Copy structure and content - Microsoft 365 Groups

To migrate your Microsoft 365 Groups with the ShareGate migration tool, you must use Copy structure and content to copy the site collection associated with your group. The group will be recreated at the destination during the migration.

Index

• Prerequisites
• How-to

  • Migrate a Microsoft 365 Group to a new site collection

  • Merge into an existing site collection

  • Migrate a SharePoint site to a Microsoft 365 Group

• Default behaviors

Prerequisites

• The Azure the ShareGate migration tool application is consented on your tenant.
• You have site collection admin permissions on the source site collection connected to your Microsoft 365 group.
• You have global admin or SharePoint admin permissions on the destination.
• You have term store admin permissions on your source and destination if you have managed metadata (Terms, Term sets, Term set groups) in your migration scope.
• The Custom Script feature must be enabled using PowerShell.

How-to

Migrate a Microsoft 365 Group to a new site collection

To create a new destination site collection and associated Microsoft 365 Group from your source group:

1. Select Copy from the menu.
2. Select Copy structure and content.
3. Use the address of the Team Site connected to your Microsoft 365 Group for the source
   (if you are not sure, you can always reference the list of Microsoft 365 Groups in your environment through the Explorer).
4. Add your source credentials.
5. Click Connect.
6. Select your source.
7. Click Next.
8. For the destination, use the address of the admin center of your tenant.
9. Add your destination credentials.
10. Click Connect.
11. Select Sites. 
12. Click Next.
13. Click Options on the top-right if you want to apply specific parameters, give the site collection a new name, or a new URL.
14. Drag and drop the site connected to your Group from the source to the destination, or select the row and click Start copy.

Merge into an existing site collection

You can merge a Microsoft 365 Group into an existing destination site collection. The destination site must:

• Have the same template (GROUP#0).
• Already be associated with a Microsoft 365 Group.

The destination Microsoft 365 Group name and description will stay the same. It will not be replaced with the source and description. The site collection associated with the source Microsoft 365 Group will gain the name and description from the source site collection.

Note: The members security group used by Outlook is not preserved if you merge your source site into an existing destination site.

Migrate a SharePoint site to a Microsoft 365 Group

It is possible to migrate any source (classic or modern) SharePoint site collection as a Microsoft 365 Group at the destination.

Follow steps (1) to (12) above to begin the Copy structure and content process. Then:

1. Click Mappings.
2. Select the Site templates tab.
3. Map the source site template to the destination Team site (when you hover your mouse over it, the Template Name is GROUP#0).
4. Start the migration by following step (13) above.

Default behaviors

The following users will be added as Microsoft 365 group owners at the destination:

• Site collection administrators.
• The user performing the migration (you).
• All the members in the SharePoint Owners group (up to a maximum of 100 Owners).

Membership can be easily changed and reallocated post-migration using the Microsoft 365 Groups management features in the Explorer.

The owners of a Microsoft 365 group are automatically granted site collection admin permissions on the associated site collection. This means that they have access to everything in the site, including items with custom permissions.

For more information see The membership between Microsoft 365 Groups, Teams and SharePoint.

The ShareGate migration tool is subject to the following limitations when migrating Microsoft 365 Groups:

• The ShareGate migration tool will only migrate the SharePoint-associated items in a Microsoft 365 Group (items in the site behind the Microsoft 365 Group, like documents and list items). We do not migrate emails or teams associated with the group.
  
  Tip: To migrate Teams, see Walkthrough - Copy teams.
• The group calendar is not supported.
• The ShareGate migration tool does not provision all the services around Microsoft 365 Groups.
• The site collection associated with the group has the same web part limitations as other Modern templates.

After your migration

Go beyond your migration with ShareGate and keep your Microsoft 365 destination organized, secure, and clutter-free with the following features:

• ShareGate Management grants you better visibility and control of your Microsoft 365 teams, groups, and communication sites.
• ShareGate Provisioning allows you to customize Teams templates with the right governance policies to facilitate your Microsoft Teams users' creation of new teams.
• ShareGate Cloud copy allows you to copy teams from anywhere with online access. It is currently the only way to merge two teams.

With ShareGate, you can also automate tasks like asking your owners about their inactive teams and groups and external sharing; you can export custom teams and groups reports; you can audit your tenant's activity; and so much more.