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Migrate Google Groups to Office 365 (Emails, Members & Permissions)

  Tej Pratap Shukla
Written By Tej Pratap Shukla
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh  
Modified On January 7th, 2026
Reading Time 7 Minutes Reading

When an organization moves its Google Workspace account, they also have to migrate Google Groups to Office 365. It is not a simple task, as users have to transfer their Group emails, memberships, and access permissions. To help you in this, I am going to explain properly move their G Suite Groups to Office 365.

Table of Contents
  1. What Data Will Migrate from Google Groups to Office 365?
  2. Manually Add Google Groups to Office 365
  3. Phase 1: Export Google Group Data
  4. Phase 2: Convert Exported Data to Acceptable Format
  5. Phase 3: Add Converted Data to Microsoft 365
  6. Transfer Google Groups Emails to Office 365 Groups
  7. Drawbacks of the Above Methods
  8. Move Google Group Shared Data to Microsoft 365
  9. Conclusion

Just like Google, Microsoft 365 also has Groups features for collaborating through Outlook and Teams. It is a replacement of G Suite distribution list. However, it is not possible to directly transfer your Google Group data to Microsoft. Because of one wrong move, you may miss your members, lose group emails, or the communication flows will break.

Don’t worry, I will help you in this process. But, before that, you need to decide whether you want to retain your Google Group access after migration or deactivate the Google Workspace and move the data to Microsoft 365.

What Data Will Migrate from Google Groups to Office 365?

Many of you have a question about what Group data you migrated. This is a common query, and it is important to know what you can successfully migrate or what requires more handling. To understand this, you have to know how Google Groups will migrate to Microsoft 365.

Usually, when you say you want to migrate the Google Groups. It means that you are recreating the Grousp in Microsoft 365 as Office 365 groups or Distribution lists. Whichever method you use, you can transfer this data.

  • Group email address
  • Group members
  • Group owners or managers
  • Partial Group permissions
  • According to the method Group conversations or emails
  • Some attachments

By understanding this, you can decide which data you most need and which you do not. Now, let’s go to the methods to migrate Google Groups to Office 365.

Manually Add Google Groups to Office 365

Migrating the Google Groups to Microsoft 365 is not a quick method. You have to first export the Google Groups data, convert it to Office 365, and then move to the Microsoft 365 Groups. This is a lengthy process, so I am going to divide it into 3 phases for you. The first one is to store your Google Groups Data

Phase 1: Export Google Group Data

Here, I am going to use Google’s proprietary Data Export mechanism to pull data out from Google Groups.

  1. As a Google Admin, go to the Admin console.
  2. Menu > Data > Data import & export > Data Export.
  3. Click “Set up new export.”
  4. Give your export a name and choose “Export all user data for the entire organization.”
  5. Deselect all and only choose Google Groups from the service list.
  6. Set your date range, choose “Google-provided Cloud bucket” for the destination, and pick your region (United States, Europe, or No preference).
  7. Then, click “Start export.”
    click start export button
  8. After the export is complete, check the email notification for a link or go to the Admin console (Data > Data import & export > Data Export) and click the export name. Then, under Actions, choose “View Archive”.
  9. Now, visit the Cloud Storage UI (remember to use the same account admin credentials you used for the export), find the root folder. It contains a zip file(or tgz) with your Google Groups data.
  10. Extract the Group Data ZIP file and then check that everything is downloaded.
  11. If you want, you can save the file to another location.

Phase 2: Convert Exported Data to Acceptable Format

There are 3 distinct parts within the unzipped folder:

  • Group information (CSV) – name, description.
  • Group memberships (CSV) – each member’s email and role.
  • Group posts (MBOX) – all the discussion threads.

As the data is in an MBOX file, you can not deposit it in the M365 platform directly. You have to convert MBOX into PST. Then, you will be able to move it to Office 365.

Phase 3: Add Converted Data to Microsoft 365

You need PowerShell cmdlets to move the file to the Microsoft Provision Groups & Members (PowerShell).

  1. Transform Google CSV → PS objects
    $raw = Import‑Csv “C:\Takeout\Group information.csv”
    $groups = $raw | Select‑Object `
    @{Name=’DisplayName’; Expression={$_. ‘Group name’}}, `
    @{Name=’Alias’; Expression={(($_.’Group email address’) -split ‘@’)[0]}}, `
    @{Name=’EmailAddresses’; Expression={ ($_.Alias + “@groups.yourdomain.com”) }}, `
    @{Name=’Description’; Expression={$_. ‘Group description’}}, `
    @{Name=’AccessType’; Expression={‘Private’}}
  2. Create Groups
    Connect‑ExchangeOnline -ShowBanner:$false
    foreach ($g in $groups) {
    New‑UnifiedGroup `
    -DisplayName $g.DisplayName `
    -Alias $g.Alias `
    -EmailAddresses $g.EmailAddresses `
    -AccessType $g.AccessType `
    -Description $g.Description
    }
  3. Import & Add Members/Owners
    $members = Import‑Csv “C:\Takeout\Group memberships.csv”
    foreach ($m in $members) {
    Add‑UnifiedGroupLinks -Identity $m.GroupName -LinkType Members -Links $m.MemberEmail
    if ($m.Role -eq ‘OWNER’) {
    Add‑UnifiedGroupLinks -Identity $m.GroupName -LinkType Owners -Links $m.MemberEmail
    }
    }Disconnect‑ExchangeOnline -Confirm:$false
    Then, Import PSTs into Group Mailboxes

    • Assign Import Role
      Connect‑ExchangeOnline
      Add‑RoleGroupMember -Identity “Organization Management” -Member [email protected]
      Disconnect‑ExchangeOnline
    • Upload PSTs: Get the SAS URL from Compliance → Information governance → Import → Network upload.
      With AzCopy:
      C:\AzCopy\azcopy.exe copy “C:\PSTs\*.pst” “<Your‑SAS‑URL>” –recursive
    • Create & Run Import Job: In the Compliance portal, + New import job → Network upload.
  4. Upload your mapping CSV:
    Workload, FilePath, Name, Mailbox
    Exchange, C:\PSTs\Marketing Team.pst,MarketingTeam,[email protected]
    Exchange,C:\PSTs\IT All Hands.pst,ITAllHands,[email protected]
  5. Finally, submit the job and start working.

If you already created Microsoft 365 Groups and want to move the emails from the Google Groups. Then, you can use this next method.

Transfer Google Groups Emails to Office 365 Groups

In this, ask your Google Group members to forward their emails to the newly created Microsoft 365 Group. This option allows you to resend the email not migrated, or it applies to very small groups.

  1. Start by creating the Microsoft 365 Group and copying the email address.
  2. Request each member of the Google Group to forward their group messages to the newly created Office 365 Group email.
  3. Configure the Outlook rules by following these steps.
    • Go to Settings (gear icon) > View all Outlook settings > Mail > Rules.
    • Add a new rule.
    • Name it.
    • Then, set a condition (e.g., “Subject includes”).
    • Set the action: “Forward to” [Microsoft 365 Group address].
    • Save.
  4. After that, repeat this process for every message and discussion thread.

Drawbacks of the Above Methods

You have seen the manual methods. Now you must also know the limitations of using them.

  • There is a high risk of data loss. Whichever manual method you use, some Group conversations, attachments, and threading may not properly migrate.
  • The option is lengthy, so it takes time to export, convert, and import your data, which makes it time-consuming.
  • When using a PowerShell script and a compliance portal, you may need technical expertise.
  • It is not possible to migrate hundreds of Google Groups to Office 365.

So, you may get several challenges in using the manual method. Creating a group of the same members in Microsoft 365 is easy. But the data that you have shared in the Google Group with Office 365 is a tricky process. For this, I have a brilliant method for you.

Move Google Group Shared Data to Microsoft 365

When it comes to transferring the data that is shared in the Google Groups. Use the SysTools Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 Migrator. A professional tool that can easily migrate all your resources into the Microsoft environment. This is a great software that can easily move all your emails, contacts, calendars, and documents to Office 365 with proper permission.

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Conclusion

In this post, I have explained ways migrate Google Groups to Office 365 groups. Here, I have provided a lengthy manual process to move your groups. Along with it, provided a way to move your Google Group emails to already created Microsoft 365 Groups. They are simple and free, but also contain limitations which I have mentioned properly. Lastly, I have mentioned a software that can help you move your shared Google Group data without any issues.