Microsoft 365 Migration App (Migration Manager) — Complete 2026 Guide

The "Microsoft 365 migration app" people search for is officially called Migration Manager — Microsoft's free, built-in migration tool that lives in the SharePoint admin center. It moves files from Google Workspace (Drive), Box, Dropbox, Egnyte, and on-premises file shares into SharePoint and OneDrive. It does not migrate email — that's a separate set of native tools in the Exchange admin center.

We use Migration Manager on real client projects, so this guide covers what the documentation glosses over: agent setup, real throughput, throttling behavior, and the scenarios where "free" ends up costing you a weekend.

What Migration Manager migrates (and what it doesn't)

Setting it up — the short version

1. SharePoint admin center → Migration center. Pick your source (Google, Box, Dropbox, Egnyte, file shares).
2. Cloud sources: authenticate with a source admin account, let Microsoft scan, then map source users/drives to M365 destinations. CSV bulk mapping supported.
3. File shares: install the Migration Manager agent on one or more Windows machines that can reach the shares. More agents = more parallel throughput.
4. Scan first. The pre-scan flags blocked files, path-length issues, and permission problems BEFORE you burn a weekend on a failed batch. Fix what it flags.
5. Pilot one user/drive, verify, then batch the rest.

The limits that bite

• Throttling is opaque. Both Google (export) and Microsoft (ingest) throttle. There is no dial. Large migrations stretch unpredictably — plan delta passes.
• Reporting is coarse. You get per-task summaries, not the per-item audit trail compliance teams ask for. Third-party tools win here.
• Permission mapping is approximate. Google's sharing model ≠ SharePoint's. "Anyone with link" files need a policy decision, not a mapping.
• No rollback. Migration Manager copies — it doesn't sync back. Wrong mapping = manual cleanup.
• Gmail/Calendar/Contacts excluded. Google email needs the Exchange admin center's Google Workspace migration (batch-based) or a third-party tool.

Migration Manager vs. paid tools vs. managed

FAQ

Is the Microsoft 365 migration app free?

Yes. Migration Manager is included with Microsoft 365 business and enterprise subscriptions — no extra license for the tool itself.

Can Migration Manager migrate Gmail?

No. It handles Google Drive only. Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts migrate via the Exchange admin center's Google Workspace migration batches, or a third-party tool like BitTitan.

Does it work for tenant-to-tenant Microsoft 365 migrations?

Cross-tenant SharePoint/OneDrive migration exists but requires separate cross-tenant migration features (and licensing). For mergers and acquisitions we run dedicated tooling — see our tenant-to-tenant migration service.