive files in bulk from the Admin console is covered in migrating OneDrive files with the Admin console. For the import during setup, nothing is documented about how far file sharing settings carry over, and we have not been able to confirm it.
In the switchover, mail delivery comes first
The order is easy to overlook. The import during setup cannot start until you have finished domain ownership verification and MX record activation. So the order is to switch mail delivery to Google Workspace first and move past data afterward.
According to the Help Center, it can take up to 72 hours for new MX records to be recognized. During that time, it is safest to assume that, depending on the sender, some mail will still reach the old Microsoft side. Meanwhile, past email and calendar events will not all be in the new environment until the import finishes. Telling employees before they start using their new accounts that "past email will arrive progressively" makes it easier to avoid confusion right after the switch.
How mail addressed to employees is handled between switching the MX records and the import creating their accounts is not described in the announcement or the Help Center, and we have not been able to confirm it. So that there is no gap between the switch and the start of the import, decide in advance which users and data types to import.
There are three things to decide.
- The date and time you switch the MX records. The import can start only after this
- Where people will look at past email until the import finishes. Decide who will refer to the old environment, and how
- How long to keep the old environment. Do not cancel it right away; run both in parallel and allow a period to check that nothing was missed
We have also not been able to find an official statement on whether mail that reaches the Microsoft side after the import starts gets imported. For additional imports, the Help Center points to the data import tool in the Admin console, but it also warns that importing the same content more than once creates duplicates. Securing your data before you let go of the old environment follows the same thinking as checking your exit routes out of Google Workspace first, only in the opposite direction.
The Help Center steps also include forwarding the Workspace sign-in email that the admin receives for each imported user to that user's secondary email address. Collect, in advance, contact addresses where each employee can receive mail personally.
What it means to connect with admin credentials
This is another point where work often stalls before it even starts. The feature connects to the Microsoft side with Global Admin credentials. At companies that have left Microsoft 365 administration to an outside vendor, the first question is who holds those credentials.
So that the work doesn't stall on the day because "we don't know the admin account password," confirm before you begin which account you will connect with, the time window for connecting, and how you will handle that connection after the work.
Companies that do it themselves, companies that hand it over
Once the headcount and plan conditions are met, it is practical to judge whether to proceed on your own by the following three points (our editorial rule of thumb).
- How many shared addresses do you operate? If the answer is zero, there is plenty of room to do it yourself. If there are several and each has different recipients, you need to start by designing groups
- Are there hours you cannot afford to go down? Industries where orders or bookings arrive by email need a designed switchover window and parallel period. If the work can be caught up the next day, the risk is small
- How far back do you need past email to go? If statutory retention or litigation response requires the full period, consider how to retain and verify it separately from the import. Google describes the Exchange Online data import as a productivity feature that is not designed to assist with legal compliance matters. The Help Center also notes that the number of imported emails can be lower than the count shown in Exchange Online
If all three are light, the import during setup is likely to be enough. If even one of them is heavy, it is fine to consult on just that part. It is not a binary choice between handing over everything and doing everything yourself. Where differences between quotes come from is laid out in the data volume and operational design that drive Google Workspace migration costs.
What to do next
First, confirm which payment plan you will use for Google Workspace (the Flexible Plan or an Annual/Fixed-Term Plan) and how many users you are moving from the Microsoft side. If it is more than 10, this entry point alone cannot move everyone. Then produce a list of the shared mailboxes and distribution lists on the Microsoft 365 side.
Decide which users and data types to import before you start. You can stop an import partway, but whatever was imported before you stopped it stays in Workspace, and a stopped import cannot be restarted. To import again, Google's guidance is to use the data import tool in the Admin console.
Once you know this much, you will have a sense of whether you can proceed on your own. Start from wherever the judgment is clear.
We checked the following directly on September 28, 2026: the Google Workspace Updates announcements (dated May 13 and September 11, 2026, and the IMAP announcement dated September 23) and the admin Help Center pages "Import data during setup," "Quick Start Guide for small businesses," "Options for adding users," "Use the default data import method for Exchange Online," "What's imported from Exchange Online?," "Use the default data import method for SharePoint Online," "Import your organization's data to Google Workspace," "Set up MX records for Google Workspace" and "Flexible Plan." We have not run an import, connected to a Microsoft tenant or switched MX records. How the screen behaves when the Microsoft side has more than 10 users, how many users can be imported on an Annual/Fixed-Term Plan, whether shared mailboxes appear in the import list, how mail is handled between the MX switch and account creation and after the import starts, and whether file sharing settings carry over have not been verified. We have also not checked the Japanese-language labels in the Admin console. This article organizes the conditions that apply and the migration planning involved.
For migration planning from Microsoft 365, designing shared addresses and groups, and planning the steps for switchover day, please consult GleamHub.
Sources
- Seamlessly import your team and data from Microsoft to Google Workspace during setup — Google Workspace Updates
- Small businesses can now seamlessly import users from Microsoft to Google Workspace — Google Workspace Updates
- Seamlessly import your emails from any IMAP server to Google Workspace — Google Workspace Updates
- Import data during setup — Google Workspace Help
- Quick Start Guide for small businesses — Google Workspace Help
- Options for adding users — Google Workspace Help
- Use the default data import method for Exchange Online — Google Workspace Help
- What’s imported from Exchange Online? — Google Workspace Help
- Use the default data import method for SharePoint Online — Google Workspace Help
- Import your organization’s data to Google Workspace — Google Workspace Help
- Set up MX records for Google Workspace — Google Workspace Help
- Flexible Plan — Google Workspace Help
