Migrate Teams from One Tenant to Another Using Most Effectively Way

Synopsis: Migrating Teams from one tenant to another can be exhausting due to its multilocation integration in storage facilities in Microsoft 365. Additionally, Microsoft does not provide any way or tool to perform this task. Thus, in this write-up, I have described the most secure way to perform this data transfer, while ensuring data security and business continuity. 

In 2016, when Microsoft launched Teams, that time no one could have anticipated that the journey of Microsoft’s Teams would go this high in such a short period. And later on,  it significantly changed the workplace collaboration within the organization. According to Statista’s recent report, the daily active users of Microsoft Teams have risen in the past year, increasing from 270 million users in 2022 to 300 million in 2023 and 320 million in 2024.

Moreover, the rapid growth of the work-from-home environment (in the COVID scenario) has never been more manageable than with Microsoft Teams. Being a communication-based collaboration platform, it supports document sharing, online meetings, and many more extremely useful features that help in better business communications and productivity.

Despite being the most loved collaboration platform, users still find themselves helpless when it comes to migrating MS Teams from one tenant to another. Microsoft does not provide any software or method to perform this data transfer.  

Let’s have a quick look at a real-life scenario to understand the pain point of users:

If you are looking for a quick yet effective solution, then I suggest you use the software and follow the steps below to perform this task without any manual intervention.

Pre-Migration Tips for Microsoft Teams Tenant Migration

Personally before starting the migration process, I follow this checklist to make sure everything is working and accessible. Here’s a quick checklist that you can follow before starting the process:

• Verify Admin Access: Make sure that the admin has global admin access to both source and destination tenants.
• License Validation: Deeply go through all required Microsoft 365 licenses to ensure they are assigned properly and are accessible.
• Domain Preparation: Ensure that you have added and verified the required domains in the new tenant before starting the process of migration.
• User Mapping Plan: Map all the source users with destination users to ensure that all data remains organised and accurate.
• Backup Teams Data: All the team members take a backup of their important files to avoid the risk of data loss. 
• Notify End Users: Let others users know about the migration schedule in advance to avoid any kind of confusion or hassle.

By following this checklist there is a guarantee of a smooth transition and the best user experience.

5 Quick Steps to Migrate Teams from One Tenant to Another

• Step 1. Download and Run the Tool on a PC.
• Step 2. Opt Office 365 as Source and Destination.
• Step 3. Enable the Teams and Channels Category.
• Step 4. Provide O365 Source and Target Credentials.
• Step 5. Add User IDs and Click on Start Migration.

Why Do Users Find It Challenging to Migrate MS Teams Data to a New Tenant?

Unlike other Microsoft 365 software, MS Teams manages the storage of its data in a more complicated way; moreover, API limitations, chances of data loss, etc, make it challenging to execute. Apart from this, the Microsoft Teams security and privacy settings also pose challenges in gathering data to manually transfer it to the destination Teams. 

Some of the real-case challenges are as follows:

1. Multilocation Storage Facility – The most challenging task users face when it comes to locating Teams data files. It stores data in various locations in different file formats as follows:

1. • Channel Post – Teams saves its channel posts to a hidden Exchange mailbox for compliance purposes.
   • Files Shared during Channel Post – A newly created SharePoint site stores each Team’s files, and a newly created document library stores each channel’s files. 
   • Emails Sent to Channels – These are stored in a folder named ‘Email messages’ within the channel document library.
   • 1:1 and Group Messages – Saved in a hidden folder within the user’s mailbox that is only accessible via eDiscovery.
   • Images Stored during Posts – These files are stored in a separate media store on Azure AD (using Blob storage).
   • Files in 1:1 Chat: Stored in OneDrive for Business.
2. Teams API Limitation – There are variations in the APIs, which themselves have several limitations, particularly when retrieving Teams channel post data; sometimes, it can lead to crucial data loss as well, while migrating data manually.
3. Data Integrity – When you move a dynamic group to the destination, it gets changed into a static group. Hence, this is the most significant challenge for users: to keep the file and folder data structure and integrity.
4. Possible Chances of Data Loss – When users try to migrate Teams settings to another tenant, they end up losing the respective setting at the destination. Also, third-party integrated apps and tabs can not be migrated to Target as they are integrated using the connectors, and you would eventually have to lose them.

Microsoft does not offer any direct solution or software that users can utilize to perform this task in Teams. Hence, the users have to migrate each data to the destination Teams and channels manually. Now, there must be a question in your mind then “How to perform this migration?” Let’s discuss it in detail.

Manual Methods to Migrate Microsoft Teams (And Their Limitations)

Before directly exploring an automated solution, I tried some manual ways to migrate Teams from one tenant to another. These methods are easy to use but they come with limitations. Here are easy and free manual methods and their limitations:

1. PowerShell-Based Export (Limited Capabilities)
   Using the PowerShell method to export data is a common method, but it does not help in migrating Teams completely. Important data like conversations, private channels, and metadata are not fully accessible or unavailable.
2. SharePoint and OneDrive Manual Copy
   As Teams stores all its data files in SharePoint and OneDrive, I also tried to manually copy data from these two locations. However, this method is only able to move files; it doesn’t carry chats, permissions, or complete data. So it is incomplete.
3. Recreating Teams Manually
   Another manual method is rebuilding everything manually such as Teams and channels from the previous tenant to the new one. But the limitation is that it is time-consuming and requires manual effort because of manual work the chances of human error are high. 

Conclusion
Even though these options are available, they don’t offer a complete or reliable way to migrate data. Additionally, they fail to keep the data structure as it was and properly connect across different Teams components.

Manual vs Automated Teams Migration

Here are the differences between manual and automated solutions:

• Time Required
  • Manual Methods: Very time-consuming and required a lot of manual work
  • Automated Tool: Complete the process swiftly and no manual effort is required
• Risk of Data Loss
  • Manual Methods: High risk of data loss because of errors and limitations
  • Automated Tool: Handle the data more securely and the risk of data loss is minimal because no manual work is required
• Data Coverage
  • Manual Methods: Most of the time the migration is incomplete and they miss important data like chats and metadata
  • Automated Tool: Make sure that each and every component gets migrated properly without leaving anything behind.
• Complexity
  • Manual Methods: These methods are very complicated and require technical knowledge
  • Automated Tool: This is a very easy-to-use method as the process is completely automated and it has a user-friendly interface.

Conclusion:
Based on my experience, I can say that manual methods are not reliable and take a lot of time while professional tools make the process easier while keeping the data safe and secure during the process of migration.

Using Software to Migrate Teams from One Tenant to Another Safely and Quickly

It is evident from the above that manually migrating Teams data is impractical due to the above scenarios. Therefore, I suggest using SysTools Microsoft Teams Migrator to perform any Teams migration efficiently and securely. When I tried to migrate the Teams data from one tenant to another, it seamlessly migrated the data without any downtime or data loss. Let’s discuss some of the noteworthy features that make it outstanding.

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Software Features That Make It a Prime Choice of Administrators

It comes with several modern features that make the migration a breeze. Moreover, it eliminates the chances of data loss while migrating Teams from One Tenant to another. Some of the software features are as follows:

• It safely migrates Teams, channels, groups, files, channel posts, etc.
• Provision to automatically create Teams and Channels in the Target account. 
• Also migrate Channels’ message body, formatting, date, and time, etc.
• Able to migrate data from Organizational, Private & Public Teams to another.
• Transfers attachments, emojis, GIFs, Announcements, replies, conversations, etc.
• Keeps file and folder structure intact throughout the migration.
• Also, it migrates Teams chat from one user to another without any data loss.
• Offers delta migration to migrate newly arrived data from the source.
• Compatible with Windows OS 10 and 11 (64-bit).

Also read about: How to perform Office 365 tenant to tenant migration – A step by step guide

Detailed Working Steps of Software to Migrate Teams from One Tenant to Another

Step 1. Download and install the software on your computer. Select ‘Office 365’ as both the source and destination.

Step 2. Now choose the required items from the workload selection for Teams, enable the Teams and Channels checkbox, and click Next to migrate Teams from one tenant to another.

Step 3. Use your source and destination Office 365 admin credentials to log in and validate the respective permissions.

Step 4. Create mapping for Users, Teams, and Groups, respectively. You can choose any of these three methods, i.e., Fetch Users, Import Users, or Download template, and validate the required permission.

Step 5. Select the required Teams and hit the Start Migration button to migrate Teams from one tenant to another. 

Step 6. Once migration is completed, click on the Mark teams completed option. 

Step 7. Lastly, select the required groups’ IDs and click on the Start Migration to migrate Teams to new tenants.

Must read: Microsoft Teams Chat Disappeared? Here is How to Fix It.

What Data Can Be Migrated in Microsoft Teams?

Before starting the process of migration, it is always best to understand was what data will be moved after the process. Here are the things that can be moved:

• Teams and Channels:  The complete and well-structured including both the public and private Teams.
• Chat Messages: One-on-one personal chats as well as group conversations.
• Files (SharePoint & OneDrive): All the documents shared by every team member in Teams channels and chats.
• Metadata:  All the details like timestamps, message formatting, and other properties.
• Permissions: User roles and access settings remain the same as it is.

Knowing all the things that are getting moved in advance gives reassurance that nothing will get left behind during the migration process.

Bringing It All Together 

With the rapid growth of mergers and acquisition activities within business organizations, the demand to migrate Teams from one tenant to another has also increased. Since Microsoft Teams has a highly integrated architecture, manually lifting and shifting the Teams data seems impossible. Therefore, to address the pain point of users, I have described the most secure and trustworthy software solution to execute this data transfer without facing any downtime. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What does it mean to migrate Teams from one tenant to another?

Simply put, a user or administrator wants to relocate Teams’ channels, posts, files, and other Teams databases to another Teams environment or a new tenant connected to their specific Microsoft 365 admin account.

Q2. Why would someone want to migrate Microsoft Teams to a new tenant or another?

There could be several reasons behind this, for example, in situations like company mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, moving to a different Microsoft 365 subscription, or separating Teams into a separate M365 environment. All of these situations require users/admins to migrate their Teams data to another or a new tenant.

Q3. What is the process to migrate Teams from one tenant to another?

Several steps are involved in migrating Teams from one tenant to another, including preparing both tenants for the migration, exporting and importing data, and verifying that the migration was successful. Most importantly, the selection of the right approach and software plays a crucial role in the entire process. If you opt for the above software, then you can follow the above 5 quick and hassle-free steps to perform the same.

Q4. What are the prerequisites for migrating Teams from one tenant to another?

Before migrating Teams to new tenants, make sure you have administrative access to both the source and destination tenants. Moreover, you must have a migration plan in place and ensure that you have the necessary licenses and permissions.

Q5. Can you migrate Teams from one tenant to another manually?

It is not practical to manually migrate Teams from one tenant to another. It can be a time-consuming and complex process that requires a high level of technical expertise. Moreover, due to various API limitations, it could lead to data loss. For more info, go to the challenges section of this write-up.

Q6. Is there any software available that can help migrate Teams to new tenants?

Yes, there are several third-party tools and software available that can greatly help with Teams data migration; however, professional software, as discussed above, is always recommended.

Q7. How long does it take to migrate Teams data to a new tenant?

No defined time can be predicted for Teams migration. It varies according to the size and complexity of the migration. It could take several hours to several days. However, by selecting software wisely, you can reduce the time required for this entire task.

Q8. Is there something to be done after migrating Teams from one tenant to another?

When the migration is completed, it is essential to perform an  Office 365 post-migration checklist. This includes ensuring that all data has been successfully transferred, ensuring that users can access their content in the new tenant, and updating any necessary settings or configurations. It is also critical to inform all affected users about the migration and to provide any necessary training or support.