5 Tips for a seamless email migration in 2026

Email migrations may seem like a straightforward IT project, but the Newmind team can attest that there’s still plenty that can go wrong if you don’t plan appropriately. Breaking up your project into phases, making sure your data is backed up, and strategically planning your cutover of email service can all make the difference between a successful email migration or a failed one. 

We asked members of our team for a few tips that they’d give to someone running an email migration for the first time. 

“Email Migrations” are rarely just email

Email migrations are no longer just email—we consider these complete platform migrations that involve not just moving data, but also rebuilding functionality in the new platform. Today, this can include:

• Email
• Contacts
• calendar events
• Groups
• Chats
• Sites
• files/shared drives
• Automations
• Forms
• Staff devices
• Meeting rooms
  
  …the list goes on. Be sure you’re aware of the entire scope you’re working with before jumping in to migrate your team to a new platform. 

Email migrations happen best in phases

Migrating to a new platform like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 is such a big, complex undertaking, that it really helps to plan phases into your process. One, complete cutover for everything is difficult and often time-prohibitive. Plan a big window of time, and take small bites out of the migration, depending on how much data you’re working with. 

Seed your data in advance

Consider an approach that lets you seed the source data into the destination before you do the actual cutover. Ever hear the expression “measure twice, cut once?” Depending on how much time you have, this can ensure everyone is happy with the result, especially if your staff stakeholders have the opportunity to see things for themselves before you flip the switch. 

Have your data backup strategy ready

Data backup is a vital piece of IT stability even on a good day: you want to be sure it’s airtight when you tackle a bigger project like email migration. Protect your business data with backps that are at least daily, on both platforms during the migration (the source as well as the destination. Mistakes can happen! When you’re moving data, reliable backups are more than essential.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help!

If you’re worried you’re out of your depth, it might pay to ask an outside consultant to lend a hand or some advice—even you’d still rather own the project yourself. Newmind Group provides our own migration tools for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 environments, and we have a lot of experience planning migrations for organizations of all sizes. 

You can learn more about our approach to email migrations here. If you’re looking for an outside opinion on a migration project, please don’t hesitate to reach out! Get in touch.