Connecting to Google Workspace is fast to set up and fully supported in Movebot.
Introduction
Movebot uses the Google Drive API with delegate access, and we provide everything you need for quick authorization in Google Admin. Connecting to Google Workspace by delegate access provides Movebot access to user data and shared drives in the Google Workspace domain and full support for migrating Google Drive content.
To connect Movebot to Google Workspace, you will need:
A Google Workspace administrator account
To be familiar with the Google Admin Centre
To have access to the Shared Drives you wish to migrate
Configuration Steps
When configuring a new connection, select Google Workspace from the list of available connection types and give the connection a name
Enter your Google administrator account email address
Enter your domain (find this under "Manage domains" in Google Admin) .
Click "Create Service Account" - this will generate a Client ID
Use this Client ID when configuring domain-wide delegation in the Admin console, required to allow Movebot to access necessary data for migrations. Include the following OAuth scopes:
Movebot supports migrations of MyDrive and Shared Drive data within Google Workspace tenants. Below are common GWS Drive-specific errors, their resolutions, and answers to frequently asked questions.
Error: invalid_request: Invalid impersonation
Cause: The admin email address specified in your Google connection is invalid or does not have sufficient permissions.
Resolution: Ensure the email address exists, is correctly entered, and belongs to a licensed Google Workspace admin user with appropriate privileges.
Error: file-not-found when accessing Shared Drive containing a forward slash (/)
Cause: Movebot interprets the / character as a folder path separator, which can lead to issues when referencing drive names that contain slashes.
Resolution: To avoid this, either manually specify the path or use a CSV import that references the drive by its ID using the /teamdriveid:<drive_id> prefix. This ensures the drive is accessed directly and unambiguously. Learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it possible to migrate between two existing Google tenants using Movebot?
Answer: Yes. Movebot fully supports bi-directional migrations between Google tenants, including full tenant-to-tenant transfers.
Why does the Movebot scan result show more/less data than the Google Admin Console?
Answer: The discrepancy occurs because Google and Movebot calculate storage usage differently.
Google Admin Console reports storage based on file ownership. It includes all files a user owns, even if they are located in folders shared with them by others.
Movebot only scans and reports on content located within a user’s actual MyDrive. It does not include files the user owns inside folders shared with them by other users.
When Google Admin shows more data than Movebot
Scenario:
Jeff shares a folder with Sarah. Sarah adds 50GB of photos to Jeff’s shared folder.
Google Admin Console: Reports 50GB of storage used by Sarah, because she is the file owner.
Movebot: Scans Sarah’s MyDrive and detects 0KB, since the data physically resides in Jeff’s folder.
When Movebot shows more data than Google Admin
Scenario:
Mathias creates a Shared Folder and shares it with five colleagues. They add 20GB of data to it, but Mathias doesn’t add anything himself.
Google Admin Console: Reports 0KB usage for Mathias, because he doesn’t own any files.
Movebot: Scans Mathias’s drive and detects 20GB, since he is the owner of the Shared Folder—meaning all content within it is considered his for the purpose of migration.
What happens to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides during migration?
Answer: When migrating between two Google tenants, the native Google file formats (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.) are retained, and everything will function the same in the destination tenant as it did in the source.
If you're migrating out of the Google ecosystem (e.g., to Microsoft 365), Google files will be automatically converted to their equivalent Microsoft Office formats (e.g., Docs → Word, Sheets → Excel).
Note: Due to limitations in the Google API, documents larger than 11MB cannot be exported into Microsoft Office formats. These files will either be skipped or need to be downloaded manually. Learn more.
Why can't I see a particular Shared Drive in the list of available drives in Movebot?
Answer: Ensure that the admin user specified in the Movebot-Google connection has Manager permissions on the Shared Drive. If the Shared Drive was recently created, it can take up to 30 minutes for Google's APIs to reflect the new drive. Wait and check back later.
Supported Features
Movebot has comprehensive support for Google Workspaces and is well-maintained.
