SharePoint Tenant to Tenant Migration: 2026 Expert Picks

Scenarios Where Companies Perform SharePoint Migration

• Microsoft 365 Tenant Consolidation: SharePoint data is spread across multiple Microsoft 365 tenants, and the company wants to bring everything into a single tenant. This includes consolidating sites, libraries, lists, and files in one place.
• Mergers and Acquisitions: The company merges with another, or a company acquires another company. In such cases, the acquired company’s SharePoint sites and business data may be moved to the parent company’s tenant account.
• Business Divestiture: When a company sells or separates its own division. The company’s related SharePoint sites and its data may be moved to a separate tenant. This helps to keep the businesses independent and separate.
• Organizational Restructuring: When a company changes its departments, teams, or business units. The SharePoint content may be moved or reorganised to match the new structure as needed.

There are also other scenarios where a company actually needs to perform the migration to solve their problem, like Tenant-to-Tenant migration for MSPs and SMBs, and others.

How to Choose the Method for SharePoint Online Tenant to Tenant Migration?

The method for performing a SharePoint migration depends on the type and amount of data. Also, the type of migration requirements, technical expertise, and available resources. Before choosing a method, your organisation must determine how much data you want to migrate. Also, confirm whether migration is a one-time activity or a recurring requirement and how much manual work your IT team can perform.

Here is a list of factors that IT teams should consider to choose the best method for SharePoint tenant to tenant migration: 

• Amount of SharePoint data: For a small amount of content, a manual approach may be sufficient. Larger migrations usually require a dedicated migration solution.
• Type of content: Check whether the migration includes document libraries, lists, sites, folders, and other SharePoint content. The selected method should support the content that needs to be transferred as required.
• Permissions and structure: Maintaining the existing site structure and permissions is the most important. That’s why choose a method that can handle these requirements.
• Migration speed: Organizations that have large amounts of data and limited migration time should consider a method that supports bulk or automated SharePoint tenant to tenant migration.
• Technical expertise: Manual methods require more administrative work and SharePoint knowledge. Here come professional migration tools that can simplify configuration and reduce repetitive tasks.
• Reporting and validation: For business-critical migrations, select the method that provides migration reports. This makes it easier to verify whether the required data was transferred successfully.
• Cost and resources: Before choosing a method, compare the licensing costs, infrastructure requirements, administrative effort, and required time to complete the migration.

Types of Methods for SharePoint migration between Microsoft 365 tenants

There are multiple methods for migrating SharePoint data, but here we discuss the officially recommended native method and the specialised professional migration tool for migration:

SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT)

SPMT is a free SharePoint cross tenant migration tool from Microsoft designed to help you migrate data from on-premises. The file shares are being migrated from existing SharePoint systems to Microsoft 365.

This tool migrates content from several on-premises sources to SharePoint. These include SharePoint Server 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019, SharePoint Foundation 2010 and 2013, and file shares. It can also migrate certain workflows from these supported SharePoint versions. Including SharePoint Server 2010 out-of-the-box workflows and SharePoint Designer 2010 and 2013 workflows.

These are the steps you have to follow to migrate the SharePoint data:

1. Install the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) and open the software.
2. Scan and assess a SharePoint Server site with SPMT.
3. Create a migration task with the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT).
4. Monitor and report the status of migration tasks.

SharePoint Online Management Shell

This Shell is a Microsoft-provided PowerShell module. It is used for managing a SharePoint Online tenant to tenant migration in Microsoft 365. It allows administrators to connect to SharePoint Online and run specific PowerShell commands. To get started. Install the module and connect to the SharePoint Online admin site.

You can install the module through the PowerShell Gallery or check whether it is already installed on your system or not. Microsoft also recommends keeping the module updated so you have access to the latest available cmdlets. And if you use Windows PowerShell 7, you only need to import the module using the -UseWindowsPowerShell parameter.

These are the steps you have to follow to use SharePoint Online Management Shell:

1. Install or update the SharePoint Online Management Shell and verify that the module is available.
2. Import the SharePoint Online module when using Windows PowerShell 7.
3. Connect to SharePoint Online using the Connect-SPOService command.
4. Sign in with a SharePoint administrator account, using MFA when required.
5. Run SharePoint Online PowerShell commands to manage the SharePoint environment.

Limitation of Manual Method

The SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) and SharePoint Online Management Shell provide Microsoft-native options for managing SharePoint content. But it has some limitations when used for SharePoint tenant to tenant migration:

• On-Premises Source Constraint: SPMT is designed to migrate content from supported on-premises SharePoint servers and file shares, rather than directly from one SharePoint Online tenant to another.
• Limited Workflow Support: SPMT supports specific workflows, including SharePoint Server 2010 OOTB workflows and SharePoint Designer 2010/2013 workflows. The tool’s workflow support is limited to these supported configurations.
• PowerShell Expertise Required: SharePoint Online Management Shell uses PowerShell commands to manage SharePoint Online, so administrators need PowerShell and SharePoint administration knowledge to perform the required tasks.
• Command-Line Management: With SharePoint Online Management Shell, administrators must install the module, connect to the SharePoint Online admin site, sign in, and run the required commands manually. This can require more administrative effort.

Specialized SharePoint Tenant to Tenant Migration Tool

The SharePoint Tenant Migration Tool is a comprehensive solution. It is designed to migrate sites and site collections, data files, shared lists, fields/columns, file versions, document libraries, and metadata without loss of information. This tool is specially designed for all technical and non-technical users of Windows and macOS, and it is packed with many smart features. It features integrated site mapping, selection filters, real-time progress monitoring, and a deduplication engine for accurate migration projects.

Steps For a Complete Migration:

1. Install and open the SysInfo Microsoft SharePoint Migration Tool 
2. Authenticate the source and destination accounts with Global Admin credentials over OAuth 2.0; the tool stores no passwords locally.
3. Select SharePoint as the module, then map each source site to its destination by name, URL, or site ID.
4. Apply filters for file size, extension, and content type to move only documents, only lists, or both.
5. Start the migration and monitor per-site progress through the Active Tasks dashboard.
6. Review the completion report, then rerun with Skip Previously Migrated to capture items added after the first pass.

Why Use a Professional SharePoint Tenant to Tenant Migration?

Every organization needs a systematic and easier migration method. This helps their IT team to transfer SharePoint data between Microsoft 365 tenants efficiently. In such cases, teams should prefer a professional migration tool. This simplifies the task and offers features such as bulk migration, selection of required data, process monitoring, and migration reports, among others. It also helps to organize the migration process and makes it easier. 

For people who actually manage large migration projects from a single app window using the SysInfoTool. Also, check this blog for the Microsoft 365 Tenant-to-Tenant migration guide to gather information or migrate to a Microsoft tenant.

Bulk SharePoint Site Migration to Another Tenant Best Practices

When migrating multiple SharePoint sites between Microsoft 365 tenants. Proper and calculated planning helps to reduce errors and makes the migration easier to manage. Follow these practices before and during the migration:

1. Create a backup: Before starting, create a local or online backup of the SharePoint data. This gives you a recovery option if something goes wrong during or after the migration.
2. Assess the Source Sites: Review the SharePoint sites, document libraries, lists, file sizes, and overall data volume. Check which sites and data actually need to be migrated.
3. Prepare the Destination Tenant: Perform the required checks and set up the users, groups, SharePoint sites, and permissions in the destination tenant before moving the actual content.
4. Create Site Mapping Plan: Map each source SharePoint site to its corresponding destination site. This helps ensure that content is moved to the correct location.
5. Check Permissions: Review the site and content permissions in the source tenant. Decide how these permissions should be configured in the destination tenant.
6. Run Test Migration: Migrate a small number of sites first. Check the files, folders, libraries, lists, and permissions to make sure everything is working as expected before starting the full migration.
7. Migrate in Batches: At the start, divide the migration into smaller, manageable batches, instead of moving all sites at once. This makes the migration process easier to monitor and troubleshoot any failures.
8. Monitor Migration Progress: Track every migration batch and check for any warnings or errors. Also, keep a record of which migrations are completed, failed, or still pending.
9. Validate the Migrated Data: After migration, compare the source and destination sites. Make sure all required sites, files, folders, lists, libraries, and supported content are transferred correctly.
10. Keep Migration Reports: Save migration reports and logs for future reference. These records can help identify failed items and provide a history of the migration activity.
11. Post-Migration Access: After migration, verify that users can access the required SharePoint sites and content. Confirm that permissions match the intended setup.

Conclusion

Finally, the conclusion is that SharePoint tenant to tenant migration requires more than moving files from one Microsoft 365 tenant to another. The right method depends on these factors (amount of data, migration requirements, and available technical resources). Microsoft suggests the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) and SharePoint Online Management Shell for on-premises and Online. The IT professional suggests the SysInfo Migration Tool. This can provide you with a more centralised approach for larger migration tasks by assessing the source environment. By focusing on these factors, organizations can manage the SharePoint migration process better.

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