SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT): Download & How to Use

Our SharePoint Server support team uses the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) as the default tool for file share and SharePoint Server migrations to Microsoft 365. This page documents the tool: where to download it, what it supports, how to run a migration, the settings that change the outcome, and the items it does not migrate.

What SPMT is

SPMT is a free Windows application from Microsoft that migrates content from on-premises file shares and SharePoint Server to SharePoint Online, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams. Per the official overview, it handles files, folders, lists, permissions, versions, term stores, site navigation, supported web parts, and out-of-the-box site migrations. All SPMT functionality is also available as PowerShell cmdlets (Register-SPMTMigration, Add-SPMTTask, Start-SPMTMigration) for scripted or bulk runs.

Supported source authentication: NTLM, Kerberos, Forms, ADFS, multifactor authentication, SAML-based claims, and client certificate authentication. One documented exception: if the on-premises server is configured with multiple authentication providers that include Windows authentication, Windows authentication is not supported for that server.

Download

The current General Availability build is 4.1.130.4, per the SPMT release notes. Download links:

• General Availability: aka.ms/spmt-ga-page
• Public preview (beta): spmt.sharepointonline.com/betainstall — use only for testing new features.

SPMT is not available for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet (China). Government cloud (GCC, GCC High, DoD) is supported with cloud-specific endpoints.

Supported sources and targets

Targets: SharePoint Online sites, OneDrive for Business accounts, and Microsoft Teams (team and channel selectable at the destination step). The full support matrix is on the SPMT supported features page.

Prerequisites

• Permissions. Destination: Global or SharePoint admin for organization-level migration; site collection admin for site-level migration. Source: an account with Read access to the SharePoint Server content or file share.
• Machine. Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 or later, .NET Framework 4.6.2 or later. Recommended: 64-bit quad core, 16 GB RAM, 150 GB free SSD space, 1 Gbps network. Minimum spec (8 GB RAM, 2-core) runs but slowly.
• Endpoints. The machine needs outbound access to login.microsoftonline.com, graph.microsoft.com, *.sharepoint.com, *.blob.core.windows.net, and *.queue.core.windows.net, among others. The full list is on the prerequisites and endpoints page. Blocked Azure blob/queue endpoints are a common cause of migrations that authenticate but never upload.

Step-by-step: running a migration

1. Install. Run the installer from the GA link. SPMT updates itself on launch.
2. Sign in. Start SPMT and sign in with the Microsoft 365 account that has the destination permissions above.
3. Select the source. Choose SharePoint Server or file share. For SharePoint Server, enter the site URL and source credentials; select the site, subsites, lists, or libraries to migrate. For file shares, browse to the folder path.
4. Scan and assess (site migrations). SPMT 4.0 and later runs a scan pass that inventories content and flags risks — unsupported list templates, custom solutions, checked-out files — before anything moves. Review the scan report and the downloadable Excel breakdown before committing.
5. Map the target. Enter the destination SharePoint Online site, OneDrive account, or Teams channel. For libraries, map source library to destination library explicitly; SPMT creates the destination if it does not exist.
6. Set the settings that matter.
   • Incremental runs: saved tasks can be rerun, and reruns move only new or changed files. This is the mechanism for a low-downtime cutover: bulk run first, incremental pass at cutover.
   • User mapping: by default SPMT maps source users to Microsoft Entra identities automatically. Provide a CSV mapping file when source identities do not match (domain changes, renamed accounts), or permissions land on the wrong people. Unmapped users are logged in UserNotMapped.csv.
   • Versions: choose whether to keep full version history or the latest versions only. Full history multiplies migration volume.
   • Filters: exclude hidden files, files by extension, or files modified before a date. The full list is on the SPMT settings page.
   • Permissions: file share NTFS permissions and SharePoint on-premises permissions each have their own migrate/skip toggle.
7. Run and monitor. Start the migration and watch the per-task progress. When the run finishes, open the reports folder: summary report, failure report, and the detail CSVs. Every failed item is listed with a reason; rerun the task after fixing causes — the incremental engine skips what already succeeded.

SPMT vs Migration Manager vs third-party tools

Microsoft's positioning: SPMT for SharePoint Server content, Migration Manager for file shares at scale and third-party cloud sources. The two are complementary, not competing.

What SPMT does not migrate

Documented limits, per the SPMT FAQ and scan error code reference:

• Custom solutions (farm or sandboxed) and custom features.
• Custom workflows. Only listed out-of-the-box and SharePoint Designer 2010/2013 workflows migrate, and those convert to Power Automate rather than transferring as-is.
• InfoPath forms.
• Custom New/Edit/View forms on lists and libraries.
• Master pages and custom pages (wiki and web part pages are the exceptions).
• Custom content types and hidden taxonomy lists; style libraries.
• Structure-only migration — a site cannot be migrated without its content.
• Destination site template selection — SPMT decides the template from the source site.
• Page comments on SharePoint Server 2019 modern pages.
• Term store: supported, but only one Managed Metadata Service term store set as the site collection default; multiple defaults break the migration of managed metadata columns.

Anything on this list that the business depends on needs a rebuild plan in SharePoint Online (Power Apps for InfoPath, Power Automate for custom workflows) — the tool will not carry it. See SharePoint Online for what the destination platform provides natively.

Post-migration validation checklist

• Failure report reviewed and every failed item either remediated and rerun, or documented as skipped.
• Item counts compared between source and destination for each library, allowing for filtered and unsupported items.
• Permissions spot-checked: open the destination as a standard user from each major source group.
• UserNotMapped.csv empty, or every unmapped identity deliberately accepted.
• Version history present on a sample of documents, if versions were migrated.
• Managed metadata columns resolve to terms rather than showing raw GUIDs.
• Links inside migrated pages and documents tested; deep links to old on-premises URLs inventoried for redirects.
• Source set read-only before the final incremental pass, and decommissioned only after sign-off.

When to hand it over

SPMT handles the straight path well: file shares and out-of-the-box SharePoint sites into Microsoft 365. Migrations with custom solutions, InfoPath, large term stores, tenant-to-tenant moves, or hard cutover windows fall outside what the tool covers on its own, and the planning for the full process — source assessment through decommission — is documented in our SharePoint migration guide.