Self-Service Migration of Google Drive to Microsoft 365

Owned by Dan Jakubiak
Last updated: Mar 28, 2024
6 min read

Faculty, staff, and students may choose to migrate their data out of the Google environment and into Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, etc.) using the self-service “Google Takeout” tool.

The University is phasing out Google Workspace and is moving services (i.e., student email) and data to Microsoft 365. ITS will migrate data stored in Google Drive to OneDrive for faculty, staff, and students in 2024. Users may choose, however, to move files themselves before the facilitated migration, and this article describes how to do it. If you choose to move the files yourself, please make sure to delete them from Google Drive! ITS will move any data left in Drive, and you will have duplicates.

Alumni must move any data from their UConn Google Workspace account that they wish to keep by the end of April. Any data that remains when we discontinue Google will be subject to deletion.

If you would like to include your Google Photos pictures, please first visit this guide:

Takeout cannot export data within a Shared Drive. Follow the “less then 25 files” steps below for exporting Shared Drive data.

Takeout will not export files/folders that have been shared with you. If appropriate, you will need to request access to these files once the data is in its new location, or once you are using a personal Google account. Review to learn more.

If you have less than ~25 files or a specific data set

If you have a small number of files, you may decide not to use the Takeout tool. When using the Takeout Tool, your only option is to export your entire Drive. If this is not what you need, you may follow the instructions below.

  1. Navigate to drive.google.com

  2. Sign in with your UConn email address and Google password.

  3. Click on My Drive in the left-hand menu.

    1. If you’re now looking at your Drive in the Grid View, you may want to change it to List View

      Click on My Drive

  4. Click on the first file. Then hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and click on the last file. This will highlight all files in-between.
    Alternatively, click on Shared drives in the lefthand menu, find your desired Drive, then select the desired files.

  5. Click on the Download button at the top of the page.

  6. Google will then “zip” the files together. This process is grouping the files together into one or more .zip files to simplify the download process.
    Depending on the size and number of files, this may take some time.

  7. Once the files have been prepared in a .zip file, they will be ready for download.

  8. Download this .zip to your computer.

  9. Right-click on the file to Extract All.
    Leave the default “Files will be extracted to this folder:” file path.

  10. Once extraction finishes, navigate to s.uconn.edu/onedrive. In this Help Guide, we will be placing the files into our OneDrive.

  11. At the OneDrive website, click on Add new and then Folder upload.

  12. In the popup window, find the recently extracted folder and click once on it. Do not open the folder. Click on Upload.

  13. You are now uploading the files you have exported from Google.

If you have more than ~25 files

ITS recommends that you use Google Takeout to export your data; Takeout automates the first half of your migration process. The Takeout Tool exports your entire Google Drive into a downloadable format in which you can reupload to another service or keep on your computer.

  1. Navigate to takeout.google.com

  2. Sign in with your UConn email address and Google password.

  3. Begin by clicking Deselect all.


    This page contains all of the data Google knows about you; most of what you see on this page is irrelevant to your data migration. At this time, you are just looking to export your Drive data.
    If you would like to include your Google Photos pictures, please first visit this guide: .
    If you are an alumnus and wish to export your email, do not select Gmail at this time. Please follow this guide after you have set up your Takeout export: .

  4. Scroll down until you see Drive. Check the box for Drive.
    You should not change the optional settings that appear.

  5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Next step.

  6. Leave “Transfer to:” as “Send download link via email”.

    1. The “Add to OneDrive” option may sound appealing; however, this option still compresses your Google data into .zip files before sending it to OneDrive. These .zip files need to be downloaded to your computer in order to be extracted. Therefore, ITS recommends skipping using OneDrive as a "middleman" at this step.

  7. Use the following options:

    1. Export Once

    2. .zip as the file type. A zip is a compressed file.

    3. File size:

      1. You have a choice of file size for the resulting .zip files.

      2. Choosing a low file size:

        1. You will end up with more zip files that you need to download and extract.

        2. If you don’t have a strong internet connect, this option may be safer for you, as each download is smaller.

        3. If you have a slower computer, it will be easier for you to extract smaller .zip files.

      3. Choosing a larger file size:

        1. You will have less .zip files to download and extract, but they will take substantially longer to download. The downloads will be interrupted if you navigate away from the page, of if the page is left in the background for 15 minutes.

        2. Your computer will take a longer time to extract the data from the .zips and multitasking during this time may be hindered.

        3. If you have a strong internet connection and a modern computer, a larger file size can be a safe choice. ITS has tested the 50GB choice and confirms it works in this given scenario.

      4. If a single file is larger than your chosen .zip size, you will receive a download link specific to that single file.

  8. Click Create export. You will receive an email when your export is ready to download.

Working with Exported Google Data

  • Your exported data is available to download as a .zip (compressed) file. Follow the link in your email to download your (multiple) export file(s).

  • This download may take a long time. Please keep the Google Takeout window open to ensure the downloads complete; if you minimize the window or switch to another browser tab, the downloads will fail after 15 minutes due to a need to authenticate (due to inactivity).

  1. Once you have the .zip downloaded, right-click on the file and choose to Extract all.

    1. Leave the default “Files will be extracted to this folder:” file path.

  2. Once extraction finishes, navigate to s.uconn.edu/onedrive. In this Help Guide, we will be placing the files into our OneDrive.
    At this time, you can split your data into OneDrive and SharePoint if needed.

  3. At the OneDrive website, click on Add new and then Folder upload.

  4. In the popup window, find the recently extracted folder and click once on it. Do not open the folder. Click on Upload.

  5. You are now uploading the files you have exported from Google.