A SharePoint migration checklist gives project teams a repeatable way to assess, plan, migrate, validate, launch, and optimize SharePoint Online or SharePoint Server modernization.
A successful migration does not begin with moving files. It begins with understanding the current environment, identifying business owners, deciding what should move, correcting security and governance problems, and designing the destination before migration tasks are created.
This is especially important in 2026. SharePoint Server 2016 and SharePoint Server 2019 both reached extended end of support on July 14, 2026. Organizations still using either version should treat migration or upgrade planning as an active risk-remediation program.
MoreYeahs helps organizations assess SharePoint environments, design migration roadmaps, modernize workflows, establish governance, execute migration waves, validate security, and drive adoption. Explore MoreYeahs SharePoint services or the broader Microsoft services portfolio.
Direct answer: A complete SharePoint migration checklist should cover five connected phases: assessment and remediation, target planning and governance, pilot and migration execution, validation and go-live, and adoption and continuous optimization. Each phase should have named owners, exit criteria, evidence, and executive approval where appropriate.
Key Takeaways
- Inventory content, sites, owners, permissions, workflows, forms, customizations, and integrations before selecting migration waves.
- Correct governance and security problems before moving them into the destination.
- Do not assume all sites, files, workflows, or custom solutions should migrate.
- Use a representative pilot to validate tools, mappings, performance, security, and user experience.
- Validate file counts, metadata, permissions, workflows, search, retention, and critical business tasks.
- Adoption, support, governance, and optimization continue after technical cutover.
- Microsoft’s SharePoint Migration Tool is available at no cost, but assessment, remediation, testing, modernization, and change management still require effort.
SharePoint Migration Checklist Contents
- Phase 1: Assessment and Discovery
- Phase 2: Planning and Governance
- Phase 3: Pilot and Migration Execution
- Phase 4: Validation and Go-Live
- Phase 5: Adoption and Optimization
- Master Migration Checklist
- Roles and Responsibilities
- Migration Risk Checklist
- Frequently Asked Questions
Before You Start
Clarify why the migration is happening. Typical objectives include reducing unsupported-platform risk, adopting Microsoft 365, improving collaboration, modernizing the intranet, replacing legacy workflows, strengthening security, improving governance, consolidating tenants, or preparing for Microsoft Copilot.
Teams unfamiliar with the destination can review what SharePoint Online is, the key features of SharePoint, and the platform’s wider business benefits.
Initial decision checklist
- ☐ Business objectives are documented.
- ☐ Executive sponsor is identified.
- ☐ Project manager and technical lead are assigned.
- ☐ Target platform is being evaluated: SharePoint Online, Subscription Edition, hybrid, or tenant-to-tenant.
- ☐ Budget and resource assumptions are documented.
- ☐ Current lifecycle and security risks are understood.
- ☐ Migration success criteria are agreed.
Phase 1: Assessment and Discovery Checklist
Microsoft’s migration guidance emphasizes planning, assessment, remediation, destination preparation, migration, and user onboarding. Discovery provides the evidence needed for every later decision.
1. Inventory the SharePoint environment
- ☐ Document SharePoint version, farm topology, servers, databases, service applications, and authentication.
- ☐ Inventory web applications, site collections, sites, subsites, libraries, lists, pages, and users.
- ☐ Record total storage, item counts, version history, growth, and large-file distribution.
- ☐ Identify active, inactive, ownerless, duplicate, and business-critical sites.
- ☐ Document existing Teams, OneDrive, Microsoft 365 group, and hybrid dependencies.
- ☐ Record current backup, recovery, monitoring, and support arrangements.
2. Confirm product lifecycle
- ☐ SharePoint Server 2016 risk is documented; extended support ended July 14, 2026.
- ☐ SharePoint Server 2019 risk is documented; extended support also ended July 14, 2026.
- ☐ Subscription Edition requirements are evaluated if remaining on-premises.
- ☐ Unsupported components and third-party products are identified.
Review the SharePoint end-of-support migration guide for lifecycle planning and the comparison of SharePoint Online and on-premises deployment.
3. Validate ownership and business purpose
- ☐ Every site has an accountable business owner.
- ☐ Technical owner and support contact are recorded.
- ☐ Site purpose, users, sensitivity, and criticality are documented.
- ☐ Owners decide whether content should migrate, archive, retain temporarily, or delete.
- ☐ Ownerless content has an escalation path.
4. Inventory customizations and applications
- ☐ Farm solutions and sandbox solutions are inventoried.
- ☐ Custom web parts, master pages, page layouts, scripts, and branding are documented.
- ☐ Event receivers, timer jobs, custom APIs, and integrations are identified.
- ☐ Third-party products, licences, contracts, and support status are recorded.
- ☐ Each solution has a retain, replace, rebuild, consolidate, or retire decision.
Complex applications should follow modern engineering practices. See the guides to secure SharePoint development and enterprise SharePoint development services.
5. Inventory workflows and forms
- ☐ SharePoint Designer workflows are inventoried.
- ☐ InfoPath forms and form libraries are inventoried.
- ☐ Custom workflows, scripts, approvals, and scheduled processes are documented.
- ☐ Triggers, approvers, escalation, integrations, exceptions, and failure impact are mapped.
- ☐ Each workflow has a retire, replace, modernize, consolidate, or re-engineer decision.
- ☐ Power Apps and Power Automate replacement effort is estimated.
Use the Power Platform development guide and MoreYeahs’ automation and analytics services when planning workflow transformation.
6. Assess permissions and identity
- ☐ SharePoint groups, Microsoft Entra ID groups, direct permissions, and broken inheritance are reviewed.
- ☐ Orphaned, inactive, duplicate, and external accounts are identified.
- ☐ Privileged and service accounts are documented.
- ☐ External sharing and anonymous links are reviewed.
- ☐ User and group mapping to the destination is confirmed.
- ☐ Least-privilege remediation is planned.
7. Assess compliance and records
- ☐ Retention schedules and records requirements are documented.
- ☐ Legal holds and eDiscovery requirements are identified.
- ☐ Sensitive and regulated content is classified.
- ☐ Audit, privacy, sovereignty, and data-residency requirements are recorded.
- ☐ Content that cannot be migrated, modified, or deleted is identified.
- ☐ Microsoft Purview requirements are included in the target design.
8. Assess content quality and readiness
- ☐ Duplicate and obsolete files are identified.
- ☐ Checked-out files, unsupported file types, invalid characters, and long paths are reviewed.
- ☐ Version-history requirements are decided.
- ☐ Metadata, content types, taxonomy, and ownership quality are assessed.
- ☐ Large files, list thresholds, and high-item-count libraries are reviewed.
- ☐ Content cleanup responsibilities and deadlines are assigned.
Phase 1 exit criteria
- ☐ Environment inventory is complete.
- ☐ Owners and business criticality are confirmed.
- ☐ Workflows, forms, customizations, and integrations are classified.
- ☐ Security, compliance, and content risks are documented.
- ☐ Initial scope and cost drivers are understood.
Phase 2: Planning and Governance Checklist
1. Select the migration strategy
- ☐ SharePoint Online, Subscription Edition, hybrid, or tenant-to-tenant target is approved.
- ☐ Cloud, regulatory, operational, and data-residency requirements are validated.
- ☐ Microsoft 365 licensing, storage, security, Power Platform, and Copilot requirements are reviewed.
- ☐ Migration waves, coexistence, and legacy shutdown strategy are defined.
The complete SharePoint migration guide explains target-selection and migration-wave design. Budget owners can use the SharePoint migration cost guide.
2. Design the target information architecture
- ☐ Hub sites and site associations are designed.
- ☐ Department, project, communication, knowledge, and collaboration patterns are defined.
- ☐ Navigation and search journeys are documented.
- ☐ Content types, metadata, taxonomy, and naming standards are approved.
- ☐ Authoritative repositories and duplicate-content rules are established.
- ☐ SharePoint and OneDrive usage boundaries are communicated.
Review how SharePoint works with OneDrive and the benefits of a governed SharePoint intranet.
3. Establish governance before migration
- ☐ Governance committee and decision rights are defined.
- ☐ Site creation, naming, ownership, lifecycle, archive, and deletion standards are approved.
- ☐ Permission and external-sharing policies are documented.
- ☐ Content ownership and review frequency are defined.
- ☐ Retention, classification, records, and compliance standards are configured.
- ☐ Post-migration monitoring and attestation processes are planned.
4. Plan security and identity
- ☐ Microsoft Entra ID identities and groups are prepared.
- ☐ Multifactor authentication and Conditional Access requirements are approved.
- ☐ Guest, external, service, and privileged access models are defined.
- ☐ Sensitivity labels, DLP, retention, and audit controls are prepared.
- ☐ Source-to-target permission mapping is documented.
- ☐ High-risk sites receive additional security review.
5. Select tools and migration architecture
- ☐ Microsoft SharePoint Migration Tool or third-party tool is selected.
- ☐ Source and destination prerequisites are validated.
- ☐ Required permissions and network endpoints are confirmed.
- ☐ Migration machines, agents, accounts, and logging are prepared.
- ☐ Tool limits, unsupported scenarios, and reporting are understood.
- ☐ Scan and assessment results are reviewed before migration tasks begin.
6. Develop the migration roadmap
- ☐ Pilot scope represents typical content, permissions, workflows, and users.
- ☐ Migration waves are grouped by business unit, risk, geography, or workload.
- ☐ Full, incremental, and final-delta migrations are scheduled.
- ☐ Content freeze or change-window approach is agreed.
- ☐ Cutover, rollback, escalation, and communication plans are documented.
- ☐ Training, support, and hypercare are scheduled.
7. Define success metrics
- ☐ Content and site migration success rate
- ☐ Critical error and remediation rate
- ☐ Permission and security validation
- ☐ Workflow and application readiness
- ☐ Search and user-task success
- ☐ Adoption and user satisfaction
- ☐ Infrastructure retirement and cost reduction
- ☐ Governance and compliance completion
Phase 2 exit criteria
- ☐ Target platform and architecture are approved.
- ☐ Governance and security controls are ready.
- ☐ Tooling and prerequisites are confirmed.
- ☐ Pilot, waves, cutover, rollback, communications, and support are documented.
- ☐ Budget, timeline, resources, and success measures are approved.
Phase 3: Pilot and Migration Execution Checklist
1. Run a source scan
- ☐ Source sites are scanned using the selected tool.
- ☐ Unsupported content and risk codes are reviewed.
- ☐ Errors are assigned to owners.
- ☐ Remediation is completed or formally accepted.
- ☐ Migration mappings are validated.
2. Complete the pilot migration
- ☐ Representative sites, libraries, lists, permissions, workflows, and users are included.
- ☐ Tool configuration and performance are tested.
- ☐ Full and incremental migration behaviour is validated.
- ☐ File counts, metadata, versions, permissions, and links are reviewed.
- ☐ Business users complete pilot acceptance.
- ☐ Lessons and estimates are applied to later waves.
3. Prepare each migration wave
- ☐ Business owner confirms scope.
- ☐ Content cleanup and source remediation are complete.
- ☐ Destination sites, groups, labels, and storage are ready.
- ☐ Workflow and application dependencies are deployed or scheduled.
- ☐ Communications and training are sent.
- ☐ Support and escalation teams are available.
4. Execute migration tasks
- ☐ Initial migration is completed.
- ☐ Errors, skipped items, and warnings are reviewed.
- ☐ Failed items are remediated and rerun.
- ☐ Incremental migrations are scheduled.
- ☐ Throughput and migration windows are monitored.
- ☐ Source changes are controlled before final cutover.
5. Migrate or modernize connected solutions
- ☐ Power Automate workflows are deployed and connected.
- ☐ Power Apps or modern forms are tested.
- ☐ Dynamics 365, ERP, API, and third-party integrations are validated.
- ☐ Reports, dashboards, web parts, and applications are available.
- ☐ Service identities and credentials are confirmed.
Organizations with CRM-linked solutions can review SharePoint and Dynamics 365 integration.
6. Maintain migration governance
- ☐ Daily or wave-level status reporting is active.
- ☐ Risks, decisions, issues, and changes are logged.
- ☐ Scope changes follow approval and budget controls.
- ☐ Security or compliance incidents are escalated immediately.
- ☐ Evidence and migration reports are retained.
Phase 3 exit criteria
- ☐ Migration wave is technically complete.
- ☐ Critical errors are resolved.
- ☐ Incremental and final migration are completed.
- ☐ Connected workflows and applications are deployed.
- ☐ Validation can begin.
Phase 4: Validation, Testing, and Go-Live Checklist
1. Validate content and data
- ☐ File and item counts match agreed tolerances.
- ☐ File integrity and accessibility are verified.
- ☐ Metadata, content types, taxonomy, and versions are correct.
- ☐ Lists, views, libraries, pages, and links function.
- ☐ Critical records and business content are confirmed.
2. Validate permissions and security
- ☐ Authorized users can access required content.
- ☐ Unauthorized users cannot access restricted content.
- ☐ Site, library, folder, and item permissions are reviewed.
- ☐ Group membership and external users are correct.
- ☐ Sharing links, guest policies, MFA, and Conditional Access function.
- ☐ Sensitivity, DLP, retention, and audit controls are tested.
3. Validate workflows and applications
- ☐ Triggers, approvals, notifications, escalations, and completion actions work.
- ☐ Error handling and support notifications are tested.
- ☐ Power Apps forms work across required devices.
- ☐ Integrations return correct data and handle failures.
- ☐ Reports and dashboards reconcile with source data.
- ☐ Business process owners sign off.
4. Validate search and navigation
- ☐ Content is indexed and discoverable.
- ☐ Metadata and refiners support common searches.
- ☐ Hub, global, site, and local navigation work.
- ☐ High-value queries return authoritative results.
- ☐ Duplicate and obsolete results are minimized.
5. Conduct user acceptance testing
- ☐ Test users represent departments, roles, locations, and accessibility needs.
- ☐ Real business scenarios are documented.
- ☐ Users create, edit, upload, share, search, approve, and report.
- ☐ Issues have severity, owner, due date, retest, and closure evidence.
- ☐ Business owners provide formal approval.
6. Confirm go-live readiness
- ☐ Critical and high-severity issues are resolved.
- ☐ Cutover and rollback decision authority is available.
- ☐ Support contacts, service desk, and escalation routes are active.
- ☐ User guidance and training are available.
- ☐ Monitoring and reporting are active.
- ☐ Executive, business, security, and compliance approvals are obtained.
Phase 4 exit criteria
- ☐ Technical validation is complete.
- ☐ Security and compliance validation are complete.
- ☐ UAT and business sign-off are complete.
- ☐ Go-live readiness is approved.
- ☐ Support and communication are active.
Phase 5: Adoption and Optimization Checklist
1. Support users after go-live
- ☐ Hypercare period and response targets are defined.
- ☐ FAQs, user guides, training videos, and support contacts are published.
- ☐ Site owners and champions receive role-specific guidance.
- ☐ Access, sync, search, workflow, and navigation issues are tracked.
- ☐ User feedback is collected and prioritized.
2. Measure adoption
- ☐ Active users and active sites are tracked.
- ☐ Search, collaboration, sharing, and workflow usage are monitored.
- ☐ Training completion and support demand are reviewed.
- ☐ User satisfaction and common friction points are measured.
- ☐ Business outcomes are reported to sponsors.
The guide to successful SharePoint adoption explains how communication, champions, training, support, and measurement protect migration value.
3. Operate governance
- ☐ Site ownership and lifecycle reviews are scheduled.
- ☐ Inactive and ownerless sites are remediated.
- ☐ Permissions, guests, and external sharing are reviewed.
- ☐ Content ownership, metadata, and retention are monitored.
- ☐ Governance KPIs are reported regularly.
4. Optimize performance and search
- ☐ Slow pages and oversized components are reviewed.
- ☐ Search failures, zero-result queries, and poor relevance are analysed.
- ☐ Navigation and information architecture are refined.
- ☐ Workflow failures and approval delays are monitored.
- ☐ Mobile, accessibility, and user-experience issues are resolved.
5. Prepare for Copilot and AI
- ☐ Sensitive and overshared sites are reviewed.
- ☐ Content owners and authoritative repositories are confirmed.
- ☐ Duplicate and obsolete content is reduced.
- ☐ Metadata, search, permissions, and lifecycle controls are improved.
- ☐ AI acceptable-use and human-validation policies are defined.
For AI planning, review the introduction to Microsoft Copilot and the guide to Copilot for Microsoft Teams.
6. Decommission the legacy environment
- ☐ Migration and validation evidence are retained.
- ☐ Required backups and records are preserved.
- ☐ Remaining users and integrations are removed or redirected.
- ☐ Servers, databases, certificates, accounts, and monitoring are retired.
- ☐ Contracts and licences are reviewed.
- ☐ Decommissioning receives Security, Records, and business approval.
Phase 5 exit criteria
- ☐ Hypercare is complete and support is operational.
- ☐ Adoption and governance metrics are active.
- ☐ Optimization backlog has owners and priorities.
- ☐ Legacy environment is decommissioned or has an approved retirement plan.
- ☐ Business benefits are being measured.
Operational Readiness Before Migration
Migration readiness is not limited to content and architecture. The delivery team must also confirm that people, infrastructure, support processes, and decision-making can sustain the migration schedule.
Network and performance readiness
- ☐ Available bandwidth is measured during normal and peak business hours.
- ☐ Migration traffic is evaluated against firewalls, proxies, VPNs, and inspection services.
- ☐ Throttling and service-protection limits are included in timeline estimates.
- ☐ Migration machines meet tool prerequisites and are located close to source data where practical.
- ☐ Large files, high item counts, versions, and incremental migration behaviour are tested.
- ☐ Regional and remote-office constraints are documented.
Decision and escalation readiness
- ☐ Business owners can make timely archive, delete, and access decisions.
- ☐ Security and Compliance representatives are available during cutover.
- ☐ A decision log records scope, exceptions, risk acceptance, and approvals.
- ☐ Escalation paths identify who can approve schedule changes, rollback, or delayed launch.
- ☐ Vendor and Microsoft support routes are documented.
Source-environment stability
- ☐ Critical source issues are resolved before migration begins.
- ☐ Unsupported changes and new customizations are restricted during the project.
- ☐ Backup and recovery are tested before major migration waves.
- ☐ Source content changes are controlled during final migration windows.
- ☐ Legacy workflows and integrations remain monitored until business cutover is approved.
Destination operational readiness
- ☐ SharePoint administration roles and responsibilities are assigned.
- ☐ Storage monitoring and capacity alerts are configured.
- ☐ Site provisioning, ownership, support, and lifecycle processes are active.
- ☐ Service health, audit, security, and governance reporting are assigned to operational owners.
- ☐ Help-desk knowledge articles and escalation routes are available before users move.
Operational readiness reduces the risk of technically successful migrations becoming support failures. A well-prepared destination should be governable and supportable from the first migration wave—not only after the final cutover.
Migration Evidence and Documentation Checklist
Enterprise and regulated migrations should preserve evidence throughout the project. Documentation supports audit, issue investigation, knowledge transfer, support, and final acceptance.
- ☐ Source inventory and assessment reports are retained.
- ☐ Migration mappings and transformation decisions are documented.
- ☐ Tool settings, accounts, agents, and versions are recorded.
- ☐ Migration run reports, warnings, errors, and reruns are stored.
- ☐ Validation results and accepted tolerances are approved.
- ☐ Security, permission, compliance, and UAT sign-offs are retained.
- ☐ Known limitations and post-launch backlog items are documented.
- ☐ Final architecture, governance, support, and operating procedures are updated.
- ☐ Legacy decommissioning evidence and approvals are preserved.
Master SharePoint Migration Checklist
| Phase | Required Completion Checkpoints |
|---|---|
| Assessment | Environment, content, ownership, workflows, customizations, permissions, compliance, and risks inventoried |
| Planning | Target, architecture, governance, security, tooling, roadmap, budget, and KPIs approved |
| Pilot | Representative content and processes migrated, validated, and accepted |
| Execution | Waves completed, errors remediated, deltas run, applications deployed, reports retained |
| Validation | Content, security, workflows, search, compliance, integrations, and business tasks approved |
| Go-live | Cutover, rollback, support, monitoring, communications, and training ready |
| Optimization | Adoption, governance, performance, AI readiness, and legacy retirement operating |
SharePoint Migration Roles and Responsibilities
| Role | Primary Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Executive sponsor | Business case, funding, priorities, and escalation |
| Project manager | Scope, plan, dependencies, reporting, risks, and delivery |
| Migration architect | Target architecture, tooling, technical design, and migration strategy |
| SharePoint administrators | Source and destination configuration, permissions, monitoring, and support |
| Business and site owners | Content decisions, validation, acceptance, and adoption |
| Security and compliance | Identity, access, data protection, retention, audit, and approval |
| Application and workflow teams | Modernization, integration, testing, deployment, and support |
| Change and training team | Communications, learning, champions, feedback, and adoption |
SharePoint Migration Risk Checklist
- ☐ Unsupported source platform or component
- ☐ Unknown ownership or business purpose
- ☐ Incomplete workflow and customization inventory
- ☐ Excessive or incorrect permissions
- ☐ Poor content quality and duplicate data
- ☐ Missing compliance, retention, or legal-hold decisions
- ☐ Insufficient network capacity or migration time
- ☐ Unavailable business testers
- ☐ Late application redesign
- ☐ Weak user communication and training
- ☐ No rollback or business-continuity plan
- ☐ Inadequate post-launch support
Why Choose MoreYeahs for SharePoint Migration?
A successful migration requires SharePoint architecture, Microsoft 365, governance, security, Power Platform, application modernization, migration tooling, testing, change management, and support.
MoreYeahs helps organizations complete assessments, define target architecture, prepare governance, execute migration waves, modernize workflows and applications, validate outcomes, and establish ongoing operations.
Review the SharePoint intranet transformation case study, the engagement that unified a fragmented intranet, and the project that improved collaboration and employee engagement. More examples are available in the MoreYeahs case study library. Learn more about MoreYeahs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should be included in a SharePoint migration checklist?
The checklist should cover discovery, ownership, content, workflows, customizations, permissions, compliance, architecture, governance, tooling, pilot, migration, validation, go-live, training, support, and optimization.
Should every SharePoint site be migrated?
No. Sites should be assessed for business value, ownership, activity, compliance, duplication, and target-platform fit before migration.
Are SharePoint Server 2016 and 2019 still supported?
No. Extended support for both SharePoint Server 2016 and SharePoint Server 2019 ended on July 14, 2026.
Is the SharePoint Migration Tool free?
Yes. Microsoft makes the SharePoint Migration Tool available at no cost, although planning, cleanup, modernization, testing, adoption, and support remain separate efforts.
Why is a pilot migration important?
A pilot validates tools, mappings, performance, permissions, workflows, reports, cutover, validation, and user experience before larger migration waves.
Should permissions be migrated exactly as they are?
Not automatically. Existing permissions should be reviewed for excessive access, inactive users, direct grants, broken inheritance, external sharing, and destination-model suitability.
How should legacy workflows be handled?
Inventory and classify them as retire, replace, modernize, consolidate, or re-engineer. Important workflows usually require redesign, rebuilding, testing, and controlled cutover.
What must be tested after migration?
Test content integrity, metadata, versions, permissions, external access, workflows, forms, search, navigation, compliance, performance, integrations, and critical business tasks.
When should governance be designed?
Governance should be designed before migration so ownership, permissions, architecture, retention, lifecycle, sharing, and compliance guide the destination.
How long does a SharePoint migration take?
A focused migration may take weeks. Enterprise programs with many sites, custom applications, workflows, regulated data, and global users may require phased delivery over several months.
Does migration support Microsoft Copilot readiness?
Yes. Migration can improve permissions, content ownership, metadata, information architecture, search, compliance, and content quality—the foundations for safer AI adoption.
How can MoreYeahs help?
MoreYeahs can assess the source environment, build a migration roadmap, establish governance, modernize workflows, execute migration waves, validate security, train users, and provide post-launch support.
Plan a Controlled SharePoint Migration
A checklist does not replace experience, but it prevents critical activities from being forgotten. The strongest migration programs connect business ownership, technical execution, governance, security, validation, adoption, and measurable outcomes.
Schedule a SharePoint migration readiness assessment with MoreYeahs.