Migrate from Google Workspace to Nextcloud

An administrator sets up the Google integration app once on the Nextcloud server and decides who may use it. Each user then connects their own Google account from inside Nextcloud and chooses what to bring across. In a per-user model, the user authorizes access to their Drive files, calendar and contacts, and the app copies that content into their personal Nextcloud space. A delegated process, such as a migration team working with each user present, can run the connection on the user's behalf, but the Google sign-in and consent still belong to the account owner. Confirm exactly which Google data types the app covers before you commit to a schedule, and check each one against the app's documentation.

The most important behavior to plan around is that an import is a copy. Google stays the source while the parallel run is underway, so people can keep working in Google while they check results in Nextcloud. Nothing in the copy removes or moves content from the Google account. That also means anything a user changes in Google after an import will not appear in Nextcloud unless the user runs the import again. Confirm how a repeat import treats files and events that already exist: whether it updates them, skips them or creates duplicates. Decide per user when Google becomes read-only, when the final import runs, and which side is authoritative for any item edited on both sides during the overlap.

Before any planning, check the Google integration app's entry in the Nextcloud app store. Record its current version, the Nextcloud versions it declares support for, and how it authorizes access to Google. The authorization method matters most. It determines whether your Google Workspace administrator must create or approve an OAuth client, which Google scopes the app requests, and whether your Google admin consent policies allow users to grant that access. Also check whether the app needs a server-side component or PHP extension that your environment does not already include. If the listing does not answer a question, put it to the app maintainer in writing and keep the answer in the migration record.

Settle the target Nextcloud version once the app check is done. The supplied release schedule lists Nextcloud 35 as supported until September 2027 and Nextcloud 34 until June 2027. A version that stays in support for the whole parallel run and for a reasonable period after cutover is the safer target, so count the months between your planned cutover and each end-of-support date. Then confirm that the Google integration app is compatible with that exact version. If the app lags behind, its declared support list sets the target. Also remember that Nextcloud does not allow skipping major releases during upgrades, so any later upgrade will move one major version at a time.

Plan every gap in the scope document before the first file moves. The Google integration app brings users' Drive files, calendars and contacts into Nextcloud, but several Google Workspace services sit outside that path. Each one needs an owner and a decision: a separate tool, a manual rebuild, an archive kept for reference, or a decision to leave it in Google. Confirm each gap against the current Nextcloud and Google documentation for your versions, because import app coverage changes between releases and should not be assumed from earlier projects.

Gmail mailboxes are not part of the file and calendar import. Mail needs its own path, usually a separate mail platform or a mail migration tool, and Nextcloud's groupware apps are a different product decision, not a switch that moves mail. For most teams the practical choice is to keep Gmail running for a defined period, archive exported mail for reference, or move mail to a separate system on its own schedule. Ask the mail owner which option applies per mailbox and whether legal hold or retention rules require an archive before any mailbox closes.

Google Docs editing history, comment threads and suggestions do not carry over as collaborative document history. Imported Office and Google-format files arrive as files, so the version history a user sees in Nextcloud starts at the import, not at the original authoring date. Decide whether reviewers need the old comment threads. If they do, export them to an archive and link to it from the migrated file. Also confirm how Nextcloud's document editing app handles the file types you import, since some Google-native formats are converted rather than preserved.

Google Workspace permissions and shared drive structure are the most error-prone gap. Google sharing rules, shared drive membership and link settings do not map one to one onto Nextcloud share types, group folders or team folders. Build a table that lists each shared drive, its members, its external sharing, and the Nextcloud structure that will replace it. Then test with a pilot group of users to confirm that access matches the old setup. Expect that some external sharing links must be recreated by hand and that the reader's own team, not the import tool, owns that rebuild.

Apps Script automations, Google Chat and Meet history, and third-party Google add-ons need the most explicit decisions. Scripts and add-ons are code or integrations that must be rewritten against Nextcloud's APIs or workflow features, so they are a manual rebuild with a named owner. Chat and Meet history is usually archived for reference because it is not a file store, and Meet recordings may already sit in Drive folders that the import will copy. For every automation, add-on and chat space, record whether it is rebuilt, archived or retired, and put that decision in the signed scope before cutover.

Per-user cutover planning decides how the move feels to staff, because the Google import runs account by account and each person experiences their own wave. Group users into waves by three factors: team, shared folder dependency and calendar load. Teams that co-edit folders should move in the same wave so that a shared project folder does not end up split between Google Drive and Nextcloud. Users who manage shared calendars or heavy meeting schedules belong in a wave that starts on a quiet week, with their calendar checked before the Google account changes. Start with a small pilot wave of volunteers whose work does not depend on tight deadlines.

Users who share files with people outside the organization need their own review before their wave starts. Export a list of files and folders shared with external addresses from each Google account, then decide which links must be recreated in Nextcloud and who owns each external relationship. Confirm your sharing policy and which guest or public share options your administrators will enable, because external recipients who reached a file through a Google account may lose access once that account becomes read-only. Tell external collaborators the new location before the wave closes, and confirm with the import app's documentation which sharing details it carries over.

Set expectations for where new files are saved after each wave, because users will otherwise keep working in two places. Once a user's Drive content is imported, give them one rule: new work goes into Nextcloud, and Google Drive is read only for that user. Publish the folder paths that map to each old My Drive area and team folder, along with a named contact for questions. Tell users that Google Docs editing history is not carried across, so version history stays in Google. A short note per wave, sent before the switch, prevents most of the confusion that follows a cutover.

Each wave can test the import before the Google account becomes read-only for that user. Run the import for a pilot user, then compare file counts, folder structure and calendar and contact entries with that person before the wider wave begins. Fix mapping problems during this period and keep the Google account writable until the user signs off. Mail needs a decision that the import does not make, because the import does not move Gmail. Decide per wave whether mail stays in Gmail with an archive plan, moves through a separate mail migration, or starts fresh in Nextcloud Mail, and confirm the tool and its limits with its vendor before committing.