How to migrate emails from GoDaddy to Google Workspace with different domains
Tags: tutorial, itadmin, productivity
Published: 2023-01-15 21:16:47

So I decided to do a list of the steps I did to migrate the emails because I had to really look for quite a bit and several different resources to get it right. 

## Before The Migration

Optionally you can download your most important emails with the app Thunderbird. GoDaddy offers the option to download all your data - but I find it really slow. It's not necessary as with this tutorial you won't lose any data but you can never be too careful.
Make the user accounts in Google Admin. Be sure to Activate the Gmail for the domain. You can do this in Domains and click on Activate Gmail.


## Migrating

1. Get the list of mails and passwords. You can just change the passwords of every account if you wish so.
2. In Google Admin, be sure that you have the roles needed to manage users and data migration. 
3. In Google Admin, click on the dropdown @Account and select Data Migration.
4. Click on Migration Source, select Other IMAP server. Email will be selected by default just make sure it is.
5. In connection protocol select IMAP and write the IMAP server address (imap.secureserver.net for GoDaddy webmail)
6. Write the credentials for one of the email accounts of GoDaddy. Ok, here I recommend you to look for the oldest account you have with GoDaddy.
7. Select length of the migration above. This is why I recommended to look for the oldest account, enter the mail and look for the oldest mail received or sent. Click custom and start from there. You can select any date though.
8. In the data migration dashboard select the option Add User and migrate any user account. Write the credentials of the GoDaddy Email Account and the user in Google Workspace you want to migrate the mails to. Click start.
9. Check if everything ran correctly. Now you can add all the accounts you want individually or with a csv file using the following format:
<Google Workspace Email>, <Source Email>, <Password>

Now, this tutorial is when you have two different domains. You probably are changing domains and might want to have a grace period where your clients can keep sending you emails to your GoDaddy email to avoid losing any information.

## Connecting the domains

Remember the parts of an email: username@domain 
1. Add your GoDaddy domain as second domain. Follow the instructions given by Google. But if you are writing the same exact usernames then you can add it as alias.
Ok, so here it's a bit tricky. Google will automatically make your users an alternative email with the second domain with the username. Let's say:
user1@exampleGW.com → user1@exampleGD.com
We are leaving it as second domain to be able to write custom emails with the GoDaddy domain.
user1@exampleGW.com → usernameposition@exampleGD.com
2. Add the aliases you need in your Google Admin home, select Create an alternate email address.

## Extras

If you have forwards in GoDaddy you can add them as aliases or with Google Groups. But you can actually make a Google Space where you can assign mails in between the group and have access to several other functions that will make work easier.