How to Use Sharegate for Sharepoint Migrations [Tutorial]

How to Use Sharegate for SharePoint Migrations (Tutorial)

Last Updated on September 23, 2023

Migrating to Microsoft Office 365 or SharePoint can be really difficult especially when you’re dealing with a lot of data.

Uploading them all in the cloud and figuring out how it works with SharePoint Online is another hurdle to think about as well.

Fortunately, ShareGate makes the migration simple and easy while saving you a lot of time.

In this article, you will understand what ShareGate is capable of and how to use it. So, let’s get started.

What is ShareGate?

ShareGate is a migration tool that assists in migrating or upgrading directly to the latest SharePoint or Office 365 version.

Using ShareGate is common in SharePoint communities since it is regarded as simple to use yet reliable when migrating.

Migrate to Microsoft 365 or SharePoint Server with ShareGate

As innovation of technology rolls out systems one after the other, migrating systems become important for businesses if they want to maximize their productivity.

You can think of ShareGate as your ally in making this possible. ShareGate will assist you before, during, and after you migrate to another platform.

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    Why choose ShareGate as a SharePoint migration tool?

    ShareGate doesn’t leave you guessing. It makes sure that migration is done without much work.

    Its intuitive features assist you in preparing, executing, and finalizing your work when you’re migrating an entire system or just a few lists.

    Using ShareGate is also much easier due to its easy-to-use software interface. It saves you a lot of time getting used to the software. There’s also no limit to the data that you can migrate with ShareGate.

    ShareGate supports the migration to any version of SharePoint and many other platforms.

    Here are some of the platforms that ShareGate supports:

    • SharePoint 2003
    • SharePoint 2007
    • SharePoint 2010
    • SharePoint 2013
    • SharePoint 2016
    • SharePoint Online
    • Office 365
    • OneDrive 4 Business
    • File Shares
    • Google Drive
    • Nintex
    • Box

    What are the advantages of using ShareGate?

    Here is a list and some explanation of the benefits of using ShareGate:

    • Run multiple migration sessions at the same time. ShareGate allows multiple migrations to run at the same time. On the other hand, it’s important to understand that the speed and number of multiple migrations that you can run depend on hardware content complexity, bandwidth, network, and so on.
    • Offers two migration modes. You can run migrations with two different transfer speeds using Normal mode and Insane mode. Insane mode utilizes Azure to move contents faster than Normal mode.
    • Offers a large number of informative reports. Reports help you plan your migration. Identifying problems and issues will ensure that you can resolve them before you start the migration. These reports can help you keep track of them so you can minimize potential errors.
    • Offers long-term use. It provides the capacity to perform maintenance tasks in SharePoint. Its reusability for future updates on SharePoint also ensures that migrating to newer versions can be done easily as well.
    • Logs migration status. ShareGate keeps an audit trail of how well the migration is going. It tracks errors and warnings that happened while migrating to another platform. The log files can be checked for these warnings and errors in the main menu.
    • Preserve List and Library dependencies. When copying dependencies, SharePoint ensures that your settings are considered and that nothing is broken when you migrate. An option also exists where you can customize your dependencies when you migrate, thereby giving you more flexible control over where your dependencies should be copied.
    • Migrate contents. When migrating, contents from the source are also included. You can migrate lists and libraries along with their contents with a simple drag and drop.
    • Preserves settings. Migrated lists, libraries, workflows, and permissions retain their settings even after migration.
    • Function independently. Performing the migration does not require access from the server. ShareGate can be installed on a regular PC with an internet connection and access to the migration source and the migration destination.

    How to Use Sharegate for Sharepoint Migration

    When migrating, it’s important that you have a good grasp of your plan and be well-prepared. You can check your Inventory to help you with that.

    Prepare and Plan for your Migration

    In essence, here are all the steps you need to take:

    1. Click Inventory.
    2. Select where you want your Inventory to run.
    3. Select your intended migration destination.
    4. Select what you want to include in your inventory and then click Run.

    With the Inventory, you can check for errors and warnings present with the migration. You can also export the report as an Excel or CSV file so you can check it in greater detail or forward the report to designated employees.

    Copy your Environment’s Structure

    Here’s how:

    1. Click Migration.
    2. Click Copy Structure.
    3. On the Select Source dialog box, click Connect Source.
    4. Fill the details on the Site Address field with your source site and click Connect.
    5. On the Select Source dialog box, click Next.
    6. On the Select Destination dialog box, click Connect Destination.
    7. Fill the details on the Site Address field with your destination site and click Connect.
    8. On the Select Destination dialog box, click Next.
    9. Select item/s to copy.

    From here, you are given the choice to either Copy Now or Advance Copy. The Copy Now option immediately starts the migration right away automatically.

    It won’t even stop to prompt you whenever it encounters any errors.

    Choosing Advance Copy gives you the chance to select more specifically what you want to include during the migration.

    It also allows you to change some details, such as the title and URL. In this dialog box, you can also choose two different operation modes — Automatic and Manual.

    You can also find the Run Pre-Check option when you choose Advance Copy.

    The pre-check helps you detect possible issues during copy and provides you with some of the best practices as suggested by ShareGate to ensure that your migration runs without any hitches.

    Copy or Migrate SharePoint and Office 365 Content

    Follow these steps:

    1. Click Migration.
    2. Click Copy Content.
    3. Select your source directory/library.
    4. Select your destination directory/library.
    5. Select the contents you want to add from your source.
    6. Click Copy Now to copy right away or Advance Copy to specify the details of your copy.

    Map Permissions and Metadata of Users or Groups

    Here’s how:

    1. Before clicking Copy Now/Advance Copy, click on Mappings.
    2. Drag and drop the user or group into the space provided. You can look up the user or group using the search bar provided.
    3. Click Save to finalize mapping.

    Import Documents and Metadata from a File System

    Follow these steps:

    1. Click Migration.
    2. Click Import File Shares.
    3. In the Select Destination dialog box, select the target library and click Next.
    4. Select the content you want to copy from your shared drive. (Note: You might want to check your mapping if you want to make sure that all your data will be copied in the right column.)

    From here you have 3 options to choose from. You can immediately copy by clicking on Copy Now or check more settings in Advance Copy.

    The third option is Export Metadata found below the source files.

    When you click Export Metadata, ShareGate will create an Excel Sheet with all the items you selected and listed where you can fill empty columns or modify their content.

    Once you’re done with modifying the sheet, go back to ShareGate and click on Import & Edit then select your Excel sheet. Once you’re done, click on Start Copy.

    Why might you not want to use ShareGate?

    While impressive in its own right, ShareGate has some features that might be problematic for you.

    Here are a few disadvantages you might get in using ShareGate:

    • ShareGate can only retain the last 10 sessions of migration and does not allow you to save session settings as templates to be reused for future migrations. This is a great disadvantage for large migrations since you will have to reconfigure it again if the migration setting you want is not within the 10 most recent sessions.
    • Files that exceed 2GB in size cannot be migrated. While SharePoint 2016 and Office 365 file size limit was increased to 10GB, ShareGate cannot migrate these files. To move these files, you need to manually upload these files to SharePoint.
    • Items marked with errors in the migration report cannot be rerun from the migration report. You need to rerun the migration for those items again.
    • ShareGate cannot detect missing or obsolete features in the destination version of SharePoint that you’re migrating to.
    • If you’re using app webs in your source platform, ShareGate cannot migrate it to your destination. You need to upload app webs to the destination after the migration to make sure that it works.
    • If you want to make major changes to your newly migrated site during the migration, ShareGate is not the best option.

    What are some alternatives to ShareGate?

    There are several SharePoint migration tools available on the market. Some of them even offer freemium packages.

    If you’re looking for other migration tools, here are some you can check out:

    • SPDocKit
    • Saketa Migrator
    • Cloud FastPath
    • SkySync
    • AvePoint DocAve

    That’s it! Got any questions regarding ShareGate and SharePoint migration? Drop them below or send me a message through my contact page.

    About Ryan Clark

    As the Modern Workplace Architect at Mr. SharePoint, I help companies of all sizes better leverage Modern Workplace and Digital Process Automation investments. I am also a Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP) for M365 Apps & Services.

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    Saketa SharePoint
    Saketa SharePoint
    2 years ago

    Its been long from the release of the migration tool V5.2.0. But, still, now the tool is not at all comparable to other tools in the market. it`s better to select tool wisely to do hassle-free migrations which boost our productivity too… give a try

    IbrahamTery
    IbrahamTery
    2 years ago

    However, Sharegate is great but I prefer Gs Richcopy 360 to migrate to Sharepoint, it has an affordable price and works out of the box

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