1. Introduction

From a brief overview, Google Shared Drives and SharePoint Online seem similar, and they are. However, they have significant differences between them as well.

Differences such as content storage, content management, and cross-apps compatibility can complicate the process to migrate Google Shared Drive to SharePoint. For avoiding complexities and making the migration seamless, a full-stack and scalable migration tool like CloudFuze plays a crucial role.

Browsing as an IT admin/manager? Cut to the chase and directly get in touch with our team to learn how CloudFuze can work for your needs. Or watch the migration video below:

2. Mitigating Challenges to Migrate Google Shared Drive to SharePoint

At a basic level, adhering to Microsoft’s file and folder naming limitations comes as a challenge. It is important to rename all the files and folders in Google Shared Drives that include characters and names unsupported in Microsoft 365.

Microsoft 365 characters
Source: Microsoft

At an advanced level, terabytes/petabytes of company data volume and features such as sharing permissions, timestamps, version history, comments, and incremental changes can create technical migration challenges.

business migration requirements

Learn more about business migration challenges here.

3. CloudFuze for Google Shared Drive to SharePoint Migration

There are quite a few handy cloud storage migration tools like CloudFuze that can help in migrating from Google Drive to OneDrive. But when it comes to moving files and folders from Google Shared Drive to SharePoint Online, there are only a very few choices.

CloudFuze is one of them and can effortlessly handle large data migrations between Google Shared Drives and SharePoint Online.

Here is the list of features CloudFuze can migrate from Google Shared Drive to SharePoint:

CloudFuze Features

Since this Google Shared Drives migration to SharePoint Online falls under the business category, pricing will be given as a quotation based on the size of the data and the number of users to be migrated.

Business users can still try CloudFuze and migrate up to 3 users or 50 GB of data to test the platform. Reach out to us with a quote form if you need a personalized demo or an extended trial.

4. Steps to Migrate Shared Drive to SharePoint

Have a clear picture of how CloudFuze can migrate Google Shared Drives files to SharePoint Online with these structured yet simple steps:

Step 1: Create a CloudFuze Account and Login

Go to the CloudFuze webapp using your login credentials. You create an account with CloudFuze if you do not have one.

Login to CloudFuze Webapp

Step 2: Add Your Google Shared Drive

Click on “Shared Drives” icon from the Business clouds

A pop-up will display for Google Workspace Marketplace authentication. Click on the “Proceed” button.

On clicking the Proceed button it will redirect to the Google Workspace Marketplace. Click on the “Domain Install” button.

After clicking on the “Domain-wide install” a pop-up will be displayed. Click on “Continue.

On clicking continue, enter the username & password. Once done, the following window will be displayed. Click on the Accept button.

Click on “Done” on the next pop-up. With this step, you complete the marketplace authentication.

Step 3: Verification of CloudFuze app in the Google Admin Console

Go to Google Workspace. Enter the domain name and select “Admin Console” from the “Access to” drop-down.

From the Admin Console, select “Apps.”

Click on the “Marketplace apps” from the following window.

You can see “CloudFuze for Production” in marketplace apps.

Now, go to your CloudFuze account and click on “Shared Drive” from the Business clouds. You will see the pop-up for marketplace authentication. As it is already done, click on the “Already Done” button.

Now enter the username.

Enter the password.

Step 4: Adding and Authorizing SharePoint Online

To add SharePoint Online, Microsoft 365 Global admin credentials are required. Go to Microsoft 365 and enter the Global admin credentials.

If the entered credentials are admin, then you can see the “Admin” icon. Click on the “Admin” icon to see the list of the admins.

Click on the “Users” tab from the left-hand side pane.

Click on the “Active users” and select any user from the list. The role of the user must be Global admin.

Go to your CloudFuze account, click on clouds. Click on “SharePoint Online” from Business clouds.

Enter the Global admin credentials to add the cloud

Step 5: Initiate the Process to Migrate Google Shared Drive to SharePoint

Click on “Start Migration” to start the actual Google Shared Drives migration to SharePoint Online. You can see the migration reports which are in progress as well as the completed migrations.

From the selection page, select Shared Drives as the source and SharePoint Online as the destination cloud.

On clicking “Next,” it redirects to the mapping screen. Domains will be listed in both the source and destination.

To minimize the users’ list, click on the “-” icon. To see the folders inside the users, click on the down arrow.

After clicking on the down arrow, Shared Drives and SharePoint sites will be displayed.

Click on the checkboxes to select the Shared Drives. Click on the down arrow before the SharePoint site to see the folders inside the site.

After mapping the users, the next step is to configure a few final options.

The next page is the preview page where you can see all the migration parameters set.

Click on “Start Migration.” You can see the migration reports which are in progress as well as the completed migrations.

5. Google Shared Drive to SharePoint Migration FAQ

1. How are Google files such as Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets migrated to SharePoint Online?

CloudFuze migrates Google files as respective Microsoft 365 files, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Excel to SharePoint Online.

2. Should I entirely migrate Google Shared Drive to SharePoint or in batches?

It is best to migrate the entire set of company data in Google Shared Drive to SharePoint Online in one go. CloudFuze has the infrastructural capability to handle high volume data migration without causing any form of disruption to the ongoing company operations.

In many cases, migrating data in batches definitely works for data safety but, at the same time, lengthens the overall migration time.

3. Is it possible to add a custom requirement mid-migration?

It is not recommended to add a custom requirement such as preserving timestamps or selective versions after the migration process has already been initiated. This is because deploying a code or a system in middle of the migration can raise the risk of migration disruption.

However, it is possible, but not advisable.

4. Where to work during the migration process: source or destination cloud?

Since the company data will be available in the source cloud, which, in this case, is Google Shared Drives, all teams can work on the source cloud while the migration is in progress.

You do not have to worry about the incremental changes as CloudFuze’s delta sync (which comes standard in the basic package) updates the destination clouds with all the incremental changes made in the source cloud.

5. What is the safest way to migrate Shared Drive to SharePoint?

The safest way is to perform the migration either in a dedicated hosting server or in the company’s private data center. However, doing this only becomes possible with a bespoke and scalable migration tool like CloudFuze.

6. Which timestamp to keep during Google Shared Drive to SharePoint migration: created or migrated?

That totally depends on the way your company’s operations are structured and managed. If your company’s data is time sensitive and if the bulk of the operation management is based around the original data creation date, it’s best to preserve the created timestamp.

On the other hand, if your company is starting afresh with the new destination cloud, keeping the migrated timestamp as a tracker can be beneficial in many ways.

7. How to migrate Shared Drive to SharePoint locally to ensure optimum security?

The best way to perform the migration locally is to deploy CloudFuze in your company’s on-prem environment. It is crucial to configure the on-prem environment as per the performance needed for the migration.

8. How to migrate comments in Google Shared Drive files to SharePoint Online?

CloudFuze migrates file comments from the source cloud to the destination cloud in CSV files.

9. How to avoid data privacy risks when migrating Google Shared Drive files to SharePoint Online?

With CloudFuze, your company does not stand at the risk of data privacy breaches. This is because our migration platform, X-Change, uses O-Auth 2.0 and REST API protocols that ensure data safety through and through. Learn more about CloudFuze’s security.

10. What will happen to data on the source cloud after the migration is complete?

Since CloudFuze’s migration is a copy-and-paste action, the entire company data will remain in the source cloud. As part of decommissioning Google Shared Drives and Google Workspace collectively, your IT team or the company’s management team may decide to delete all the data.

Start Migration Now

CloudFuze supports more than 40 cloud Migration services including Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon, and Box etc.