Copying OneDrive files from one account to another is much easier. An individual user can migrate their own OneDrive files by simply downloading and uploading. But if an organization needs to transfer its OneDrive documents to another tenant. Then the process will become hard. In this guide, I am going to explain how you can migrate OneDrive data to another account in many different ways.

Table of Content

Why Do Users Need to Copy Data From OneDrive to Another Account?

There are various reasons why admins or users might need to copy or move files to another OneDrive account. Below, I have listed the most common reasons behind this operation:

  • When an employee leaves the organization, the IT admin has to keep their data in place because of compliance requirements.
  • Business dynamics increase year by year. They divide their departments or create new ones based on their growth. Due to restructuring of the companies, they also have to move their respective data.
  • To get more advanced features and storage, organizations upgrade their Office 365 subscription plan. In this, they have to move their OneDrive data from the old subscription to the new one.
  • If the organization is merging or acquiring another company. They would need to migrate their crucial OneDrive for Business account to the main company.
  • The company is changing from an old domain to a new one. Along with changing their brand name, they also have to move their documents and files from the old domain to the new domain.
  • Some businesses have to migrate OneDrive for Business tenant-to-tenant for security and compliance purposes.

Apart from these reasons, there are several user-end reasons.

Scenarios to Migrate OneDrive Files to Another OneDrive Account

In perspective of enterprise, there are scenarios where they need to move their data. First is within the same account or cross-tenant migration.

Migration within the same account means that transferring one user’s cloud storage files and folders to another user within the same Microsoft 365 domain. Here, you only move the selected user data, and it is easier and faster.

Cross-tenant migration means that you are moving your cloud storage files from one Microsoft 365 domain to another domain. In this, you are moving data from one domain or tenant to another, where all the user account data will be the transfer at one place.

So, you must know whether you are transferring your data within the same domain or cross-tenant to use the appropriate method.

Practices You Must Do Before Migrating OneDrive For Business Data

To make the process much easier and smoother, below I am going to share some expert tips that you must follow before you undergo the manual process.

  • Check the old OneDrive data that you want to move. Remove any duplicates or unnecessary files to make the process faster cuts costs of your process.
  • If you find any files that exceed the file size limits of your target environment. Split them into multiple small files or compress them.
  • Create a CSV file where you must enter all the source and destination email addresses for mapping.
  • Make sure all the documents have the same access or permissions.
  • Notify your users in advance about the migration. So that they are aware of potential errors.
  • You must have proper administrator permission for both accounts with valid email credentials.
  • Create a OneDrive backup to prevent data loss error happening during the procedure.

Transfer OneDrive for Business Files to Another Account Via Download & Upload

This method is suitable if you have to perform this task for a few accounts with limited data. It requires you to manually log in to the source account, copy files, and then log in to the destination account to upload them.

Check out the short steps below:

  1. Navigate to the OneDrive login page from a web browser. Use the source OneDrive for Business account credentials to log in.
  2. Create a folder named Backup. Now select the required files and folders that you want to migrate. You can select multiple files by holding the Ctrl key while clicking.
  3. Move all these files and folders to the Backup folder. Click Download to download the selected files to your local device.
  4. The Backup folder will be downloaded in a .zip file. Now, extract the folder and save it as the Backup folder on your local system.
  5. Following Step 1, browse to the OneDrive account in another browser, use the target account credentials, and log in.
  6. Navigate to the Backup folder on your local system. Now upload it by clicking on the Add New >> Folder Upload button.

Following these steps, you can transfer files from one OneDrive account to another account, but it might seem like a repetitive and time-consuming task to you. Moreover, if you have several user accounts, then this approach might not be suitable for you.

Note: If you have many data files to download, it might take several hours or days, depending on the internet bandwidth.

Manual Transfer OneDrive Files to Another Account Via the Admin Center

  1. Log in to the Microsoft Admin Center in your browser. You will find a list of active users on the main screen.
  2. Search for the desired user account. For demonstration purposes, I am taking the example of a Test MJ user. Click on the User name and navigate to the OneDrive tab.
    test mj account
  3. Now, navigate to Get access to files and click on Create link to files.
    test mj account onedrive tab
  4. It will generate a link to the user’s OneDrive files. Click on the provided link to access the user’s OneDrive location.
    test mj account onedrive link
  5. Here you can see the list of files and folders available in the source user’s OneDrive.
    test user onedrive account
  6. Select all files and folders by clicking to the left of the Name column, or choose specific files and folders. Click Download at the top. The files will be downloaded as a .zip file to your downloads folder.
    test-mj-file-download
  7. Now, extract the files and folders from the .zip file.
    test mj account onedrive file local downloaded
  8. Following the same steps, access the target OneDrive for Business account in the admin center. For demonstration purposes, I am using the Test User account.
    test-user-account.webp
  9. Similarly, click on Create a link to view and edit the user’s OneDrive files. Click on the link to access the target Test User OneDrive account.
    test user account onedrive tab link
  10. Click on the Add new button and choose Upload folder. Choose the extracted zip folder and click Upload to transfer OneDrive files to another OneDrive account.
    test user account-upload

Following the above steps, you can easily transfer files to another OneDrive account.

How to Transfer Files from One OneDrive Account to Another via Power Automate

Instructions in Power Automate:

  1. Log in to the Power Automate portal with an admin/source/destination account.
  2. On the left-hand side panel, go to Templates.
  3. In the Template search bar (not the main search bar), type:
    “Copy files from one OneDrive for Business account or folder to another.”</span>
    If you are looking to transfer between two business/enterprise accounts. Otherwise, drop the word “Business” from your search and redo the search.
  4. Select any one of the 4 templates from the results (they are all the same; our recommendation would be to go with the one with the highest number).
  5. Scroll down a bit until you see the option:
    “This flow will connect to: OneDrive Sign in.”
    Click on Sign in and enter the source account credentials, then press Continue.
  6. As soon as the Flow construction page loads, you will see a red caution sign with “Invalid parameters”.
    No need to worry—this appears because you have not yet assigned a source folder.
  7. Simply click on the flow box. In the Unique Folder Identifier bar, use the folder icon to select the particular folder whose items you want to transfer. Otherwise, you can also use “/”.
    This value tells the flow to run at the root level, covering every item in the source OneDrive account.

Advanced Settings of Flow Execution and Scheduling

Under Advanced Parameter Options, switch the Include subfolders flag to Yes. This is done to recreate the nested folder structure.

For example:

MyFolder/

├── File1.txt

├── Subfolder1/

│   ├── File2.txt

│   └── File3.txt

└── Subfolder2/

└── File4.txt

Which would otherwise just copy the parent, and your content will look like (missing most of the actual data):
CopyEdit
MyFolder/

├── File1.txt

├── Subfolder1/

└── Subfolder2/

  1. Keep the Infer Content Type flag as Yes (its default value).
    This is used to select the content type (e.g., Word document, Excel spreadsheet, image, PDF) of the files it’s processing.
  2. Next, there is the “How often do you want to check for items?” setting:
    • Interval: Maximum time between two consecutive runs.
    • Frequency: The time unit (select from: Second, Minute, Hour, Day, Week, Month).
    • Time zone: The time zone for the schedule.
    • Start time (Optional): The specific date and time for the first run, in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ). If blank, the flow starts immediately upon activation and then follows the schedule.
  3. Once all settings are complete, collapse the panel and go to the Create file box.
  4. Hover over the chain link icon at the bottom right corner of the box.
  5. Click on Change connection, then Add new, and complete the sign-in with the target account.
  6. Redo folder path selections; let File Name and File Content remain in their default path.
  7. Collapse the left pane and Save.
  8. Hit Test.

To trigger it, add a file/folder in the root/path you mentioned in the source.
Soon, you will see that a copy of the same data will be recreated in the target.

Shortcomings of using Power Automate – 

  • Need account credentials for both users.
  • Only triggers when the data enters.
  • One-to-one account transfer.
  • Multiple uses threaten credential leakage.
  • Basic template: the original file/folder stays in the source account.

Use a PowerShell Script to Carry out the Transfer Between OneDrive

# Run PowerShell as administrator and install necessary modules
Install-Module MSOnline

Install-Module SharePointPnPPowerShellOnline

# Prompt for user input

$departingUserEmail = Read-Host “Enter the departing user’s email”

$destinationUserEmail = Read-Host “Enter the destination user’s email”

$adminUsername = Read-Host “Enter the Global Admin username”

# Get admin credentials and connect to services

$adminCredentials = Get-Credential -Credential $adminUsername

Connect-MsolService -Credential $adminCredentials

# Get initial domain and SharePoint Admin URL

$initialDomain = (Get-MsolDomain | Where-Object {$_.IsInitial -eq $true}).Name.Split(“.”)[0]

$sharePointAdminURL = “https://$initialDomain-admin.sharepoint.com”

# Format OneDrive URLs

$departingOneDriveSite = “https://$initialDomain-my.sharepoint.com/personal/$($departingUserEmail -replace ‘[^a-zA-Z]’, ‘_’)”

$destinationOneDriveSite = “https://$initialDomain-my.sharepoint.com/personal/$($destinationUserEmail -replace ‘[^a-zA-Z]’, ‘_’)”

# Connect to SharePoint Online

Connect-SPOService -Url $sharePointAdminURL -Credential $adminCredentials

# Grant admin access

Set-SPOUser -Site $departingOneDriveSite -LoginName $adminUsername -IsSiteCollectionAdmin $true

Set-SPOUser -Site $destinationOneDriveSite -LoginName $adminUsername -IsSiteCollectionAdmin $true

# Connect to departing user’s OneDrive

Connect-PnPOnline -Url $departingOneDriveSite -Credentials $adminCredentials

$departingUser = Get-PnPSiteCollectionAdmin | Where-Object {$_.LoginName -match $departingUserEmail} | Select-Object -First 1

$departingUserTitle = if ($departingUser) { $departingUser.Title } else { “Departing User” }

# Define paths

$departingOneDrivePath = “/personal/$($departingUserEmail -replace ‘[^a-zA-Z]’, ‘_’)/Documents”

$destinationOneDrivePath = “/personal/$($destinationUserEmail -replace ‘[^a-zA-Z]’, ‘_’)/Documents/$departingUserTitle’s Files”

$destinationOneDriveSiteRelativePath = “Documents/$departingUserTitle’s Files”

# Get items from the departing user’s OneDrive

$items = Get-PnPListItem -List Documents -PageSize 1000

# Log large files

$largeItems = $items | Where-Object {[long]$_.FieldValues.SMTotalFileStreamSize -ge 261095424 -and $_.FileSystemObjectType -eq “File”}

if ($largeItems) {

$largeItems | ForEach-Object {

“$(Get-Date) – Size: $([math]::Round($_.FieldValues.SMTotalFileStreamSize / 1MB,2)) MB Path: $($_.FieldValues.FileRef)”

} | Out-File C:\LargeFiles.txt

Write-Host “Large files list saved to C:\LargeFiles.txt” -ForegroundColor Yellow

}

# Get files and folders to migrate

$validItems = $items | Where-Object {[long]$_.FieldValues.SMTotalFileStreamSize -lt 261095424 -or $_.FileSystemObjectType -eq “Folder”}

$folders = $validItems | Where-Object {$_.FileSystemObjectType -eq “Folder”}

$files = $validItems | Where-Object {$_.FileSystemObjectType -eq “File”}

# Connect to the destination user’s OneDrive

Connect-PnPOnline -Url $destinationOneDriveSite -Credentials $adminCredentials

# Create folder structure

foreach ($folder in $folders) {

$path = $folder.FieldValues.FileRef -replace [regex]::Escape($departingOneDrivePath), $destinationOneDriveSiteRelativePath

Ensure-PnPFolder -SiteRelativePath $path

}

# Copy files

$fileErrors = @()

foreach ($file in $files) {

$destPath = $file.FieldValues.FileDirRef -replace [regex]::Escape($departingOneDrivePath), $destinationOneDrivePath

Copy-PnPFile -SourceUrl $file.FieldValues.FileRef -TargetUrl $destPath -OverwriteIfAlreadyExists -Force -ErrorVariable errors -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

$fileErrors += $errors

}

$fileErrors | Out-File C:\fileErrors.txt

# Revoke admin access

Set-SPOUser -Site $departingOneDriveSite -LoginName $adminUsername -IsSiteCollectionAdmin $false

Set-SPOUser -Site $destinationOneDriveSite -LoginName $adminUsername -IsSiteCollectionAdmin $false

Write-Host “Migration completed!” -ForegroundColor Green

Shortcomings of Manual Methods

Although the manual methods are free to use, they have several downsides. Some of them are as follows:

  • If you use the admin center to create shared links of files, you must have admin credentials and the right permissions.
  • Using these links, anyone can access these files, which poses a critical security threat to organizations’ privacy policies, as they can be exposed to cybercrime and can result in malware, hacking, or cyberattacks.
  • If you have bulk user accounts to migrate, then opting for the admin center or download and upload method will take days to complete, since you have to manually log in to each user account and do the rest of the process as discussed above.
  • With the manual methods, you can not apply any date filter for selective data transfer from the source OneDrive account to the target.
  • Unlike the automated software, the manual methods do not offer any dashboard to monitor the migration process, leaving admins unaware of any errors that might occur during the migration.
  • You can not download migration reports while using manual methods, making it impossible to document these migrations for future reference.

It is evident from the above shortcomings that manual methods can never be an ideal approach for enterprise-grade data migration in OneDrive for Business accounts. As it can result in complex data management, time-consuming, cumbersome tasks, and data integrity issues.

Hence, it is always a great idea to switch to the right approach to move OneDrive files to another account, which can simplify the complex migration with ease. Let’s discuss such a solution in the coming section.

Quick and Reliable Approach for Copying Files from OneDrive to Another Account

When it comes to the most reliable and professional way of copying OneDrive files to another OneDrive account, I always suggest the SysTools OneDrive for Business Migration Tool, which is the very efficient tool for Office 365 administrators. It is a highly advanced cloud migration and management software that assists in the transfer of data between OneDrive for Business accounts easily, and not just that.

Download Now Purchase Now

It simplifies transferring files by making everything automatic with just one click, and it isn’t just specific to OneDrive since it also supports different migration scenarios, such as Office 365 migration, Teams migration, and SharePoint migration. Let’s discuss the most prominent features in brief.

Some Features of This Software That Make It a One-Stop Solution

  • This utility migrates several users’ OneDrive data using the Admin account in a single go.
  • The utility offers a delta migration option to transfer newly arrived items.
  • Offers a modern Date-based filter option for selective data transfer.
  • Supports various document items such as photos, doc files, PDF files, etc.
  • It maintains the data/file integrity and hierarchy while migrating to another account.

Must Read: Migrate Office 365 Shared Mailbox Data to User Mailbox – Know Procedure

Step-by-Step Detailed Working Guide of Software
  1. In the very first step, download the utility from the button above, then install and run it on your computer. Select Office 365 as the source and destination migration platform.select platforms
  2. Select Document, enable Migrate Document Permissions, and allow the Use Group Mapping option. Use the date filter if required to migrate selective data, and then click Next to transfer OneDrive files to another account.choose documents
  3. Now, log in with the source and destination Admin credentials, such as Admin Email and Application ID. Then, validate permissions and click Next to move OneDrive data to another account.steps
  4. Here, create a user group mapping between the source and destination (if you want to migrate OneDrive data). For this task, you have three options to use. Let’s use an imported CSV file. Click on Download Template, enter the source and destination users, and move to validate the required permissions.create mapping for bulk Copy OneDrive Files
  5. Once a user mapping is created, validate it by clicking the Validate button. Then click on the Start Migration button to migrate OneDrive to another account.Copy OneDrive Files to Another OneDrive Account

Try Before You Buy

Take advantage of the free demo version to assess tool functionality. Migrate a limited set of accounts to evaluate compatibility and performance. Moreover, the demo version can migrate OneDrive for Business to another tenant for two users’ accounts for free. You do not need to pay anything for these two accounts. In this way, you can self-verify the workings of this utility before purchasing the full version.

Conclusion

As I discussed above, the manual method is quite time-consuming and unsuitable for large data transfers in OneDrive. Hence, by using the software as mentioned earlier, it becomes quite easy for novice users to copy OneDrive files to another OneDrive account.</p>

Migrating OneDrive data to another account can be a simple process if you follow the right approach. The manual method is quite time-consuming, and it is not suitable for large data transfers in OneDrive, as discussed above. Hence, by using the above-mentioned software and following the respective steps, you can easily move your important files, documents, and photos to a new OneDrive account.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I copy a OneDrive file to another account without downloading?
Downloadless transfer is indeed possible, but you have to be well-versed with Power Automate, PowerShell, or other technical-intensive parts of O365. For business scenarios, the tool is an excellent alternative as it consists of a simple GUI dashboard that makes transfers super easy.

Q: Can anyone attempt the admin center method of inter-account OneDrive transfers?
No, before heading forward, you need to ensure you possess SharePoint administrative privileges to configure OneDrive settings. Because it is a part of the SharePoint suite and a file experience for the SharePoint server, it offers content services for all files in Microsoft 365, including files you work with in Teams, Yammer, and Outlook.

Q: How long will it take to copy a OneDrive file between two accounts?
There is no fixed time interval; it can take anywhere from a few hours to entire months, depending on the size and scope of your transfer. If it’s 1 or 2 files between two personal accounts, then it should not take too long. On the contrary, organization-wide transfers are significantly bigger projects that need adequate planning and a proper roadmap. Even in such a scenario, using the right tool can be the difference-maker.