Switch from Gmail to Google Workspace: step by step
How to move your mail, contacts and address from Gmail to Google Workspace without losing anything. Most moves take an evening to set up, then a few weeks of forwarding.
Watch out for
- Gmail labels become folders elsewhere, so an email with several labels can be copied more than once.
- Importers usually need IMAP turned on in Gmail's settings, and an app password, which needs 2-Step Verification.
- Google may delete a personal account that hasn't been used for two years, so sign in now and then while forwarding is on.
- The migration is run by an admin, for up to 100 people at a time. You can run it again later to pick up mail that arrived in the meantime.
Before you start
- Check where your address lives. If it ends in @gmail.com, it belongs to Gmail and stays there: you'll forward your mail and tell people your new address.
- Check the space you need. See how much mail you have in Gmail, and compare it with Google Workspace's plans (the cheapest is Business Starter, £5.90 per user a month, yearly, ex VAT, with 30 GB).
- Read the small print. Google Workspace's page covers exporting, cancelling and refunds under "Before you sign up".
Open your Google Workspace account
Sign up on Google Workspace's website (14 days free), and turn on two-step sign-in straight away. You'll find the link on Google Workspace's page: Google Workspace.
Bring your mail across
Use Google Workspace's importer. An admin copies mail in with Google's data migration service, in the Admin console. It copies from Gmail, other Google Workspace accounts and any provider that allows IMAP, and leaves the old mailbox as it was. Google Workspace's guide ↗
If it asks for a password, make a Gmail app password rather than using your normal one.
Your old mail stays where it is while it's copied, so nothing is lost if you need to start again.
Move your contacts and calendar
Export your contacts as a .vcf file and each calendar as an .ics file from Gmail, then import them into Google Workspace. Most providers have both options in their contacts and calendar settings.
Keep your @gmail.com address working
- Forward new mail. In Gmail on a computer, open Settings, then Forwarding and POP/IMAP, and add your new address. Gmail sends a code to the new address to confirm it. Gmail's guide ↗
- Tell people. Send your new address to the people who matter, and add it to your email signature.
- Update your sign-ins. Change the email address on your bank, shopping, social and work accounts. A password manager's list of saved sign-ins is the quickest checklist.
- Keep the old account open for a while. Mail will keep arriving there for months. Sign in now and then so it isn't closed for not being used.
Check everything arrived
- Compare the number of emails in each folder on both sides.
- Send a test email to your new address from another account, and reply to it.
- Check that mail forwarded from Gmail is arriving, and isn't going to spam.
Close Gmail, when you're ready
Wait at least a month, until nothing new arrives there. On a free account you can leave it open with forwarding on instead. Before you close a paid account, download a last copy of your mail.
From Gmail's page: Gmail.
I checked the providers' help pages on 24 October 2026. Menus move, so if a step doesn't match what you see, tell me and I'll update it.
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