How to Migrate Microsoft Teams Between Tenants with Quest On Demand: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide [2025]

Introduction

In mergers, acquisitions, carve-outs or reorganizations, day-to-day collaboration lives in Microsoft Teams: teams, channels, files, meetings, and apps (Planner, OneNote, Power BI, Forms). That’s why migrating Teams between tenants isn’t “copying chats”—it means coordinating identities, permissions, files in SharePoint/OneDrive, Exchange calendars, and apps without breaking operations or security.

This guide provides a proven approach with Quest On Demand Migration (ODM): preparation (consents, discovery, and identity matching), wave-based execution, conversation import using Teams migration mode, coexistence (Directory Sync and Domain Rewrite), and the domain cutover. It includes checklists, KPIs, and risk mitigations with both technical and business focus.

Goal: reduce risk, shorten the change window, and minimize “day after” tickets. If your scenario involves sensitive information, multi-region, or telephony (Teams Phone), you’ll find specific considerations.

Glossary: Team=container with channels; Channel=conversation+files (SharePoint); Chat=1:1/group; Tenant=M365 instance.

1. What is Quest On Demand Migration (ODM)

Quest ODM is an Azure-based SaaS platform that orchestrates tenant-to-tenant migrations for Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange: inventory, assessment, identity mapping, batch scheduling, telemetry, and reporting. It enables pre-staging, deltas, and integrates Directory Sync and rewrite services for coexistence.

Learn more: Quest On Demand Migration product overview.

2. Prerequisites and permissions

Before creating batches, register the source tenant and target tenant in ODM and grant application consents for each workload (Teams/Graph, SharePoint/OneDrive, Exchange). For the Teams migration mode, a set of Microsoft Graph application permissions is used to import messages with timestamp and author.

Permissions and technical considerations

• Graph: Teams administration and import permissions (migration mode); applicable limits and throttling.
• SharePoint/OneDrive: app permissions to read/write sites and OneDrives.
• Exchange: permissions to move content and enable coexistence (Free/Busy) if needed.

Tenant checks (pre-flight)

• Retention/eDiscovery: review holds that could block moves.
• Identities: define matching (same UPN/different suffix or CSV). Document exceptions (aliases, service accounts, guests).
• Target licensing: assign Teams/SharePoint/Exchange licenses to wave users before cutover.
• Network/Firewall: allow Microsoft 365 and ODM endpoints where applicable.
• Conditional Access/MFA: avoid discovery and execution blocks.

3. Project methodology

Work in waves to reduce friction: pilot → early areas → critical areas → stabilization. ODM supports pre-staging of history, scheduling incrementals, and coordinating coexistence so that Day 0 is predictable.

Governance and communication

• Clear RACI (IT, security, business, partner).
• Role-based comms (owners, members, guests) with FAQs and short videos.
• Success criteria (technical KPIs + user experience).
• Windows agreed with business and a change freeze during cutover.

4. Preparing in ODM: project, tenants, and matching

In On Demand Migration, create the project, connect source/target, and grant consents. Then set up identity matching (automatic by UPN or CSV) and plan waves.

Step by step

1. Create an ODM project and select workloads to migrate.
2. Connect tenants (source/target) and grant consents.
3. Run discovery (users, groups, mailboxes; OneDrive; sites; teams).
4. Define matching (UPN→UPN) or CSV for exceptions.
5. Plan waves and windows (pilot → waves → cutover).

Sample CSV (identity matching)

If you manage identities on-prem, document ImmutableID/mS-DS-ConsistencyGuid to avoid misalignment.

5. Teams (teams, channels, and conversations)

With ODM you can migrate Teams structure (teams and channels), their associated files (in SharePoint/OneDrive), and—where applicable—conversations using Microsoft Graph’s migration mode. Recommended flow: inventory → classify/map → migrate files → import conversations → complete migration → UAT and open access.

Inventory and classification

• Criticality: ongoing projects, key departments, sensitivity (labels).
• Size: number of channels, file volume, age of history.
• Apps/tabs: Planner, OneNote, Power BI, Forms, Connectors (document re-authorizations).
• Members/owners: validate owners and clean inactive/external members.

Mapping and normalization

• Naming: use a temporary prefix/suffix (e.g., _NEW) to avoid collisions.
• Channel privacy: standard channels move with their SPO; for private/shared, define an alternative (recreation, documented history).
• Owners: ensure at least two owners per team in the target.

Teams migration mode (summary)

1. Create the team in migration state with historical timestamps.
2. Create channels also in migration state.
3. Import messages (author and timestamp) preserving threads.
4. Complete the migration (team and channels) to unlock normal use.
5. Add members and apply policies in the target tenant.

Apps and tabs

• Planner: recreate plans and reassign members; export/import where feasible.
• OneNote: verify notebook permissions and re-pin tabs if paths change.
• Wikis (deprecated): move content to OneNote/SharePoint.
• Power BI: repoint tabs to the new workspace/dataset.
• Forms: re-publish forms or use collections in the target tenant.

Meetings, telephony, and policies

• Future meetings: re-send invites if organizers/domains change.
• Teams Phone: dedicated project for numbering, queues/AAs, and recording.
• Teams policies: replicate and assign by groups (messaging, meetings, apps).
• Guests (B2B): re-invite or create contacts per coexistence strategy.

Step by step (ODM)

1. Discover teams and classify by criticality and size.
2. Map (Team A → Team A’); define handling for private/shared channels.
3. Migrate files first (SPO/OneDrive) and validate permissions/links.
4. Import conversations (if applicable) and run complete.
5. Validate apps/tabs and re-authorize connectors.

Microsoft Learn: Import external messages to Teams (migration mode).

6. SharePoint (sites, permissions, and metadata)

Channel files in Teams live in the team site’s document library. ODM can discover sites, assess structure/volume, and migrate them in batches, maintaining permissions and metadata when supported by the APIs.

Planning

• Topology: identify hub sites, legacy subsites, and external sharing.
• Customizations: extensions (SPFx), managed columns, retention, and flows (Power Automate) to reconfigure in the target.
• Limits: follow best practices for large libraries (metadata, paths ≤ 400 characters, files ≤ 250 GB).

Step by step

1. Audit owners, inheritance, and apps.
2. Define strategy (by site/collection/critical library) and off-hours windows.
3. Launch batches and review reports (long paths, invalid names, orphan permissions).
4. Recertify permissions and external sharing after each wave.

7. OneDrive (users, versions, and links)

Many files shared in Teams chats live in the author’s OneDrive. Migrating them correctly prevents broken references.

Best practices

• Versioning: decide whether to move all versions or only the latest.
• Shared links: links will change to the new tenant; plan recertification of critical access (internal/external).
• Names/paths: normalize before moving to avoid blockers.
• Sensitive content: validate sensitivity/retention labels.

Step by step

1. Pre-create users and validate matching.
2. Select OneDrives and run batches by volume/department.
3. Validate permissions and external access at batch close.
4. Recertify access in the week after go-live.

8. Exchange Online (meetings, invites, Free/Busy)

Teams relies on Exchange for calendars and bookings. During coexistence, use an organization relationship to enable cross-tenant Free/Busy. After cutover, validate meeting invites and room mailboxes; update transport rules, connectors, and signatures.

Quick validation post-cutover

• Internal/external send/receive.
• Free/Busy availability and room bookings.
• Delegations (SendAs/SendOnBehalf) and shared mailboxes.

9. Coexistence with ODM: Directory Sync and Email/Domain Rewrite

For multi-week/month coexistence or multiple domains, combine On Demand Directory Sync (object creation/sync) with Email/Domain Rewrite to keep addresses consistent. Add Exchange organization relationships for Free/Busy and publish contacts for cross-tenant GAL visibility.

Best practices

• Soft/hard match: agree how to link existing accounts.
• Contacts: create mail-enabled contacts for users not yet migrated.
• Rewrite: decide whether you need temporary outbound/inbound rewrite.
• Governance: control new team/channel creation during coexistence.

Cross-tenant Free/Busy (Exchange)

Connect-ExchangeOnline
New-OrganizationRelationship -Name "Rel-Target-Tenant" `
  -DomainNames "contoso.com" -FreeBusyAccessEnabled $true `
  -FreeBusyAccessLevel LimitedDetails

10. Desktop Update Agent: Outlook/OneDrive/Teams changes

To make the “day after” smooth, deploy Quest’s Desktop Update Agent (DUA). It automatically reconfigures Outlook, OneDrive, and Teams on user devices, reducing tickets.

Recommended deployment

1. Generate the agent token in the ODM project.
2. Deploy the MSI via GPO/Intune with MST (TOKEN, PASSPHRASE).
3. Schedule the Switch during the cutover window.
4. Fallback: guide to close apps, clear caches, and validate profiles.

Quest Desktop Update Agent user guide (English).

11. Domain and DNS cutover (MX/SPF/DKIM/DMARC)

The domain change is the visible milestone. Rehearse it and lower TTL in advance. Release the domain in source (no references in UPN, proxyAddresses, groups, apps) and add it in target with MX/SPF/DKIM/DMARC. Validate delivery and signatures before tightening DMARC.

# MX to Exchange Online Protection
MX @ 0 → contoso-com.mail.protection.outlook.com

# SPF / DKIM / DMARC
TXT @ "v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all"
CNAME selector1._domainkey → selector1-contoso-com._domainkey.contoso.onmicrosoft.com
TXT _dmarc "v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@contoso.com"

12. Security and compliance (Purview, CA, Defender)

Harden the target tenant from day one: MFA + Conditional Access (with controlled break-glass accounts), Defender for Office 365, and Microsoft Purview (sensitivity labels, DLP, retention, and eDiscovery). Replicate key policies and review guests/external sharing after each wave.

13. M365 licensing after migration (Business/Enterprise)

14. Performance, limits, and throttling

Microsoft enforces quotas and throttling across Graph, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange. Plan per-batch concurrency, use off-hours windows, and measure with a pilot. For large histories or big sites, distribute loads and estimate duration from real telemetry.

• Graph: global and service-specific limits; honor retry-after headers (429/503) with exponential backoff.
• Concurrency: size by volume and criticality (not just team counts).
• Windows: schedule outside peak hours and communicate impacts.

Microsoft Graph throttling limits (English).

Microsoft Teams limits & specifications (English).

15. Operational checklists (pre, during, post)

Before migration

• Tenants connected and consents (Graph, SPO/OD, Exchange).
• Identity matching (UPN/CSV) with documented exceptions.
• Waves and windows agreed; role-based comms plan; support runbooks.
• Pilots by workload (Teams/SPO/OD/EXO) with success criteria.
• DUA packaged and token generated; pilot deployment.
• Review CA/MFA/Defender and external collaboration (guests).

During migration

• Monitor tasks; handle errors with retries.
• Run deltas where applicable and validate key mailboxes.
• Recertify permissions in SPO/OD and critical external access.
• Validate teams/channels (structure, files, main tabs).

After

• Domain cutover and validations (MX, DKIM/DMARC, SPF).
• Desktop switch with DUA (Outlook/OneDrive/Teams) and user guidance.
• Reinforced support in week 1; role-based training and satisfaction survey.
• Policy review, guests, and cleanup of legacy teams.

16. KPIs, UAT, and acceptance

17. Common risks and mitigations

18. CSVs and helper snippets

SourceUPN,TargetUPN
ana.perez@source.com,ana.perez@target.com
juan.garcia@source.com,juan.garcia@target.com

SourceTeam,TargetTeam,Owners,Visibility
Sales-ES,Sales-ES,ana.perez@target.com;diego.ruiz@target.com,Private
Operations,Operations-EU,laura.martin@target.com,Public

Connect-ExchangeOnline
New-OrganizationRelationship -Name "Rel-Target-Tenant" `
  -DomainNames "contoso.com" -FreeBusyAccessEnabled $true `
  -FreeBusyAccessLevel LimitedDetails

# MX to Exchange Online Protection
MX @ 0 → contoso-com.mail.protection.outlook.com
TXT @ "v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all"
CNAME selector1._domainkey → selector1-contoso-com._domainkey.contoso.onmicrosoft.com
TXT _dmarc "v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@contoso.com"

19. Frequently asked questions

20. Official resources

• Quest — On Demand Migration (overview)
• Quest — On Demand Migration (User Guide)
• Quest — Desktop Update Agent (User Guide)
• Microsoft — Import external messages to Teams (migration mode)
• Microsoft Graph — throttling limits
• Microsoft — Teams limits & specifications

21. Conclusion and next steps

A Microsoft Teams tenant-to-tenant migration with Quest On Demand is far smoother with a clear path: solid consents and matching, wave-based pre-staging, well-designed coexistence, and a DUA-assisted desktop switch so users barely notice the change. With measurable pilots, known limits, and honest communication, go-live becomes predictable.