In this blog post, I am going share step by step configuration details and insights on how to migrate data from file shares or network shared drives to SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams and OneDrive using SharePoint Migration Manager, a free tool provided by Microsoft. We hope that this post will help you plan and execute your own migration projects smoothly and efficiently.

Step 1: Plan and map your data for migration

The first step in the migration process is to plan and map your data for migration. This means that you need to identify which data belongs to which user or department, and where you want to store it in SharePoint Online or OneDrive. This is crucial for ensuring that your data is properly associated with the correct SharePoint locations, such as sites, document libraries, or OneDrive URLs. For example, you may want to map individual user data to their respective OneDrive accounts, and shared departmental resources to specific SharePoint sites or document libraries.

To facilitate this mapping, we recommend creating SharePoint sites and document libraries in advance, before starting the migration process. This way, you can prepare the destination locations for your data, and avoid any confusion or delays during the migration. We also advise you to provision OneDrive accounts for users before migration, to ensure that they have access to their personal data after the migration.

Step 2: Use SharePoint Migration Manager to migrate your data

Once you have planned and mapped your data, you are ready to use SharePoint Migration Manager, a free tool available in the SharePoint Online Admin Center, to migrate your data from file shares to SharePoint Online and OneDrive. We will show you how to configure and run migration jobs using this tool, and how to monitor and troubleshoot the migration process.

Set up the migration agent

SharePoint Migration Manager requires you to install and set up a migration agent on your machine, which is a software that connects your file share data to your SharePoint tenant. We will walk you through the process of downloading the migration agent from the SharePoint Admin Center, and configuring it on your machine. You will need to log in with your SharePoint admin credentials, and link your tenant for data migration.

Scan Source content

Provide the full path to your file share source location. The scan will look for any issues that need to be fixed before migrating your content.

Source scanning is a crucial step in preparing for data migration from file shares to SharePoint Online and OneDrive. It helps you identify any potential issues that might affect the migration, such as unsupported file types, file size restrictions, and permission settings. The SharePoint Migration Manager tool can perform these scans and create reports that show you any issues found, helping you plan and execute a successful migration.

Run migration jobs

After setting up the migration agent, you can run migration jobs from the SharePoint Admin Center, by selecting the file paths of the data you want to migrate, and the destination locations you have prepared in SharePoint Online or OneDrive. We will show you how to do this, and how to initiate the migration process. We will also explain how to monitor the progress and status of the migration jobs, and how to check for any errors or warnings.

Perform bulk migrations using a CSV file

One of the features of SharePoint Migration Manager that we want to highlight is the ability to perform bulk migrations using a CSV file. This means that you can migrate multiple data sources at once, by listing them in a CSV file, and uploading it to the SharePoint Migration Manager. We will explain how to prepare the CSV file, and how to format it correctly. We will also demonstrate how to execute and monitor bulk migration jobs, and how to troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

Step 3: Set clean permission settings on SharePoint

Another important aspect of the migration process that we want to discuss is the permission settings. We advise you not to migrate the file share permissions directly to SharePoint Online, as this may cause complications and conflicts. Instead, we suggest setting clean permission settings on SharePoint, tailored to your organization’s needs and preferences. We will explain how to do this, and how to map the permissions to the SharePoint sites and document libraries.

Below video shows the step by step guide to migrate content from file share to SharePoint Online.

At the end of this blog post, we encourage you to provide feedback on the migration process, and to refer to the Microsoft documentation for more guidance and troubleshooting tips. We also thank you for your interest and attention, and wish you success in your migration projects.

We hope that this blog post has given you a comprehensive overview of how to migrate data from file shares to SharePoint Online and OneDrive using SharePoint Migration Manager. We found this tool to be very useful and user-friendly, and we recommend it to anyone who wants to migrate their data to the cloud. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to share them with us in the comment section below.

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This video tutorial explains how to use SharePoint Migration Manager, a free tool from Microsoft, to migrate data from file shares to SharePoint Online and OneDrive. It covers the steps of planning and mapping the data, setting up the migration agent, running migration jobs, and setting clean permissions on SharePoint.