Google Shared Drives to SharePoint Online: The Ultimate Migration Guide
Many organizations start with Google Shared Drives for team-based collaboration—only to realize later that SharePoint Ondine’s deeper integration with Microsoft 365, richer metadata and governance, and advanced document management features make it a better long-term home for enterprise content. If you wish to migrate your Google Shared Drives to SharePoint Online, you'll need a clear plan that keeps your data safe, folder structure, permissions, metadata, and version history while also keeping your users productive.
At Cloudiway, we’ve guided hundreds of IT teams through Google-to-SharePoint migrations. In this in-depth guide, you’ll learn:
Why migrate from Google Shared Drives to SharePoint Online
Key challenges while migrating from Google Shared Drives to SharePoint online, and how to overcome them
Five best practices for planning and execution
How Cloudiway’s platform simplifies every step
Post-migration steps and optimization tips
Let’s dive in.
Why Move Google Shared Drives to SharePoint Online?
Before we get tactical, consider the top business drivers behind this migration:
Collaboration and Integration in Enterprise SharePoint Online is the main part of Microsoft 365, which is seamlessly connected with Teams, OneDrive, Outlook, Power Automate, and Power Apps. Storing your files in SharePoint unlocks richer workflows, co-authoring, and automation scenarios.
Advanced Content Management SharePoint libraries support metadata tagging, custom content types, and set retention labels. You can build views, automation, and policies that simply aren’t possible in Google Shared Drives.
Governance & Compliance Microsoft’s Compliance Center, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), eDiscovery, audit logs, and sensitivity labels apply natively to SharePoint. Migrating into this environment helps you meet industry regulations and corporate policies.
Scalability & Performance SharePoint Online libraries scale automatically, and Microsoft invests continuously to ensure fast file retrieval, even across worldwide tenants.
Unified Search & Discovery Powerful Microsoft Search delivers content results across SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams chats, and Outlook—all from one search box.
Common Challenges while Migrating from Google Shared Drive to SharePoint Online
Despite these benefits, moving terabytes of files, nested folder structures, permissions, and version histories is complex. Here are the common challenges/issues you’ll face:
Preserving Hierarchy & Metadata Google Shared Drives use flat folder structures and labels differently than SharePoint’s site/library model. Mapping folders → libraries → sites while retaining metadata and version stamps can be tricky.
Permissions & Memberships Shared Drive access (Viewer/Commenter/Editor) must map to Azure AD identities and SharePoint permission levels (Read, Contribute, Edit, Full Control).
Google File Formats Docs, Sheets, and Slides need conversion to Office formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) or PDF. You’ll want to control whether conversion happens during copy or in bulk post-migration.
Large Files & Path Lengths Files exceeding 100 GB or deeply nested folders can hit SharePoint’s URL/path length limits, requiring careful planning or path flattening.
Minimizing Downtime Teams expect zero or minimal interruptions. To capture changes until you have a cut-over, you need initial bulk migrations and then incremental syncs (delta passes).
5 Best Practices while Migrating from Google Shared Driver to SharePoint Online
Based on our experience and industry insights, follow these steps to stay on track:
1. Discovery & Scoping
Auto-Discover Shared Drives: Use Cloudiway’s “Get Shared Drives” feature to list every drive, its size, member list, and last modified dates—no manual spreadsheets.
Assess Usage & Activity: Identify active vs. stale content. Archive or exclude drives with little activity to reduce migration scope.
Define Your Scope: Will you migrate every Shared Drive, or only those owned by specific teams? Decide up front to streamline planning.
Set Success Criteria: Determine metrics (100% files transferred, zero permission gaps, <1 hour downtime) so you can measure success.
2. Plan Your Target Structure
Sites & Libraries Mapping Option A: One Shared Drive → One SharePoint site with a document library Option B: Multiple Shared Drives → Single site with multiple libraries Option C: Shared Drives → Microsoft Teams channels (each channel has its own document library)
Folder Hierarchy vs. Metadata SharePoint encourages flatter folder structures and heavy use of metadata filters. Consider flattening deeply nested folders and using columns/taxonomy to tag content instead.
Standardize Site Templates Choose modern team or communication site templates. Pre-provision sites to mirror your organization’s design and navigation.
3. Map Permissions & Identities
Permission Mapping Table Export Google memberships, then map each user or group to Azure AD accounts or Microsoft 365 Groups. Automate this via Cloudiway’s mapping interface.
Handle External & Guest Users Decide how you’ll migrate external collaborators—invite them as guest users in your Azure AD tenant, or re-share files post-migration.
Preserve Role Hierarchies Map Google “Commenter” → SharePoint “Contribute,” “Editor” → “Edit,” and “Manager” → “Full Control.”
4. Configure & Pre-Provision with Cloudiway
Connectors Source: Authenticate via OAuth to Google Workspace with appropriate scopes. Target: Use a SharePoint administrator account (service principal or app-only) to allow site provisioning and content upload.
Pre-Provision Sites & Libraries Use Cloudiway, to auto-create SharePoint sites, libraries, and folders exactly as planned, so your data copy focuses purely on files and metadata.
Custom Settings Enable custom scripting if you rely on SPFx web parts. Import term stores and custom content types to preserve taxonomy. Adjust storage quotas if needed.
5. Execute Migration & Post-Migration Steps
Initial Bulk Migration
Pilot Drive: Migrate one or two low-risk Shared Drives first—validate mappings, conversions, and permissions.
Full Bulk Copy: Schedule large-scale migrations overnight or over weekends. Cloudiway handles retries if the Google API throttles.
Delta (Incremental) Passes
Sync Changes: After the bulk copy, schedule one or more delta passes to capture new or modified files—only those changes are transferred.
Final Cut-over: Choose a blackout window (e.g., a few hours) for the final sync, then update your user communications to point to SharePoint.
Post-Migration Validation
Audit File Counts & Versions: Ensure the number of files, total size, and version history match source and destination.
Permissions Check: Run a permission audit to catch orphaned or mis-mapped accounts.
User Acceptance Testing: Have power users browse libraries, open documents, and test search filters.
Cleanup & Handover
Remove Migration Accounts: Disable or delete service accounts used by Cloudiway.
Disable Custom Scripting: If no longer needed, turn custom scripting off for security.
Export Logs & Reports: Provide stakeholders with audit-ready reports showing exactly what migrated, when, and by whom.
Advanced Considerations
Google File Conversions Automatically convert Google Docs → Word (.docx), Sheets → Excel (.xlsx), and Slides → PowerPoint (.pptx) during migration—or convert in bulk after the migration. For legacy Google file formats, export as PDF or Office archives for compliance.
Large File & Path Length Handling Files >100 GB require chunked upload methods. Flatten deeply nested paths or shorten folder names to comply with SharePoint’s ~400-character URL limit.
Network & Bandwidth Planning Estimate total data to move vs. available bandwidth. Stagger large library moves or use Cloudiway’s bandwidth throttling to avoid disrupting daily operations.
Third-Party Integrations & Workflows Identify Google Apps Script automation or third-party connectors tied to Shared Drives. Rebuild or replace workflows using Power Automate after migration.
Why Choose Cloudiway?
Cloudiway’s Google Shared Drives to SharePoint Online solution is purpose-built for enterprises, offering:
With Cloudiway, you’ll avoid custom scripts, manual error-prone processes, and hidden costs—so your IT team can focus on mission-critical work.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Migrating Google Shared Drives to SharePoint Online is an opportunity to improve collaboration, governance, and security—but only if you plan meticulously and use the right tools. By following the best practices outlined above and leveraging Cloudiway’s robust migration platform, you can ensure:
Data integrity: Keep folder structures, versions, and information safe.
Permission continuity: Users keep the access they need, no matter where they are.
Minimal disruption: Pilot, delta syncs, and final cut-over only cause a few hours of downtime at most.
Future readiness: Your content lives in a modern, Microsoft 365-centric ecosystem.
Ready to Migrate?
Transform your team collaboration—move your Shared Drives to SharePoint Online with confidence. Contact us today!