How to migrate email from Google Workspace without downtime

A no-downtime move from Google Workspace has six steps: lower the TTL of your MX records, create the mailboxes at the new provider, copy existing mail over IMAP, switch the MX records, sync again to catch stragglers, and only then cancel Workspace. Done in that order, no message is lost and nobody has to change their address.

For most small teams the hands-on work is an afternoon. The calendar time comes from waiting: for DNS caches to expire and for large mailboxes to copy within Google’s limits.

Make a list of what receives mail

• Every user, with their primary address and their aliases (Admin console → Directory → Users).
• Every group used as a shared address: sales@, hello@, jobs@. Groups are not mailboxes; decide whether each becomes a shared inbox or an alias at the new host.
• Forwarding rules and routing in Admin console → Apps → Gmail, and any catch-all.
• Everything else that sends as your domain: CRM, invoicing, newsletter, website forms. Their SPF includes and DKIM records stay.

Check where your domain is registered

Google Workspace hosts the mail; it is not necessarily your registrar. Look up your domain’s registrar with any RDAP or WHOIS service. If you bought it through Google, note that Google Domains registrations moved to Squarespace in 2023–2024, and domains bought through the Workspace sign-up flow are managed there too. Make sure you can log in to wherever the DNS is before you begin.

Workspace is more than mail. Drive files, Calendar and Contacts need their own export or move; this guide covers email, the part that cannot have a gap.

Check the current MX records and their TTL. A Workspace domain set up since 2023 has a single record; older ones have several aspmx records. Both work.

dig MX example.com
;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.   3600   IN   MX   1 smtp.google.com.

Set the TTL of the MX records to 300 seconds. Resolvers holding the old value keep it until its old TTL runs out (3,600 seconds in the example, often up to 86,400 at some registrars), so do this at least one old TTL before the switch. A day ahead is a safe default.

1. 1Add and verify the domain at the new provider (usually a TXT record).
2. 2Create every mailbox, alias and shared address from your list. Add a catch-all for the first days if the provider offers one.
3. 3Add the new provider’s DKIM records. Keep Google’s (google._domainkey by default) until Workspace no longer sends.
4. 4Add the new provider to your one SPF record, next to Google, so both can send during the move.

; during the move: both providers may send
example.com.  300  IN  TXT  "v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:spf.provider.example ~all"
; after Workspace is closed
example.com.  3600 IN  TXT  "v=spf1 include:spf.provider.example ~all"

Keep your DMARC record as it is. If it is at p=reject, check that the new provider signs with your domain before any mail goes out from it.

Most providers have an import tool that connects to Gmail for you; use it if it exists. Otherwise imapsync, an open-source tool used by many hosts, copies folder by folder and can run again without duplicating messages.

imapsync \
  --host1 imap.gmail.com --user1 ana@example.com --password1 "app-password" \
  --host2 imap.provider.example --user2 ana@example.com --password2 "new-password" \
  --gmail1

• Authentication. Since 14 March 2025 Google accepts only OAuth or app passwords for IMAP, not the account password. App passwords need 2-Step Verification on the account; your admin may have to allow them.
• Labels are folders. Over IMAP each Gmail label appears as a folder, and the same message can sit in several. --gmail1 sets sensible defaults for Gmail as the source, including the folder handling and a speed limit.
• The daily limit. Google allows 2,500 MB of IMAP download per user per day. A 10 GB mailbox takes about four days, so start large mailboxes first, newest mail first if your tool allows.
• Alternatives. An admin can export all users with Google’s Data Export tool (mbox files), which some providers import directly.

1. 1Delete the Google MX records. Do not leave them at a higher number: senders would still deliver some mail to Google.
2. 2Add the new provider’s MX records with a 300-second TTL.
3. 3Check from outside your network: dig MX example.com @8.8.8.8 +short should show only the new hosts.
4. 4Send a test from a personal account to each important address, and reply to it from the new mailbox.

Switch everyone at once. While the domain is still active in Workspace, Google delivers mail between its own users internally without looking at MX, so a message from a colleague still on Google never reaches the person who already moved.

Some servers cached the old MX and keep delivering to Google for a while. Run the same imapsync command a day after the switch and again after three days; it copies only what is new. When a run finds nothing, you are done.

After you cancel, Google deletes the users’ Workspace data and it cannot be restored. Export first.

Skein imports your Gmail history as part of setup, so its follow-up agent knows every open thread from the first day, and you can keep reading mail in the Gmail or Outlook app over IMAP. See how it looks in the demo. How it compares on features and price: Skein vs Google Workspace.