Migrating to SharePoint Online using ShareGate

In today’s information-driven environments, organizations are under constant pressure to modernize how they manage, store, and access structured content. Platforms like OpenText Content Server and Microsoft SharePoint Online (SPO) offer robust capabilities for organizing and governing enterprise records, but when it becomes necessary to consolidate systems or refine governance strategies, migration is not just a technical task, it’s a strategic initiative. In our case, the choice of migration tool was clear.

ShareGate, widely regarded as an industry leader in SharePoint migrations, offered the reliability, feature depth, and seamless SharePoint integration needed for success. Its intuitive interface and proven track record allowed us to focus on the unique complexities of our environment rather than on tool limitations.

This article walks through our tested migration approach, combining ShareGate’s out-of-the-box power with targeted customizations to deliver precise metadata preservation, maintain user transparency, and minimize operational disruption from start to finish.

The Importance of Planning

Every successful migration begins with planning, not technology. The planning stage is where you assess the available tools, methods, and strategies to determine the best path forward. In our case, the assessment of our internal policies plus a unique network architecture led us to include a mix of custom tools and a staging area, along with ShareGate. This allowed us to maintain efficiency while still ensuring that all content and metadata would move through the migration process in a controlled and transparent way.

Before any content is moved, teams must assess the current environment and lock down the scope. One of the first steps involves freezing the source workspace in Content Server. Placing the target area in a read-only state prevents last minute edits or additions, maintaining a stable snapshot for the migration. Next comes the inventory process. Reporting tools within Content Server can generate snapshots of file counts, folder hierarchies, and overall data volume. These baseline reports later serve as validation benchmarks once the migration is complete. Alongside this, administrative access to SharePoint must be secured, particularly Site Collection Administrator permissions for the destination libraries.

Another key planning task involves preparing SharePoint to receive the content. Site columns used to capture and display metadata must either be created or copied from a standardized template. These columns are essential to ensuring that migrated metadata appears accurately and remains searchable in the new environment. Disk capacity checks on both the SharePoint side and any intermediary staging locations round out the readiness phase, ensuring that no technical bottlenecks arise mid-stream.

Preparing the Content

Once the planning phase concludes, the migration transitions into the export stage where the strategies identified earlier begin taking shape. Although the Content Server Object Exporter/Importer is a reliable option, we chose a different approach to better align with the performance considerations and challenges specific to our environment. Using a custom export tool, documents along with their metadata are exported out of Content Server into a secure staging area. Each document is paired with a .json file that captures its metadata in a consistent, structured format. Using JSON ensures the metadata remains both human-readable and machine-friendly, making it easier to validate, transform, and map into SharePoint Online during migration. This approach preserves the relationship between content and its descriptive context, allowing both to move through the process as a unified package.

Once the export from Content Server is complete, the staging area then undergoes meticulous validation. The migration team confirms that every file has a matching .json record, and that total counts and sizes align with baseline reports. This diligence not only safeguards against data loss but also sets a firm foundation for a clean, compliant migration.

Transforming Metadata with Automation

One of the more complex elements of this migration is transforming metadata from Content Server into a format that SharePoint and ShareGate can interpret. ShareGate, while powerful, does not natively read metadata from .json files. Instead, it requires a structured .csv control file. To bridge this gap, a custom PowerShell script is run to parse the JSON metadata and output a single CSV file. Each row in the CSV corresponds to a single document, while each column represents a metadata field that will map to a SharePoint site column.

The output includes crucial fields such as the source path, the intended document set within SharePoint, content type, and a variety of custom fields such as Document Subject, Fiscal Year, or Report Date. The script also performs validation during execution, flagging skipped files, verifying path structures, and confirming that all metadata fields are accounted for. The CSV is then opened in Excel for human review. Any anomalies or gaps are resolved before proceeding, ensuring a clean and complete metadata structure.

Configuring and Launching ShareGate

With content staged and metadata transformed, it’s time to put ShareGate to work. The migration technician connects to the SharePoint Online site using browser-based authentication and accesses the appropriate library.

Within ShareGate, performance settings are tuned for speed and accuracy. Enabling “Insane mode” allows the tool to preserve original creation and modification dates. Other options, such as disabling telemetry, flattening folders, and handling duplicates, are selected based on organizational preferences and metadata needs.

The migration process itself begins by importing from the staging area. ShareGate reads the previously created CSV file and uses it to guide the placement and tagging of each document. Rather than manually configuring file-by-file transfers, the tool uses the control file to streamline and automate the process. With everything aligned, the migration is launched.

Monitoring the Process in Real Time

Once the migration is underway, ShareGate provides live status updates for each file it processes. The tool logs successes, failures, and any warnings, such as metadata mismatches or unexpected formats. These logs are exported for later reference and become a key resource for audit and compliance tracking.

After the migration run completes, the results are compared against the pre-migration inventory. The migration technician confirms that all expected files made it across, that document set structures were maintained, and that metadata values appear as intended.

Spot checks within SharePoint help validate the user experience, ensuring documents open correctly, metadata is visible and searchable, and content types are applied as expected. If needed, missed files can be retried, and the ShareGate job can be rerun for only the affected items.

Wrapping Up and Moving Forward

The migration concludes with final validation and stakeholder sign-off. SharePoint site owners are notified and asked to perform their own verification of content accuracy. Once they confirm that the site reflects their expectations, administrative permissions are revoked, and cleanup begins.

Folders in Content Server that were part of the migration are identified and relabeled to include a clear migration label and date. This helps both users and records managers identify what has already been moved. After a retention period, those folders can be safely deleted. The staging area on the file share is cleared as well, freeing up resources for the next batch.

This phased approach, applied one office or library at a time, enables teams to manage migrations incrementally, reducing risk while maintaining flexibility and accountability.

A Repeatable Model for Enterprise-Scale Success

Migrating structured content between enterprise platforms is never without its challenges, but with the right approach, it can be a smooth and highly controlled process. By pairing disciplined planning with automation and leveraging the proven capabilities of ShareGate, organizations can transition to SharePoint Online with precision, confidence, and minimal disruption. This strategy safeguards not only the content itself, but also the metadata, business context, and user trust that give that content value, ensuring nothing is lost, misfiled, or mis-tagged along the way.

While this article focuses on a single, structured approach, combining ShareGate’s out-of-the-box strengths with targeted customizations, it’s far from the only path to success. Every migration is shaped by unique requirements, technical landscapes, and organizational priorities. The process outlined here has delivered reliable, repeatable results, and serves as a strong model for teams seeking to shift their content management while unlocking the full collaborative and compliance potential of SharePoint Online.