Cross-Tenant SharePoint Migration (Preview): What You Need to Know

In today’s digital landscape, organizations are increasingly undergoing mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, or restructuring efforts that involve the movement of content across different Microsoft 365 tenants. Traditionally, this kind of migration—particularly for SharePoint Online content—has involved third-party tools or complex manual processes. However, Microsoft is now offering a native Cross-tenant SharePoint Online migration experience in preview, providing a streamlined, secure, and Microsoft-supported method for moving site content between tenants.

This blog breaks down what this preview feature is all about, why it’s important, who it’s for, the tools involved, best practices, pros and cons, and real-world applications.

What is Cross-tenant SharePoint Migration?

Cross-tenant SharePoint Migration (Preview) is a Microsoft 365 native capability that enables organizations to transfer SharePoint Online sites and OneDrive content from one tenant to another. This tool comes especially handy during organizational changes such as mergers and acquisitions.

Previously, tenant-to-tenant migrations were often handled by third-party tools like ShareGate or AvePoint. While effective, these tools come with their own complexities, including licensing, data security concerns, and limitations around permissions fidelity. Microsoft’s native offering simplifies this experience by giving you a Microsoft-managed, secure pipeline for cross-tenant data transfer.

Prerequisites Summary

Group-based permission mapping is preferred over user-level mapping

🔑 Licenses Required:

Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 license for both source and target tenants (includes SharePoint Online).
Microsoft Entra ID Premium P1 or P2 (recommended for B2B direct connect).
NEW (Required): A Cross-Tenant User Data Migration Add-On license is required for each user being migrated.

Microsoft documentation confirms this new add-on is necessary to enable the cross-tenant migration features.

📌 Official reference

🧑‍💼 Admin Roles:

SharePoint Administrator (source and target tenants)
Global Administrator (for configuring Microsoft Entra cross-tenant access)
PowerShell execution rights

🔗 Microsoft Entra Configuration:

Enable B2B Direct Connect in both tenants
Configure Cross-Tenant Access Settings (inbound and outbound)
Set up Domain Mappings between source and destination domains

🧰 Required Tools:

SharePoint Online Management Shell
PowerShell 7+ (or Windows PowerShell 5.1 with updated modules)
Microsoft Graph PowerShell (optional but useful)

📁 Content Readiness:

Prepare site URLs list and user/group mapping files
Ensure site collections exist in target tenant before migration
Validate for locked files, workflows, or unsupported customizations

⚠️ Important Notes:

Feature is currently in Preview—not advised for production without thorough testing
Entirely PowerShell-based (no GUI at this stage)

Why Do We Need It?

There are several business scenarios that necessitate tenant-to-tenant migrations:

Mergers & Acquisitions: One organization acquires another and wants to consolidate its digital assets into a single tenant.
Divestitures: A business unit is being spun off and needs its own independent tenant, along with content portability.
Geopolitical Compliance: Enterprises may be required to move data to a tenant residing in another geographic region to meet local regulations.
Cloud Realignment: Organizations might want to restructure how workloads are segmented across tenants to better suit operational needs.

Before this feature, achieving any of the above typically required a mix of PowerShell scripting, third-party tooling, or manual efforts. The native cross-tenant migration preview now brings a first-party, policy-compliant alternative to the table.

Who Uses It?

This feature is ideal for:

Enterprise IT Teams
Microsoft 365 Tenant Administrators
Consultants managing cross-tenant transformations
Migration and M&A consultants

Anyone responsible for data governance, security, and information architecture during tenant restructuring will benefit from this migration approach.

Applications and Tools Involved

The cross-tenant migration experience involves a combination of:

Microsoft 365 Admin Center
Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) – for establishing trust between source and target tenants
Microsoft SharePoint Admin Center
PowerShell – for managing migration jobs and configurations

The pipeline is fully managed and monitored by Microsoft, reducing the burden on IT staff and ensuring consistency and security.

How It Works: A High-Level Overview

Establish Cross-Tenant Trust: Using Microsoft Entra B2B direct connect, you set up a trust relationship between the source and target tenants.
Configure Mappings: Define domain, user, and group mappings between tenants.
Initiate Migration Jobs: Use PowerShell to start and monitor migration jobs. Microsoft handles data transfer through a secure backend pipeline.
Finalize and Validate: Validate the migrated content, reassociate permissions, and finalize DNS or domain ownership transfers if necessary.

🔗 Microsoft Setup Guide:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/m365-tenant-to-tenant-prerequisites?view=o365-worldwide

Sample PowerShell Snippet

Here’s a basic sample to initiate a SharePoint migration job using PowerShell:

# Connect to target tenant SharePoint
Connect-SPOService -Url https://<targettenant>-admin.sharepoint.com

# Initiate migration job
Start-SPOMigrationJob -SourceSiteUrl "https://source.sharepoint.com/sites/ProjectX" `
                      -TargetSiteUrl "https://target.sharepoint.com/sites/ProjectX" `
                      -JobName "MigrateProjectX" `
                      -LogLevel Detailed

Note: You’ll need to set up prerequisites and mappings before initiating migration jobs. Authentication between tenants must also be appropriately configured via Entra B2B policies.

Best Practices for Cross-Tenant Migration

Plan Thoroughly: Map out all users, groups, and site collections to be migrated. Review storage quotas and permissions.
Pilot First: Always start with a test migration to validate outcomes and performance.
Set Clear Communication Plans: Notify end-users of expected downtimes, migration timelines, and changes.
Backup Critical Content: While the migration is secure, a fallback backup ensures peace of mind.
Use Entra Group Mappings: Mappings allow permission translations during migration to avoid broken inheritance or access issues.
Monitor Jobs: Leverage logs and reporting tools to keep track of progress and resolve failures swiftly.

Use Cases & Implementation Scenarios

🏢 Enterprise Merger

Company A acquires Company B and wants to merge their intranet and project sites under a single M365 tenant. With Cross-tenant Migration Preview, they can transfer active project sites and OneDrive while preserving user permissions via mappings.

🌐 Global Restructuring

A company decides to restructure its tenants based on geography. Europe, North America, and APAC each get their own tenant. Migration ensures seamless transition of SharePoint content without breaking user access.

🔐 Regulatory Compliance

Due to data sovereignty laws, a company must move its European SharePoint content to a tenant located in the EU region. Cross-tenant migration supports this shift, helping them stay compliant without third-party tools.

Pros and Cons

✅ Pros

Microsoft-Managed: Secure and monitored by Microsoft
Policy Compliant: Works within the M365 security and compliance framework
Permission Fidelity: Maintains user and group permissions (with proper mappings)
Integrated with Entra ID: Simplifies identity mappings and trust establishment

❌ Cons

Currently in Preview: Limited to specific geographies and workloads
PowerShell-Heavy: Requires scripting knowledge for full control
No UI for Migration Jobs: Admin Center doesn’t offer a full UI experience yet
Limited Reporting: Logs are detailed but require manual parsing

Alternatives and Comparison

Feature	Cross-Tenant Migration (Preview)	ShareGate / AvePoint	Manual (Export/Import)
Native Microsoft Support	✅	❌	❌
Permissions Mapping	✅	✅	❌
Data Security Compliance	✅	✅	❌
UI-based Management	❌	✅	❌
Cost	Included in M365	Extra licensing	Resource-intensive

Is It Worth It?

Microsoft’s Cross-tenant SharePoint Migration (Preview) is a game-changer for IT professionals managing digital transformations. It offers a secure, compliant, and streamlined experience without needing third-party licenses. While it’s still in preview and may lack a friendly UI, it provides all the underlying power needed to execute clean and efficient migrations—especially when paired with proper planning and scripting expertise.

As this feature matures, we can expect better automation, deeper integration with the Admin Center UI, and broader use case support, including Teams and more granular OneDrive controls. If your organization is on the verge of tenant consolidation or restructuring, this is definitely a preview worth piloting.

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