Migrate G Suite to New Domain and Shift your Workspace Data

Whenever organizations choose to use Google Workspace for their business needs they have most certainly made the right choice. However, we all know business scenarios are seldom stagnant. As there often arise occasions like acquisitions, mergers, rebranding, etc during which admins need to migrate G suite to new domain ASAP. Moreover, this task is not easy as it involves many variables, including users, devices, permissions, apps, and much more. Therefore, to assist in this task we provide various methods within this writeup. Let’s first start with the reasons.

Reasons to Migrate G suite to New Domain Explained

Business Scenario Transformation:

In the era of startups, not a single day goes by without hearing about a merger or acquisition. Behind the breaking news, this is a very busy time for IT admins. As they now have to manage all new employee data and bring it in line with the parent company. This scenario is not new to companies that operate a Google Workspace as their daily driver. 

Interorganization Restructuring: 

To have an iconic name on the first try is short of a miracle. That is why during their lifecycle many businesses have a complete makeover of their entire identity, Like the recent shift of Facebook to Meta, Twitter to X, and many more. During the change, one of the most important steps is domain name shift. It is to get better online recognition and also align them with their new look. Startups are prone to such changes and thus search for how to change G Suite to new domain most often.

Also Read: Complete SharePoint Online Migration Checklist for Shifting Data

Keep In Line with Regulatory Standards: 

When organizations spread across the globe one of the most challenging tasks is to bring in the local population as customers. If they have a domain that is locally prevalent it becomes a lot more easier to acquire customers. Moreover, certain nations have legal policies to keep the data of their citizens within the country. To do all of this it’s easier to just perform a Google Workspace domain transfer.

Now that we have established some of the core reasons why domain shifting might be on the cards of an organization, Let’s take a look at some of the best practices to follow during the change.

Best Practices During Google Workspace Domain Transfer

Given below are key considerations while attempting a manual domain transfer. Keep these in mind when you are ready for the change:

• If you’re going to use the default Google Service for the migration, there’s a way to prevent the loss of data. Firstly, change the primary domain of all the other Google services (the ones that aren’t being migrated at the moment) to something else. Do the transfer, and in the end, re-allocate the new domain in place of the old one.
• If you don’t want to spend valuable time on this go for the automated tool instead.
• Keep the data ready with backups done for all users, as once the migration starts, you can’t pause it in between. However, this facility is available through the automated utility.
• Make sure that the domain you are going to use isn’t already associated (aliased) with the source account. If that’s the case, you have to remove it at least 24 hours before migration.
• The domain must be new, and you should be the sole owner of the domain. In other words, it should not belong to any other Google account.
• Make all the necessary domain permission changes by logging in to your host provider’s site. The instructions might vary depending on the provider, so make sure you follow them carefully.
• For accounts purchased via a reseller, notify your reseller and ask them for any help during the change.
• Update all legacy Google sites to their modern counterparts. Legacy sites are no longer supported during domain migration and are deleted automatically.
• Make an organization-wide announcement to inform the users about the changes and any downtime that may occur.

Instructions to Change G Suite to New Domain Manually

Stage-1. Domain addition and email configuration

• Login to Google Admin console with super administrator privileges.
• Within Admin console, click Menu>Account>Domains>Manage domains.
• Hit “Add a domain”. Type new primary domain. 
• Press Continue to start domain ownership verification. 
• Configure Gmail by editing new domain’s MX records.
• Hit “I have completed these steps.”
• Add SPF and DKIM; for spoof prevention.

Stage-2. Switch to new primary domain

• Use quick link to jump directly on Home page, press “Change your primary domain”.
• Select “Make Primary” beside the new primary domain.
• Press Change Primary Domain.

Takes up to 48 hours, but you still get email via old domain.

Stage-3. Move Users, Groups to New Domain

Renaming users makes you sign out automatically; sign back in with the new credentials. (do this with super admin privileges)

• Within Admin console, visit Menu>Directory>Users.
• Pick a user to open their account page.
• On the left-hand-side, hit Rename User.
• Under Primary email, press Down arrow>choose your new primary domain.
• Click Rename. (For multiple users upload a spreadsheet)

Go back to home page

• In the Admin console, go to Menu>Directory>Groups.
• Select the group to rename it and open its group page.
• Within group’s page, press Edit.
• Press the Down arrow icon, then select your new primary domain.
• Hit “Save Group Info”.

Stage-4. What to Do with Old Primary Domain.

There are several different options to choose from:

• The default option is to keep domain as a secondary backup (paid privilege for each user separately).
• Otherwise, use it as an alias (no additional cost; still receive mail, but can’t send mail using it).
• If you don’t want to continue with the original primary domain, remove it.

Stage-5. Update Additional Settings

Edit the following settings:

• Billing
• Domain aliases
• Marketplace apps
• Logos and custom URLs

Limits of the Manual Mechanism of Google Workspace Domain Transfer

Google forbids you to change the domain in each of the following scenarios: 

• If a domain purchase was made at the time of signing up for the Google Workspace service.
• In case the free trial period is not complete yet. If, by mistake or otherwise choose the incorrect domain just cancel your service and start a new one. (This is what Google recommends).
• For unverified domains this service is not available only option is to cancel the subscription or verify the domain manually.
• Sometimes, if the Google domain is used to buy a Google Workspace subscription the domain transfer is not allowed.
• If you are a third party in the business of buying and reselling Google Workspace services, you can’t change the domain name. Approach a Google employee for further clarification. (The customer who made their purchase through a reseller can change their domain only after informing the reseller first).
• If you still operate the G Suite legacy edition
• Hardware specification is not up to par.
• Non-profit entities that have a Google Workspace account are also not allowed to make the domain change themselves.
• The same is true for a standalone offline Chrome Enterprise Upgrade, a standalone Chrome Education Upgrade, and a Chrome Enterprise trial.

Also Read: Strategies to Import EML to Office 365 Environment Easily

Domain Transfer Achieved Via Automated Method

Experts across the globe sing the praises of the critically acclaimed SysTools G Suite Migration Tool. It is not only the simplified UI that impresses everyone but also the unique combination of state-of-the-art algorithms right within the tool. All of this is combined in a single package to bring all G Suite data to its intended location in the fastest time possible.

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The tool is filled with features, some of which are as follows.

• Users can easily migrate G Suite to new domain and shift all of their Emails, Contacts, Calendars, and Documents at no extra cost.
• A variety of different mapping options are present for maximizing user comfort during the domain transfer.
• Choose from a couple of different reporting options to get either summarized, detailed, or both types of reports.
• The change of the G Suite domain is made easy by reducing the number of credentials required to just two. Once at the origin and again at the destination. 
• Apply your own priority to specific user accounts to shift their data in a pre-defined order.
• With a simple shift of a slider, admins who are assigned the task to migrate G Suite to new domain can adjust the number of users migrating at a time.
• Every data item can have its Date filter set to unique values. The tool intelligently selects the data from the selected values and moves it to the destination.
• Users can pick and choose which accounts to move and which to leave behind.
• Not only the data, but metadata like permissions assigned to documents and calendars is migrated too.
• With the advantage of stopping the process midway using a dedicated stop button even network issues can’t interfere with the domain change.

Automated Steps to Change G Suite to New Domain

Step 1. Launch and Activate the utility prior to migration.

Step 2. Select G Suite as both the source and target platform.

Step 3. Scroll to the Workload section, mark the required data items, and apply the Date-Range filters if need be.

Step 4. Type the Admin credentials in the intended space for the source and Validate the said permissions. Repeat the same for the destination.

Step 5. Load the users with the Fetch, Import, or Download option present in the tool and assign the mapping to migrate G Suite to new domain.

Step 6. When selection, prioritization, and validation are complete, hit the Start Migration button.

Step 7. In the odd scenario, if any data item is missing at the destination, hit the Re-Run Migration button and pick Delta (for new items), Retry (for failed items), or Re-Run (to redo the entire migration).

Step 8. For a report on the migration process, select one of the two options: Summary Report, Detailed Report, or both if required.

Wrap Up

With the conclusion of this article on how to migrate G Suite to a new domain, we once again like to highlight the best method. It is none other than the tool itself, as it shrinks down the multi-stage manual procedure into a few easy steps. After which, all new data is aligned to its new domain in record time. Users who follow the tips mentioned here can save a lot of time by avoiding the manual method altogether.