SharePoint 2013 to Online migration using SharePoint migration tool by Microsoft

This SharePoint tutorial will discuss the SharePoint migration tool from Microsoft, how to download and install the free SharePoint migration tool, as well as we will see how to use the SharePoint migration tool to migrate SharePoint 2013/2016 on-premises documents to SharePoint Online.

As we all know Microsoft is heavily investing in cloud and encouraging an organization to adopt Office 365 and use SharePoint online. Here is good news for enterprises that are planning to migrate from SharePoint on-premise versions to SharePoint online.

Microsoft comes up with a new free “SharePoint Migration tool“. Not only from on-premise to online but also this tool will help to migrate from File Share to SharePoint online or One drive and from CSV file option for bulk migration.

Key Features of SharePoint Migration Tool

  • SharePoint Migration tool has a very user-friendly simple user interface.
  • It supports migration from the Share folder, SharePoint on-premise and CSV file for batch migration.
  • SharePoint Migration tool helps to migrate files from SharePoint on-premises document libraries or your on-premises file shares and easily move them to either SharePoint or OneDrive in Office 365.
  • Support smallest migrations to large scale migration also.
  • Provide a handy report for existing and completed migrations and task reports to help identify and resolve issues that may have occurred during the migration process.

[Video Tutorial] SharePoint Migration Tool from Microsoft

I have also created a video tutorial on how to migrate SharePoint on-premise data to SharePoint online Office 365 site using Free SharePoint Migration Tool from Microsoft.

Microsoft released a migration tool recently, by using which we can migrate files from SharePoint on-premises document libraries or your on-premises file shares and easily move them to either SharePoint or OneDrive in Office 365.

Kindly Subscribe to our Youtube channel to get more updates on our SharePoint Video tutorial series.

Run SharePoint Migration Assessment Tool (SMAT))

Microsoft also comes up with a simple command line tool known as “SharePoint Migration Assessment Tool (SMAT)” that will scan the contents of your SharePoint farm to help identify any issues with data you plan to migrate to SharePoint Online. The tool will run in the background and it will not impact any production environment also.

The tool requires one to two days to complete a scan of your environment. During this time, the tool will report progress in the console window. After the scan is complete, you can find output files in the Logs directory.

Download and Install SharePoint Migration Tool

You can download SharePoint migration tool from below URL:

sharepoint migration tool

Once you download double click on the Manifest file to install it, you can see the installation progress.

sharepoint migration tool download

Once it is successfully installed, it will open like this.

sharepoint migration tool

Before proceeding further make sure you will have an Office 365 credentials ready with you. Because the tool will prompt for your Office 365 username and password.

How to use SharePoint Migration Tool

Nowm we will see how to use SharePoint migration tool and we will see how to migrate documents from SharePoint 2013/2016 to SharePoint Online Migration using SharePoint Migration Tool.

If you are selecting the SharePoint on-premises option, you will be asked to enter the name of the SharePoint Server site where your files are located and prompted for your credentials for that site. You will choose what document library you wish to migrate.

Microsoft is saying the tool supported for SharePoint 2013 on-premise version, but I have tried migrating from SharePoint 2016 on-premise version and it worked (have just migrated few documents).

Here I have a SharePoint 2016 on-premise document library which has few documents like below:

sharepoint migration tool requirements

We will try to migrate those documents to a SharePoint online document library by using the Microsoft Free Migration Tool.

Once you will open the tool click on Next where it will ask you to Sign in to your O365 Account. Then click on SIgn in.

free sharepoint migration tool

Then it will show the “Where is your data?” dialog box. select SharePointt on-premises.

sharepoint migration tool by microsoft

In the next screen, it will ask What site do you want to migrate? Here it will show the SharePoint 2013 site URL, but I have given a SharePoint 2016 site URL and it worked.

sharepoint migration tool download

Then it will ask you to provide the credentials to connect to the SharePoint on-premise site. I have provided my windows credentials here.

sharepoint migration tool v2

Once you click on Sign in, it will ask you to choose the on-premise document library and to provide the SharePoint online site URL. Once you will provide the online site URL, it will populate all the lists and document libraries like below:

sharepoint migration tool microsoft download

After selection of the destination document library, click on Add. It will add the task like below.

sharepoint migration tool free microsoft

Now click on the Migrate button.

Then it will show the Migration Status like below, it will check the environment like below:

sharepoint online migration tool microsoft

Then it will start the migration, you can see it is showing 3 files out of 4 migrated like below:

sharepoint file migration tool microsoft

Once the migration is complete it will show the Migration complete message like below:

sharepoint migration tool microsoft

You can also click to see the Report which will open the files like below:

sharepoint migration tool from microsoft

Now you can open the SharePoint online destination document library, you can see the documents successfully migrated to there like below:

How to use SharePoint Migration Tool

In this SharePoint migration tutorial, I explained about the new free migration tool from Microsoft known as “SharePoint Migration Tool”. What are the features of the SharePoint Migration tool? How we can download and install the SharePoint Migration Tool.

You may like the following SharePoint migration tutorials:

Finally, I also showed you how we can migrate documents from SharePoint 2013/2016 to SharePoint Online document library using SharePoint Migration Tool?

  • The blog is quite precise and informative. We are also among the top migrators in the market and it would be great if you review our tool too.

    Good article.

  • >