2 Methods to Migrate SharePoint to Microsoft 365 (SharePoint Online)

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Looking for a solution to move data from your on-premises SharePoint to SharePoint Online? Get the best suitable methods in this blog. Go through this blog and find the most helpful ways to move data from SharePoint on-premises to SharePoint Online.

SharePoint has established itself as the go-to platform for safe internal collaboration globally. Mainly since SharePoint Online was released, the number of SharePoint site collections has increased tremendously. Because Office 365 offers cutting-edge features and functions, early users of on-premises versions like SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010, and SharePoint 2013 increasingly prefer to transition their conventional SharePoint versions to Office 365.

Even the newer versions of SharePoint, like SharePoint 2016 and 2019, will benefit more from Microsoft 365. And increasingly, users are looking for methods to migrate SharePoint to Office 365.

What are the benefits of using Microsoft 365?

There are several facilities offered by Microsoft 365 that form the primary reasons for users wanting to migrate SharePoint to Office 365, and some of them are given below-

Total entourage of MS Office applications – Users of Microsoft Office 365 have access to a wide range of Office programs, including SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Skype for Business. Office can be set up on a variety of platforms, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.

Best collaborative center – The networks and teams can simply connect and efficiently handle tasks. Excellent features help to improve teamwork at work, including chat, documents, task delegation, progress monitoring, project schedules, document management, and other utility apps. After SharePoint on-premises to online migration, each kind of data will continue to work with its great efficiency.

Greater storage limits for mailboxes – The business-class email service offers a complete experience, a 50GB mailbox for each user, and top-notch calendar tools with an Outlook interface.

Conferencing and meetings services – Utilize tools for screen sharing and audio/video conferencing to run online meetings. Even with a spotty internet connection, meetings can be attended easily due to simple features and capabilities.

Innovative analytical apps and enhanced security – While sending files outside the company, good management services ensure that only limited individuals can access emails and documents. All Microsoft Office 365 platforms are protected against data loss and encryption. The analytics tool’s data analysis and visualization features are also quite helpful, and MyAnalytics and Power Business Intelligence also offer interactive reports. These benefits encourage the business to migrate SharePoint to Office 365 containing SharePoint Online.

All these are significant reasons for users to migrate SharePoint to Microsoft 365, involving SharePoint Online as an integral part. It will migrate all the site collections, lists & libraries, workflows, etc.

Migration between 2 separate platforms is not a cakewalk. However, you can opt for either the manual or automated approach to migrate SharePoint to Office 365.

Method-1. Migrate using Microsoft SharePoint Migration Tool

Microsoft introduced the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) as the migration-based assistance tool that migrates data from on-premises SharePoint to Office 365 (SharePoint online). Its simple user interface and basic functionality help migrate complete sites, lists/libraries, and metadata.

The migration will be incremental in which only the new data will move between the SharePoint accounts from the source data and there will be no duplicity.

Which on-premises versions does Microsoft Tool support to migrate SharePoint to Office 365?

The tool supports the SharePoint migration to Office 365 from the following servers-

• SharePoint Server 2016 (Public Preview) to SharePoint Online/OneDrive
• SharePoint Server 2013, SharePoint Foundation 2013 to SharePoint Online/OneDrive
• SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010 to SharePoint Online/OneDrive
• Network and local file shares to SharePoint Online/OneDrive

Being a lightweight migration tool, the SPMT has all the necessary powers to complete a SharePoint migration to Office 365 from various versions, but it is not suitable for moving enterprise-based data, and it is some vital limitations like the following-

• It migrates the data up to 250 GB.
• There are no filtering, customization, or other adaptive features to stop a sizeable and unnecessary data from migration.
• You will get limited information from pre-migration analysis before the software migrates SharePoint to Office 365.
• The migration report also has a limited information related to the migrated items.

Method-2. A Professional Tool for SharePoint to SharePoint Online Migration

We know Microsoft has been providing some free utilities and features allowing users to perform SharePoint to SharePoint Online Migration. But certainly these facilities do not fulfill all the user requirements and are less flexible. In addition, the success of these solutions depends on the technical expertise and skills of the user.

Suppose you want a successful result in migrating SharePoint to SharePoint Online without any internal disturbance, size or number limitation, or pressure. In that case, you must opt for a professional SharePoint migration solution.

Kernel Migrator for SharePoint is the professional migration tool with all the features and adaptive services to select various SharePoint accounts and migrate them unlimitedly. We present you with a detailed software process with each step required to complete a migration from on-premises SharePoint to SharePoint Online in Microsoft 365.

1. Open the software, go to SharePoint (on-premises/Online) and right-click it. Select, and Add New SharePoint Site.
   
2. To add a new site, input a project name, the site URL of the on-premises SharePoint site, Username, and password details. Click OK.
   
3. The tool asks if you want to connect the server as a destination. Click No.
   
4. A new project is connected and added to the source list. Now, go to the destination section and right-click on SharePoint (on-premises/online). Choose, Add New SharePoint site option.
   
5. Input the destination details you provide for the source part and click OK.
   
6. Choose if you want to select the site as a source too. Click either yes/no.
   
7. A project is selected in the destination, and you can check the items from both sources and destinations.
   
8. To start the SharePoint to SharePoint Online migration, choose the items from the source and right-click on them. Select ‘Copy To.’
   
9. The SharePoint-to-SharePoint Migration wizard is open. Click Next.
   
10. There are three options for migrating the site – Migrate as a new Active Site, migrate as an existing site, or migrate as a new subsite of the current site. Choose any one and click Next.
    
11. First, use the Site URL to choose the destination site and click the Browse button to select the subsites. Click Next.
    
12. There will be several properties and attributes that you can select to migrate along with the primary data. Click Next.
    
13. Choose more attributes and click Next.
    
14. Apply all the filters that will shorten the amount of data valid for migration. Then, click Next.
    
15. Choose the option to migrate permissions related to all the items. Click Next.
    
16. Use the schedule feature to select the suitable timing to start the migration. Click Next.
    
17. A summary section shows the selected items for migration, desired destination, chosen features, filters, etc. Click Next.
    
18. The migration will start with a quick transfer of each item.
    
19. As soon as the migration is complete, you can see a completion summary showing a clear status of each item migrated.
    
    Click Finish.

Kernel Migrator for SharePoint is becoming the first choice of users for SharePoint migration to Office 365. This is because of the advanced features for smooth, quick, risk-free migration. It facilitates a highly secure SharePoint on-premises to Online migration while supporting each on-premises versions.

The tool helps you migrate SharePoint permissions easily. It migrates documents, folders, views, list items, web parts, workflows etc. from SharePoint lists and libraries to an existing or new SharePoint Online sites. It also migrates versions along with the data. Inclusion of filters like date, users, files, etc. makes this tool suitable for selective migration. Users can also migrate public folder data from Exchange on-premises, Outlook profiles, and Microsoft 365.

Conclusion

Apart from using the free SharePoint Migration tool, there is no other manual method for SharePoint migration from on-premises to Online. Due to the many limitations associated with the tool, it is better to use Kernel Migrator for SharePoint and migrate SharePoint to Office 365 with great speed, accuracy, and efficiency. It can move unlimited site collections, lists, libraries, and other items from SharePoint.