Let me be honest, migrating SharePoint from one tenant to another isn’t as easy as most guides make it sound. I went through the entire SharePoint tenant to tenant migration process, tested tools, and learned a lot from the mistakes I made. Here’s a complete, practical roadmap based on my real-world experience.
Table of Contents
Introduction to SharePoint Cross Tenant Migration
When our organization went through a restructuring, I was tasked with moving SharePoint data from one Microsoft 365 tenant to another. At that time I don’t know what is SharePoint tenant was.
Today, I know that a Microsoft 365 tenant is a dedicated cloud service environment that helps in providing a separate and isolated space for your organization, as explained in Microsoft’s documentation on tenants and subscriptions. It includes all organizational data configurations stored in specific data center regions (for example, Europe or North America).
Afterwards, I understand that a SharePoint cross tenant migration is a process of moving SharePoint sites, content, and configurations from one SharePoint Online tenant to another. This transition is necessary when organizations are moving to a new tenant due to reasons, as mergers, acquisitions, or rebranding.
Having gone through this process myself, I put together this guide to help others avoid the challenges I faced.
Key Lessons I Learned Before SharePoint Tenant to Tenant Migration
Here’s what I wish I knew before I started the migration:
- Content Inventory is a Must: I had to map every document library, list, and permission group.
- Site Architecture Matters: Overlooking internal links and nested libraries caused a few headaches.
- Downtime: I scheduled the migration over a weekend to reduce user disruption.
- Metadata Loss: Without the right tool, I lost version history during an initial test.
These issues waste my time, so please don’t repeat these mistakes to get the expected results in minimal time.
Overview of Steps for SharePoint Tenant to Tenant Migration
There are a total of 5 steps through which you can understand the basics of the SharePoint Online migration checklist.
- Step 1. Evaluate Site Content and Schedule Migration: Go through the source tenant and check its structure and permissions. After that, determine the goals of the migration and establish criteria for success. When you successfully assess the tenant create a migration plan that includes timelines and resource allocation.
- Step 2. Software Selection: Select a premium vendor tool or service for SharePoint Online tenant to tenant migration. You should choose the below-defined solution for a smoother transition of data.
- Step 3. Initiate SharePoint Migration: You should first conduct a test migration with trial data to identify possible issues. If it persists then re-assess your migration plan. However, if you are satisfied with the test, then initiate migration of the full set of content, configurations, and customizations from the source tenant to the target tenant.
- Step 4. Validate the Migrated Data and Structure: Check that all data, including documents, lists, and libraries. Whether it is accurately transferred to the target tenant or not. You also have to make sure that user permissions and access privileges have been set up properly in the new tenant.
- Step 5. After Successful Migration: Any training materials or documentation should be updated to reflect the new environment’s changes. The modifications to the new environment should be reflected in any training materials or documentation.
These general guidelines can also help when migrating a SharePoint site to another site or tenant. Let’s see the advanced solution for performing the SharePoint migration.
The Best Tool That Worked for Me in SharePoint Tenant to Tenant Migration
To simplify the SharePoint cross tenant migration process, I explored several tools, and one advanced solution stood out. The SharePoint Migration Tool is widely supported by Microsoft 365 experts and professionals for SharePoint migrations. It has a solid track record of regularly performing migration results.
Why I Chose This Tool:
- Preserved metadata, version history, and permissions
- Handled bulk document library and list transfers
- Included delta migration for syncing new data
- Provided a user-friendly dashboard with logs
- Offered real-time monitoring and reporting
However, the features of this tool are not limited to these few features it encompasses a dashboard for viewing log reports and managing migration. Therefore, this tool is a top choice for SharePoint tenant to tenant migration.
Exact Steps I Took to Migrate SharePoint Tenant
Here are the step-by-step instructions I followed during my SharePoint Online tenant to tenant migration:
- Step 1: Launch the program after downloading, go to the Setup page >> choose Office 365 for the Source & Target.
- Step 2: After that, select the option for “Site” including “Document Library” and “Generic list” when you scroll down to the workload area, then click “Next.”
- Step 3: Thirdly, enter the Source Microsoft 365 admin credentials and, after Validating, click “Next.” After confirming your read and write privileges, enter the Admin credentials for the destination and click “Next.”
- Step 4: Lastly, map Source sites to Destination sites >> Click on Validate>> Click on Next.
- Step 5: Finally, click on “Start Migration”. This will start the SharePoint cross tenant migration process.
Frequently Asked Questions (From My Journey)
Q1. How to clean my SharePoint account before tenant to tenant migration?
A – You can filter out the sites that are not required anymore. Go through the document lists and libraries delete them which are not required or have incomplete data. Check out the usage report of the sites and also eliminate those that are less visited by users.
Q2. What is the best tool for SharePoint tenant to tenant migration?
A – After a lot of trials, the above-recommended software is chosen by Microsoft experts. Therefore SharePoint Migrator is the best one to perform cross tenant migration.
Q3. Can I encounter issues while migrating my SharePoint data to another tenant?
A – Yes, you can face several issues while performing tenant to tenant migration. But this tool is easy to use, you can use this flawlessly. Even after the simple UI of the tool, you might encounter any difficulties, then you can contact their 24/7 support team to resolve your run time queries.
Q4. Do I need to backup my data before performing SharePoint cross tenant migration?
A – Although it is not necessary if you want to safeguard your data from an upcoming loss, you can backup SharePoint Online to local storage.
Bring it All Together
SharePoint is an efficient collaborative platform that helps businesses manage and create workflows in the office environment. However, the need for SharePoint tenant to tenant migration is dependent upon the merger and other scenarios regarding structural changes in the organization. Therefore, I have mentioned all the required steps and considerations that are valuable when an admin performs SharePoint cross tenant migration. Additionally, I have described the best tool with exceptional efficiency in migrating SharePoint Online to another tenant. Hopefully, you have learned all the aspects and important steps for performing a smooth transition.
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