Microsoft’s free Windows client copies on-premises SharePoint Server and SharePoint Foundation sites, plus local and network file shares, into SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams in Microsoft 365. Organization-level jobs sign in as a SharePoint Administrator; a destination site admin is enough for a single site collection. The source account only needs Read on the content being moved.
It is the first-party path for out-of-the-box farms: files, folders, lists, versions, navigation, supported web parts, content types, and term stores (a global term store needs a global tenant admin). Incremental reruns move only new or changed source files. Matching PowerShell cmdlets cover every GUI function.
What It Migrates
Supported sources are SharePoint Server 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019; SharePoint Foundation 2010 and 2013; and local or network file shares. Destinations are SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. Site jobs can include subsites and, optionally, modernize structure by promoting level-one subsites to site collections and associating a hub. Individual files up to 250 GB are supported. Teams and channels can be chosen on the destination picker.
- Workflows to Power Automate. SharePoint Server 2010 out-of-the-box Approval, Collect Feedback, Collect Signature, and Three-state workflows, plus SharePoint Designer 2010 and 2013 workflows.
- Scope. List, library, and content-type workflows migrate. Site workflows do not. Definitions and associations move; workflow history does not.
- Permissions and identity. Separate settings preserve SharePoint versus file-share permissions and inheritance. Automatic user mapping matches on-premises accounts to Microsoft Entra ID when a match exists.
How a Migration Run Works
The client authenticates to the destination tenant first, then collects the source location and target site. After you submit jobs, scan, package, upload, and import run in parallel across targeted files. The same engine is exposed as the Microsoft.SharePoint.MigrationTool.PowerShell module (PowerShell 5.x; 6.0 and later are not supported) via cmdlets such as Register-SPMTMigration, Add-SPMTTask, and Start-SPMTMigration. Large inventories can be bulk-loaded from a CSV or JSON task file. Proxy connections are not supported.
- Scan. Every file is scanned, including scan-only preassessments. The pass checks source Read, destination write, and known blockers.
- Package, upload, import. A content package plus manifest is uploaded to a customer-dedicated Azure container and encrypted at rest with AES-256-CBC. SharePoint then pulls the payload through the Migration API; the container key is single-use and is not stored by SharePoint.
- Auth on the source. NTLM, Kerberos, Forms, ADFS, MFA, SAML-based claims, and client certificates (including Azure app registrations with certificate credentials) are supported. If the on-premises web application advertises multiple providers including Windows authentication, NTLM and Kerberos are not supported; use another method or convert the app to Windows-only.
- Resume and disk. Session metadata is stored in a hidden list on the operator’s OneDrive so a job can resume on another machine with the same destination credentials. Plan at least 150 GB free in the working folder (default
%appdata%\Microsoft\MigrationTool).
Limits and Alternative Paths
To scale a large farm, install the client on several Windows computers or VMs and run bulk jobs in parallel. For automatic task orchestration on file shares, Microsoft points operators to Migration Manager in the SharePoint admin center. Government clouds are supported with an environment-type setting; the client is not available for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet in China.
| Path | Best For | Scale Model |
| SPMT | SharePoint Server 2010-2019, Foundation, and file shares; workflow conversion to Power Automate | Local GUI or PowerShell; extra Windows machines for parallelism |
| Migration Manager | Large file-share estates; Google Workspace, Box, Dropbox, and Egnyte | Agent pool in the SharePoint admin center; tasks auto-assigned |
| Other Microsoft or third-party tools | Tenant-to-tenant moves, InfoPath, coded farms, and custom workflow platforms | Cross-tenant SharePoint and OneDrive migration is a separate Microsoft 365 feature, not this client |
- Will not migrate. Tenant-to-tenant content, structure-only sites, master pages, InfoPath forms, custom New/Edit/View list forms, site workflows, and workflow history.
- Template control. You cannot pick a modern destination template; the tool chooses from source and destination characteristics. Coded or third-party customizations are outside the out-of-the-box support bar.
- Page caveats. Site pages migrate via CSV or JSON. On modern pages, a checked-out page sends the last checked-in version; comments are dropped.
