16priyanka Summary: This write-up talks about how to migrate Teams from one tenant to another using different approaches. Migrating Teams data to another account manually is a challenging task for many users, which we have explored in the coming section. Therefore, to make this process butter-smooth we have provided the best alternative solution to carry out this whole task.
What Makes It Challenging to Migrate Teams From One Tenant to Another?
Following are some reasons that make this task of Teams data migration challenging for users:
1.Higher Probability of Data Loss
When migrating the Teams setting to the new tenant, there is a high probability that users may experience a loss of their data. Furthermore, integrated third-party apps and tabs cannot be migrated to the destination as they are integrated through connectors and users will lose them.
2. Limitations with Teams API
Teams APIs have several limitations, extremely when retrieving channel conversation data. Moreover, it can lead to data loss when we manually move Microsoft Teams to new tenant.
3. Data Storage in Multiple Locations
As Teams store data in diverse locations with different file formats, it gets hard for users to manually locate these data files. For example:
- Channel Conversation – This gets saved in a hidden Exchange Mailbox for compliance purposes.
- Shared Files – Each team’s file gets stored in the SharePoint site whereas each channel’s files get stored in the Document library.
- Channel Emails – Teams save these emails in an Email Messages folder inside the respective channel’s document library.
- Files Shared in 1 on 1 Chat: All these files get saved into OneDrive for Business.
4. Maintaining Data Integrity
It is quite challenging to maintain data integrity and structure of files and folder when a user migrate Teams from one tenant to another. It happens because when a dynamic group moves to the target tenant it automatically turns into a static group.
Expert Recommended Solution to Migrate Teams From One Tenant to Another Tenant
Before doing any data migration, it is considered good practice to prepare a proper execution plan for the whole process. After preparing the pre and post-migration checklist we can move ahead.
The manual process of migrating Teams data to another tenant is one of the most complex tasks to do which we will explore in the coming section. Therefore, many experts and even Microsoft themselves suggest using a trusted automated tool to do this task. SysTools Microsoft Teams Migration Tool is one good example of such a tool. It provides results in the quickest way possible and ensures that not even a single piece of user data gets lost throughout the Process.
Use the following steps to move Microsoft teams to new tenant :
Step 1. Install & Open the tool on the computer.
Step 2. For both source and destination choose Office 365.
Step 3. Navigate to Teams in the Workload section and enable Teams & Channels by clicking the checkbox. Click Next.
Step 4. After that provide Admin credentials to Login to both Source and Destination tabs respectively and Validate all the permissions.
Step 5. Now fetch users using any of the three methods provided by the tool and then create a mapping for them.
Step 6. Next step, choose the required Teams and click on Start Migration to migrate Teams from one tenant to another.
Step 7. Once the migration is done, click Mark Teams Complete.
Step 8. In the final step, Choose all the required group IDs that need to be migrated to the new Tenant and hit the Start Migration button.
Features That Sets This Tool Apart From Others
- Users can safely move Microsoft Teams to new tenant along channels and chats inside it, groups, files and many more.
- It provides a feature to Create Teams and Channels in the destination tenant automatically.
- This tool maintains the data structure of files and folders.
- Users can use Delta Migration for newly arrived data from the source tenant.
- Moreover, it can migrate the channel’s message body, its entire formatting and date & time.
Manual Approach to Move Microsoft Teams to New Tenant
Although there is a manual way to migrate Teams from one tenant to another, however, it is not possible to move all the data inside it. Unfortunately, Microsoft provides no solution to this problem, however, we can move components like files that are linked with SharePoint, chats and channel conversations.
Follow the steps mentioned below:
Step 1. In the Destination tenant, Re-create a copy of Teams.
Step 2. Then add Users and assign necessary permissions to them using PowerShell commands.
Step 3. After that, Download the files linked with SharePoint Team sites.
Step 4. Next step, upload these files at the Destination Tenant.
Step 5. In order to move conversations, go to Team’s Exchange Mailbox >> Export them >> Import them to the Destination.
Problems With Manual Approach
- Users can easily get overwhelmed by the complexity of the whole procedure.
- It takes a lot of time to move data components from one tenant to another.
- It involves a higher risk of human errors that might lead to data corruption.
- Using this approach users can only migrate some components of Teams data.
You May Also Read : How to Move Office 365 Mailbox to Another Account
Wrapping it All together
In the above article, we saw how to migrate Teams from one tenant to another effectively and different ways of doing it. The task of moving Teams data to another account isn’t as seems as it seems because Teams use a really complex architecture to save data information underneath the hood.
Therefore, many IT experts recommend using a trusted automated tool like the one mentioned above for outstanding results. As the manual approach move Microsoft Teams to new tenant has major drawbacks.
