SharePoint Migration Tool: Migrate File Servers to Microsoft 365

SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) is a free tool from Microsoft that allows you to move content from local file servers and SharePoint Server environments to SharePoint, OneDrive, or Teams in Microsoft 365, including permissions, versions, and with limitations also workflows. The process consists of four steps: installation, scan and assessment, creating a migration task, and monitoring and reporting, with long target paths and unsupported elements being the most common causes of errors in practice. As of August 2026.

What can SharePoint Migration Tool migrate?

SPMT migrates content from local and network file shares as well as from SharePoint Server 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019 and SharePoint Foundation 2010 and 2013 to SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams in Microsoft 365, as Microsoft lists under What SPMT supports. Additionally, out-of-the-box workflows from SharePoint Server 2010 as well as SharePoint Designer workflows can be migrated to Power Automate. However, migration from one Microsoft 365 tenant to another is not possible: SPMT moves content exclusively from on-premises sources to the cloud. For tenant-to-tenant moves, Microsoft refers to a separate cross-tenant migration solution.

What access and permissions do you need in advance?

For the migration, you need two separate accesses: access to the target as OneDrive/SharePoint administrator or site administrator, and access to the source with read permissions on the SharePoint Server content to be migrated. For authentication, SPMT supports NTLM, Kerberos, Forms, ADFS, multi-factor authentication, SAML-based claims, and client certificates. An exception applies if the local server uses multiple authentication providers simultaneously, including Windows authentication. In this case, Windows authentication is not supported, and you must use one of the other methods.

What are the most common causes of migration failures in practice?

The most common technical error in SPMT migrations is target paths that are too long. According to the official Troubleshooting SPMT, the entire path including the file name for OneDrive and SharePoint must be shorter than 400 characters, otherwise the scan terminates with the message "Target path is too long". Invalid folder names are equally common, which the scan responds to with "The folder name is invalid". Before a larger migration, it is therefore worthwhile to check the folder structure on the file server in advance, rather than discovering path problems in the middle of a running migration.

What does SPMT not support?

Some elements cannot be migrated with SPMT in principle: a pure structure without content, a freely selectable modern target template for the target site, master pages, InfoPath forms, and customized new, edit, and view forms for lists including their content. Microsoft lists these limitations in the support table under What SPMT supports. For government cloud environments, SPMT is available, but not for Office 365 tenants operated by 21Vianet in China.

How do you reliably migrate larger data volumes?

For large data volumes, install SPMT on multiple physically separate Windows computers or virtual machines and run the bulk migration jobs in parallel to achieve maximum throughput. Anyone who wants to automate this orchestration can use the Migration Manager, according to the SPMT FAQ. Migration tasks can also be run incrementally again, so that only new or changed files since the last run are transferred. For organizations that want to combine a file server move with larger digitization, it is often a good time to directly incorporate existing manual processes into automation, for example as part of automation consulting.

Frequently asked questions about SharePoint Migration Tool

Can SPMT migrate content from one Microsoft 365 tenant to another?

No. According to the official FAQ, SPMT migrates only content from an on-premises SharePoint Server, not from one Microsoft 365 tenant to another. For tenant-to-tenant moves, there is a separate cross-tenant migration solution for SharePoint and OneDrive.

How long can a file path be for migration to SharePoint Online?

The entire path, including the file name, must be shorter than 400 characters for OneDrive and SharePoint. If a path exceeds this limit, SPMT terminates the scan with an appropriate error message before the actual migration begins.

Can I migrate only individual pages without transferring the entire site?

Yes. According to the SPMT FAQ, site pages can be selectively migrated, but only by uploading a CSV or JSON file with the corresponding task definition, not through the regular GUI selection.

Where do you find the logs if a migration fails?

The local SPMT logs are located at 'C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\MigrationTool' on the computer where SPMT was run. These logs are the first point of contact for tracking down individual error codes or failed tasks.