Switch from iCloud Mail to Google Workspace: step by step

How to move your mail, contacts and address from iCloud Mail to Google Workspace without losing anything. Most moves take an evening to set up, then a few weeks of forwarding.

Moving fromGmailOutlook.comiCloud MailProton MailFastmailTutamailbox.orgPosteoZoho MailGoogle WorkspaceMicrosoft 365 BusinessMailfenceStartMailRunboxAnother providerMoving toGmailOutlook.comiCloud MailProton MailFastmailTutamailbox.orgPosteoZoho MailGoogle WorkspaceMicrosoft 365 BusinessMailfenceStartMailRunboxAnother provider

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1. Before you start

   • Check where your address lives. If it ends in @icloud.com, it belongs to iCloud Mail and stays there: you'll forward your mail and tell people your new address. If it's on your own domain, like you@yourname.co.uk, it comes with you: you'll change a few DNS settings.
   • Check the space you need. See how much mail you have in iCloud Mail, 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".

2. 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.

3. 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 ↗

   Your old mail stays where it is while it's copied, so nothing is lost if you need to start again.

4. Move your contacts and calendar

   Export your contacts as a .vcf file and each calendar as an .ics file from iCloud Mail, then import them into Google Workspace. Most providers have both options in their contacts and calendar settings.

5. Keep your @icloud.com address working

   1. Forward new mail. At icloud.com/mail, open Settings, then Mail Forwarding, and enter your new address. iCloud Mail's guide ↗
   2. Tell people. Send your new address to the people who matter, and add it to your email signature.
   3. 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.
   4. 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.

6. If you use your own domain

   Your address moves with you. Do this after your mail has been copied:

   1. Add your domain in Google Workspace's settings, and create the same addresses there.
   2. A day before, lower the TTL on your domain's MX records (to 300 seconds, say), so the change takes effect quickly.
   3. Replace the MX records with Google Workspace's, and swap iCloud Mail's entry in your SPF record for Google Workspace's.
   4. Add Google Workspace's DKIM record, and keep your DMARC record.
   5. Check the result with a free DNS checker before you rely on it.

   Not sure what these mean? See my email glossary.

7. 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 iCloud Mail is arriving, and isn't going to spam.

8. Close iCloud Mail, 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.

   • Cancelling: Cancel iCloud+ from Subscriptions in your Apple Account settings, on your device or the web. Cancel a free trial at least 24 hours before it ends.

   From iCloud Mail's page: iCloud Mail.

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.

Moving to Google Workspace from somewhere else? Gmail to Google Workspace · Outlook.com to Google Workspace · Proton Mail to Google Workspace · Fastmail to Google Workspace · Tuta to Google Workspace · mailbox.org to Google Workspace · All switching guides