1. Introduction

Moving just the files and folders during Google Drive to OneDrive migration is one thing, but migrating every minor attribute associated with them is quite another.

And for businesses, migrating data along with comments, version history, sharing permissions, and timestamps is a must.

By migrating data with each of its minor and major attributes, you can help your company replicate an online work environment similar to Google Drive in Microsoft OneDrive.

This article discusses Google Drive to OneDrive migration and is primarily intended to help IT admins. If your company is planning to migrate from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 (OneDrive for Business), please continue reading the article.

Browsing this guide as an IT team person who’s on a time crunch? Swiftly contact our technical team.

Or you can simply check out this migration video:

2. Google Drive to OneDrive Migration Challenges

Google Drive and OneDrive for Business share a lot of similarities, but at the same time, they have differences in between them as well. And one of the noticeable differences is character and file/folder names support.

Microsoft 365 does not support specific special characters across all apps, including OneDrive for Business.

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft 365 also does not support specific file and folder names in OneDrive for Business:

Source: Microsoft

With a migration tool like CloudFuze, you can transfer files and folders from Google Drive to OneDrive and have them automatically renamed to versions that OneDrive for Business supports.

Other technical challenges businesses often face when transferring Google Drive to OneDrive include:

• File path limitation of 400 characters in OneDrive
• Converting file formats of Google Drive apps to Microsoft-supported formats
• Migrating embedded links
• Updating new changes on the files and folders migrated to OneDrive
• Bandwidth throttling set either by Google or Microsoft

3. CloudFuze’s Key Role in Google Drive to OneDrive for Business Migration

While many technical challenges can be common to all businesses, some can be unique in particular case scenarios. But whether common or unique, technical challenges can make Google Drive to OneDrive migration complex.

This is where CloudFuze steps in. We help businesses of all sizes move files from Google Drive to OneDrive (and between other clouds) securely (with hosting options) while adhering to the project deadline with zero downtime.

Our migration team is dedicated to helping enterprises and SMBs create cloud migration success stories with managed migration.

4. Google Drive to OneDrive Migration Features

CloudFuze not only transfers files from Google Drive to OneDrive but also migrates users, sharing permissions, folder structure, and many other Google Drive features.

With CloudFuze, businesses planning to import files from Google Drive to OneDrive get these competitive advantages:

1. One-time & delta (incremental) migration that ensures zero downtime
2. Unlimited terabytes of data transfer
3. Root folder, root file, and subfolder permissions migration
4. Automatic user mapping/CSV and manual mapping
5. Auto-retry mechanism to mitigate throttling errors
6. Smart features to handle OneDrive filename errors
7. External shares migration
8. Version history migration
9. Files and folders timestamp retention
10. LDAP/AD integration
11. Dedicated account manager and migration team
12. Available as SaaS platform or can be installed in your own cloud or data center
13. One-off license as opposed to monthly subscription
14. ITSP/MSP licenses
15. Migration project planning and execution

5. Steps To Migrate Data From Google Drive to OneDrive

The following steps show how CloudFuze platform can migrate files from Google Drive to OneDrive.
If you are an IT admin or an IT team member, you can let us know your company’s specific migration needs via our quote form.

Additionally, you can take a free trial to test the software.

Step 1: Log into CloudFuze

Create an account and log in to CloudFuze. You will need a CloudFuze account to add your Google Drive and OneDrive accounts to migrate data.

Step 2: Add Google Drive to CloudFuze

Add your company’s Google Drive (Google Workspace / G Suite) account by clicking on the G Suite logo. The G Suite logo can be seen in the business clouds list.

Step 3: Enter G Suite Admin Login Credentials

Now, enter the admin login credentials of your company’s G Suite account.

Step 4: Grant Access to CloudFuze

For moving Google Drive to OneDrive, CloudFuze requires access to your G Suite account.

Please keep in mind that the access is granted via OAuth and your data is completely safe. CloudFuze only uses API calls to transfer files from Google Drive to OneDrive.

Step 5: Add OneDrive for Business Account

The next step is adding OneDrive. You need to click on the OneDrive for Business logo in the business clouds list and enter your company’s Microsoft 365 admin login credentials.

Step 6: Enter Microsoft 365 Login Credentials

Enter your company’s Microsoft 365 admin login details. Please keep in mind that it is not possible to move from Google Drive to OneDrive without admin credentials.

Step 7: Complete OneDrive Authorization Process

Click on the Accept button to complete adding your company’s OneDrive to CloudFuze.

Step 8: Check Whether Clouds Are Added

Go to Clouds -> Manage Clouds and check whether Google Drive and OneDrive accounts are added. If you find a cloud missing, you need to add the cloud once again.

Step 9: Click on Team Migration

To start Google Drive to OneDrive migration, click on the Team Migration icon and follow the next steps.

Step 10: Select Source and Destination Cloud Accounts

Since you are trying to migrate Google Drive to OneDrive, select Google Drive as the source account and OneDrive as the destination account.

Step 11: Map User Accounts and Prepare Them for Migration

CloudFuze has a feature called Auto-map that automatically matches and pairs user accounts in Google Drive and OneDrive based on the usernames/email aliases. It saves a lot of time and prevents the need to manually map user accounts.

You can select all the users in your Google Drive account or go with a few if you want to migrate users in batches.

Step 12: Select Users to Migrate

As a part of the demo, we chose to migrate one user from Google Drive to OneDrive.

Step 13: A Final Few Migration Options

You can give the migration job a name and select migration time. Besides, you can add email IDs of coworkers who needs to get migration updates.

Step 14:  Start the Google Drive to OneDrive Transfer Process

Check everything and click on the Start Migration button. This will start the actual process to move Google Drive to OneDrive.

Step 15: Google Drive to OneDrive Migration is in Progress

CloudFuze displays the status as ‘In Progress’ during the file migration. At this point, you can pause and resume the migration. You can even cancel the migration altogether.

Please keep in mind that CloudFuze will not delete any file in your Google Drive account if you decide to cancel the migration. However, files that were already migrated to OneDrive will remain there until you delete them manually.

Step 16: Your Google Drive to OneDrive for Business Migration Has Been Completed

CloudFuze displays the status as ‘Processed’ once all the files in your Google Drive account are moved to OneDrive. You and your team can log into OneDrive accounts and validate the data.

6. Google Drive to OneDrive Migration FAQ

1. Are all Google files converted to Microsoft files during Google Drive to OneDrive for Business migration?

Yes. CloudFuze converts Google files such as Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Sheets to respective Microsoft files, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Excel. CloudFuze does this while retaining all the comments, timestamps, version history, and sharing permissions.

2. How do I move Google Forms to OneDrive for Business?

Google Forms is an exclusive feature of Google Workspace and can’t be migrated to OneDrive for Business or to any other apps or services within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. However, moving data associated with Google Forms to OneDrive for Business is possible.

One simple step is to transfer Google Forms data to Google Sheets and then migrate those Google Sheets to Microsoft Excel in OneDrive for Business.

3. What happens when folder paths in Google Drive exceed the 400-character limit of OneDrive?

CloudFuze trims paths with 400 or more characters to have 350 characters. Following this step, CloudFuze creates a long file name and will dump the rest of the data into that folder.

4. What happens to connected apps in Google Drive when migrating Google Drive to OneDrive?

Since many connected apps in Google Drive are exclusive to Google Workspace, they can’t be migrated. And since OneDrive for Business currently doesn’t have a feature to directly integrate apps, 3rd party apps synced with Google Drive can’t be migrated.

However, with manual intervention, it is possible to download data from the connected apps and migrate them via Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.

5. What will happen to Google Workspaces under the ‘Priority’ tab?

Google Drive displays Google Workspaces in a proprietary way under the ‘Priority’ tab.

However, at the core, Google Workspaces are similar to other standard folders in Google Drive. Therefore, it’s possible to migrate the standard folder form of Google Workspaces and the files that are in them.

6. To transfer Google Drive to OneDrive, what timestamps to retain?

With CloudFuze, you get the flexibility to either migrate created time or modified time of Google Drive files and folders.

7. What will happen to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides that have “Public on the web” access?

CloudFuze will migrate all Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides with “Public on the web” access as respective Microsoft files (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) with the ‘’Anyone with the link” can view or edit access.

8. What’s the best way to combat bandwidth throttling/rate limits set by cloud storage providers?

In most cases, migration bandwidth throttling occurs when more files are being moved in a given time frame. So, it’s best to comply with the waiting period in order to re-migrate the files.

CloudFuze has an auto-retry mechanism in place that automatically pushes re-migration after the waiting period is over.

9. Will migrating shared files disrupt file access?

No, since CloudFuze’s Google Drive to OneDrive migration is a copy-and-paste action, access to files that are currently being transferred to OneDrive will not be affected in any way.

10. How will commenters be migrated during Google Drive to OneDrive migration?

CloudFuze will migrate commenters on Google Drive as viewers on OneDrive.