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ShareGate's migration tool FAQ

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What systems does the migration tool support?

The migration tool supports most versions of SharePoint and can import your data from a file share, Google Drive (excluding shared drives), and Box.com.

For more info, see SharePoint versions and other systems ShareGate's migration tool support.

Which languages is the migration tool available in?

As of version 7.0, the ShareGate migration tool is only available in English.

Does the migration tool support Windows Server 2019?

Windows Server 2019,  the latest version of Microsoft's server operating system, is supported by the ShareGate migration tool.

Note: For our system requirements, see Installation - ShareGate's migration tool.

Does the migration tool support OneDrive for Business and My Site migrations?

You can migrate content from OneDrive for Business and My Site with Copy content only. In the migration tool, you can connect to the address of an individual My Site or OneDrive for business and copy content from the Documents library.

You will need Site collection administrator permissions on the OneDrives or My Sites you want to migrate to and from, even if you have higher permissions like SharePoint or global admin.

If you want to migrate many OneDrives or My Sites, you can find the PowerShell script that matches your scenario in our OneDrive migrations section.

Caution: We do not recommend using Copy structure and content for this operation. You should provision the new OneDrives or My Sites for your users at the destination and only move their documents to avoid any issues with limitations in recreating the destination's structure.

Can I migrate GoDaddy Microsoft 365 content?

You can migrate some of your GoDaddy Microsoft 365 content with some restrictions.

For more info, see GoDaddy Microsoft 365 limitations

Does the migration tool support Meeting Workspaces?

Meeting Workspace site templates have limited support for migrations since they were discontinued as of SharePoint 2013.

For more info, see Copying meeting workspaces is not fully supported.

How does the migration tool handle apps from the app store?

ShareGate's migration tool does not support applications. You can manage your apps directly through SharePoint.

For more info, see the Microsoft article Add an app to a site.

Can I run a migration or report on the content of my recycle bin?

The ShareGate migration tool does not access your recycle bins.

To run a migration or report on the content of your recycle bins, you have to restore the content to make it accessible in SharePoint.

Does the migration tool remember my mappings for each copy session?

When you connect to the same source and destination as a previous migration, the mapping selections you last saved will be restored, even when you start a new migration.

Users, Permission Levels, and Site Templates are handled at the site collection level, so when the source and destination site collection are the same, the mappings are maintained through all sessions. 

Property and Content type mappings are associated with specific lists. They are maintained when you connect to the same lists as a previous session.

Note: If you restore a migration using Recent Sessions or Return to this session from the Migration Report, the last mappings you saved for that source and destination are loaded. They may not be the mappings you used for the original migration session.

Does the migration tool remember my copy options for each session?

If you restore a migration using Recent Sessions from the Migration Report, the ShareGate migration tool will restore the copy options you had previously saved for that session.

Changing the source or destination of a restored session will not affect the copy options if you migrate with Copy structure and content. Changing the source or destination from a restored session will reset the copy options to the default values if you migrate with Copy content only.

The title and URL are always reset if you change the target in the source or destination.

Does the migration tool preserve unique IDs for taxonomy objects?

With a few exceptions, ShareGate's migration tool preserves unique IDs for all taxonomy objects (term groups, term sets, and terms) in SharePoint.

For more info, see Copy Managed metadata IDs.

How do I verify that ShareGate's server extension is installed on my SharePoint server?

To verify that ShareGate's server extension is installed on your SharePoint server, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Control Panel on your server.
  2. Select Programs.
  3. Select Programs and Features.
  4. You should find ShareGate Extension in the list.
  5. Check the Version column to validate you are using the latest version.

For more info, see Installation - Server extension

Can migrations be paused, resumed, or reverted?

No. Due to the complexity of the operations performed by the migration tool, you can only cancel a running migration task.

Does the migration tool correct URLs during a copy?

Yes, links in pages, lists, and libraries will be updated to reflect the new destination URL.

You can turn automatic link updates off when copying content only. Otherwise, this operation cannot be customized.

Note: URLs that are contained in documents will not be corrected.

What is an orphaned user?

An orphaned user is a user account still referenced by SharePoint even though the user cannot access SharePoint anymore.

When you deactivate or delete a user from your Active Directory (AD), that user's permissions and references in metadata fields such as Created by and Modified by do not get removed in SharePoint or Microsoft 365, and that user becomes an orphaned user.

Note: Because external users are in the Azure Active Directory in Microsoft 365, an external user can also be orphaned.

To learn why you should remove orphaned user permissions and how to remove them, see Clean orphaned users.

Does the migration tool preserve Orphaned User values during migration?

Orphaned user values in Person or group fields (i.e., Created by and Modified by) are only preserved when you migrate to Microsoft 365 in Insane mode.

Insane mode uses the Microsoft 365 migration API, allowing the migration tool to set orphaned users in these fields.

Note: Some Insane mode limitations can cause a list or library to migrate in Normal mode instead. When this occurs, orphaned users are no longer preserved. Deleted SharePoint groups are not supported.

Are list item IDs preserved during migration?

List item IDs are only preserved when you migrate to Microsoft 365 in Insane mode.

For more info, see List item IDs.

Can I undo a delete operation in the migration tool?

You cannot undo delete operations, but you can recover the object in the Recycle Bin found in your Site Settings.

For more info, see the Microsoft article Manage the Recycle bin of a SharePoint site. 

Can an incremental migration delete files removed from the source at the destination?

No. An incremental migration will only copy source files if they are new or have been modified since the last migration. ShareGate's migration tool does not delete your files at the destination to ensure the integrity of your data.

Can you migrate individual list views?

No. Individual views cannot be migrated.

You can include or exclude all your customized views from a Copy structure and content migration.

How does the migration tool handle files not checked in?

The migration tool will only be able to see and handle the last checked-in version of your files.

For more info, see Changes that were made since the last checked version will be lost during the migration.

Why are my date and time values off by a few hours at the destination?

When you migrate content with date and time values like Created and Modified, ShareGate's migration tool copies the underlying SharePoint time value.

That time value is displayed based on your site's time zone in SharePoint. If your source and destination SharePoint sites are in different time zones, the time will appear adjusted for the destination's time zone after the migration.

Why is my SharePoint Wiki page empty?

When you copy a Wiki page from a Wiki Page library to an Enterprise Wiki site, the Wiki page becomes empty at the destination. This is because your source and destination Wiki will not use the same content type since an Enterprise Wiki site keeps your Wiki pages in the default Pages library, and regular Wiki pages are kept in a Wiki page library.

It is possible to migrate your wiki pages to an Enterprise Wiki site. For more info, see Copy a wiki page from a Wiki Page library to an Enterprise Wiki site.

How can I fix unpreserved values in Person or Group columns like Modified By and Created By?

Several reasons exist why some users in your Person or Group fields are not preserved.

Verify the following scenarios to determine how you can handle the missing users:

  • The users do not exist or are deactivated in your destination's Active Directory.
  • You do not have sufficient administrative permissions on the destination to preserve those users.
  • You might need the server extension to preserve your users.
  • The copy option Preserve authors and timestamps is unchecked.
  • Microsoft Office is not installed on the machine running the migration tool. If you copy local files to SharePoint, the ShareGate migration tool extracts properties from Office files.
  • A Workflow or Event Listener on the destination list modifies these fields when adding or updating an item. You must deactivate your Workflow or Event Listener and restart your migration to preserve your values.

Does the ShareGate migration tool save SharePoint credentials?

An encrypted version of your credentials is stored when connecting with the Other user connection method.

For the other connection methods, the application preserves the authentication cookies locally. The ShareGate migration tool will not save the credentials themselves.

Can I generate PowerShell scripts directly from the UI?

PowerShell scripts cannot be generated from the ShareGate migration tool directly.

However, script examples can be found in our PowerShell articles.

What are Microsoft 365 Groups?

A Microsoft 365 Group is an Azure Active Directory object that allows you to manage the membership of several Microsoft services like SharePoint, Teams, and Planner.

For more info, see The relationship between Microsoft 365 Groups, Teams, and other services.

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