How to Migrate Google Workspace to Personal Gmail Account?
To migrate from Google Workspace to Gmail account, you cannot use Google’s native Data Migration Service. Instead, you will have to use Gmail’s built-in POP3 fetching tool (which may take as long as 48 hours and may cause you to lose any of your folder structure), export an .mbox file via Google Takeout, or use an API-based tool like the BitRecover Google Workspace to Gmail migration tool to migrate Google Workspace to Gmail immediately and maintain 100% of your labels, folders, and attachments.
Whether you simply need to reduce monthly subscription costs, have transitioned from a paid Google Workspace account or have officially closed your company and need to migrate to a personal Gmail account, moving your data between two separate accounts requires planning.
Google makes it easy to transfer data into a paid Google Workspace account; however, transferring your data out of a paid Google Workspace account and into a free Gmail account can be somewhat more complex. This article will outline the manual methods that are available, the limitations of those manual options, and the specialized options available to securely transfer emails from Google Workspace to personal Gmail.
The Custom Domain Dilemma
Before beginning to migrate Google Workspace to Gmail, it is important to understand how the migration will affect your unique email account (ex. [email protected]).
Once you migrate Google Workspace to Gmail for a personal account, you will be unable to send and receive emails from your custom domain.
However, you can use your domain registrar’s free email forwarding service to have all inbound mail sent to your unique email address forwarded automatically to your new @gmail.com address. However, any emails you respond to from your complimentary email account will come from the @gmail.com address.
Why Migrate from Google Workspace to Gmail?
- Costing: Gmail is a free web-based email service provided by Google, which means users do not need to pay any type of cost to access its services. Google Workspace, however, is based on different subscription plans. Hence, the user needs to pay the cost according to the plan they choose.
- Email Address: In Gmail, all email addresses end with “@gmail.com“. However, in Google Workspace, the organizations/users can customize their email address according to their needs like “[email protected]“.
- Feature: The features and services offered by Gmail are equally available to all users. However, in the Google Workspace account, the features and services offered differ according to the subscribed service plan.
- Control Over the Account: For Gmail, there is no admin feature, which means each user is fully free to use his account. But in Google Workspace, the user accounts are created, and the acceptability is controlled by the admin account.
- Cloud Storage: Google Workspace offers more storage when compared to Gmail. When considering email storage, Gmail provides 15 GB while Google Workspace provides 30 GB to 5 TB storage according to your subscription.
Here, we have only provided a comparison between basic features. There are a lot more features/services in which they are different.
How to Migrate from Google Workspace to Personal Gmail Account? – Free Manual Methods
Gmail provides a built-in POP3 feature to import data from other webmail accounts called “Import Mail and Contacts” option. Also, you can use “Google Takeout” which allows you to export MBOX from Gmail and Google Workspace. Thereafter, users can easily import MBOX to Gmail manually to finish the task. Follow the upcoming instructions to learn how to migrate from Google Workspace to Gmail.
Method 1: Use Gmail’s Built-in POP3 Option
Google provides a built-in feature that allows you to fetch emails using POP3. However, the latest security changes and updates from Google..
Note: Many sources available online claim that users need to generate app passsword to migrate Google Workpace to Gmail via POP3. However, this is completely wrong and outdated information. To import Google Workspace to personal Gmail account, you do not require App password. The latest security updates from Google allow you to log in to your account directly via OAuth modern authentication.
- Sign in to your destination Gmail account and choose “Settings.”
- Then, select the “See all settings” option.
- After that, choose “Accounts and Import” from Settings.
- Tap “Import mail and contacts” to add the source account.
- Type your source Google Workspace email ID and click “Continue“.
- Login to your account directly via Google just by clicking Continue button.
- Again press “Continue” to authenticate the account successfully.
- Now pick items to import in your Gmail and tap “Start Import“.
- Click “OK” to start adding Google Workspace email to Gmail.
- See the import process is running and will take up to 2 days.
Drawback: “Google Blocks POP3”; it takes 48-72 hours before all emails are transferred. POP3 only downloads emails from your inbox, so none of your email labels or file structure will ever be transferred.
Manual Way to Migrate from Google Workspace to Personal Gmail Account
Follow the steps mentioned below to move from Google Workspace to Gmail account using Google Takeout:
Phase 1: Use Google Takeout to Export Mailbox
- Sign in to your Workspace account and open Google Takeout.
- Deselect all Google items and select only the Mail option.
- Then, select the Delivery method as Send download link via email.
- Choose ZIP as the file type from the Customize archive format.
- Then, select the archive size and click the Create archive button.
- Google Takeout is preparing mailboxes to export.
- Download the archive when you’re your Google data archive is ready.
Note: After downloading the Takeout archive data in the ZIP file, please extract it and get the MBOX file. This mailbox file archive Gmail emails.
Phase 2: Configure Destination Gmail in Thunderbird
- Download, install, and launch the Thunderbird client.
- Choose Tools and then select Account Settings.
- Next, click Account Actions and choose Add Mail account.
- Enter your Gmail account credentials and click Continue.
- After that, check the IMAP option and tap on the Done button.
Note: Thunderbird is an open-source client that is available free of cost that we have used and discussed in 2nd phase.
Phase 3: Import Workspace Exported MBOX in Thunderbird
- Add ImportExportTools NG to Thunderbird.
- Right-click on Local Folders in Thunderbird.
- Choose ImportExportTools >> Import MBOX File >> Individual MBOX File.
- After that, select the exported MBOX file and press the Open button.
- Now you see the MBOX file under local folders.
- Lastly, drag and drop MBOX from local folders to configured Gmail account.
Note: After drag and drop, the MBOX file will start to sync with your configured Gmail account. After completing the synchronization, log in to your destination Gmail account and access Google Workspace emails.
Drawback: You cannot upload a standalone Mbox file directly to a free Gmail account. You must download a third-party desktop client, such as Thunderbird or another client, to configure both your old Gmail account and new Gmail account using IMAP first, and then manually drag and drop the files from your old Gmail account to your new Gmail account, which may result in lost or duplicate emails and occasionally server timeout errors.
Automated Approach to Migrate Google Workspace to Gmail with Ease
Manual methods are free in terms of cost, but they do carry a high degree of risk to your data integrity and will require hours of technical troubleshooting. BitRecover Google Workspace Backup Wizard has been developed to help you overcome the limitations of Google’s built-in tools and Google Takeout in order to safely move your essential business correspondence from Google Workspace to Gmail for a personal account. Download the software for free to easily, securely and instantly move from Google Workspace to a personal Gmail account with emails, attachments, contacts, and original metadata and labels.
How to Migrate from Google Workspace to Gmail? Step-by-Step Software Walkthrough
- Firstly, download and install software for Google Workspace to Gmail migration.
- Enter your Google Workspace email address and Sign In directly via Google to continue.
- After that, select Google Workspace email folders from the software interface. Also, select Gmail from the list of saving options.
- The tool offers multiple advanced filter options to selectively migrate from Google Workspace to Gmail.
- Fill Gmail account login details in the specific fields and click the Backup button to continue.
- Google Workspace to Gmail migration process is running. Please wait for a while.
- Lastly, after completing of the task, login to your Gmail account to preview the imported Google Workspace email folder.
How It Solves Manual Migration Nightmares:
Unique Features and Benefits of Software
- Instant Google Workspace to Gmail Migration: The tool allows us to directly migrate email from Google Workspace to Gmail including all emails, attachments, contacts, and metadata while saving a of time.
- Folder Structure Management: While converting Google Workspace account to personal account, the tool helps to preserve the folder structure. It maintains the structure of all folders and subfolders in Gmail as same as that of Google Workspace.
- Supports Multiple Languages: The tool makes software installation easier by supporting multiple languages such as English, French, Deutsch, Italian, and Dutch. It helps users from different countries to complete the installation without any confusion.
- Management of Email Attachments: Even after the migration, all the attachments of Google Workspace emails are maintained as it was in Gmail. This means that all email attachments are moved to their original format without any errors.
- No Size Limitation for Migration: The tool supports Google Workspace to Gmail migration with no file size restrictions.
- Live Migration Progress Status: This tool provides the live migration progress status of the migration process. Users can easily track the migrated data with the converted data count.
- Simple to Operate: Users can easily migrate from Google Workspace to Gmail into the software panel by entering account credentials. Thereafter, it asks for the output Google account login details to complete the Google Workspace to Gmail migration process.
Final Words
Most users search for a safe and secure solution to migrate from Google Workspace to Gmail. In this blog, we have explained the top 3 methods to perform Google Workspace to Gmail migration. All are tried and tested techniques so you can opt for any accordingly. However, software is highly recommended because this is an easy-to-use approach.
A free trial edition of the application is also available, which allows users to import 25 emails from Google Workspace to Gmail account. Users can purchase the software to avail its full functionalities. We hope that after reading this blog, users are not left with any queries or confusion regarding queries.
