This article details CloudM Migrate's document versioning feature for Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 migrations, including its benefits, configuration, practical operation, and important considerations.
What is the Document Versioning Feature?
The document versioning feature in CloudM Migrate allows you to migrate previous major versions of documents in addition to the most recent version when performing migrations from Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 environments.
- Supported Migration Path: This feature is exclusively supported for Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 migrations. It is not available for any other combination of source and destination platforms.
- Configuration Scope: Versioning is a per-configuration feature. If you need to migrate different numbers of older versions for specific sites or libraries, these must be set up in their own distinct migration configurations with this feature enabled.
- Impact on Time: Enabling this feature will significantly increase migration times due to the substantial volume of additional data being transferred.
Benefits of Document Versioning
This feature is particularly beneficial for clients or specific departments (e.g., legal, contracts, engineering) where maintaining a historical record of document changes is critically important for compliance, auditing, or operational purposes. It enables organizations to preserve their complete document evolution within their new Microsoft 365 environment.
How to Enable This Feature
To enable document versioning in your CloudM Migrate project:
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Create Project: Ensure your project has both the source and destination platforms set as Microsoft 365.
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Navigate to Destination Advanced Settings: Proceed with setting up your project as normal until you reach the Destination Platform configuration.
- Navigate to the "Advanced Settings" section.
- Within this section, locate the "SharePoint Online" settings.
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Enable Version Migration:
- You will find an option named "Migrate previous document versions". Enable this checkbox.
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Select Maximum Versions:
- Once enabled, a new option, "Maximum number of previous document versions," will appear. Use the dropdown menu to select the desired maximum number of previous versions to migrate for each document.
Required Default Migration Methods:
For this feature to be available, the following default migration method settings are required:
- Source: SharePoint Migration API must be disabled (Off).
- Destination: SharePoint Migration API must be enabled (On).
- Note: Changing these default settings will prevent you from using the versioning feature.
How This Feature Works in Practice
When enabled, CloudM Migrate attempts to migrate previous major versions alongside the current version of a document.
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Version Numbering Discrepancy: In most cases, the number of versions migrated to the destination will be less than the total versions existing at the source. In such instances, the version numbering in the destination will not directly match the numbering in the source.
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Example Scenario:
- Imagine a source document with 9 previous versions (plus the current version, totaling 10 versions).
- If you select the option to migrate "5 previous versions," CloudM Migrate will migrate the 5 most recent major versions. The version numbering in the destination will then reflect these 5 versions, likely renumbered from 1 up to 5, rather than preserving the original source version numbers (e.g., 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).
(Diagram placeholder: A diagram similar to the original, illustrating a document with 9 source versions, showing which 5 major versions would be selected for migration and how their numbering might appear in the destination.)
Key Considerations and Best Practices
- Per-Configuration Feature: As noted, this feature applies per configuration. Group specific sites or libraries into separate configurations if they have different versioning requirements.
- Major Versions Only: Only major versions of documents are supported for migration. Minor versions (e.g., draft versions that are not published) are not migrated.
- Significant Impact on Migration Time: Enabling this feature will significantly increase migration timescales due to the much larger volume of data. For example, migrating the lowest setting of 5 previous versions means approximately 5 times the data for each document. Plan your migration schedule accordingly.
- Failure Behavior: If the export or import of any individual version of a document fails, CloudM Migrate will fail the entire document's migration, including the current version and all previous versions.
- Changing Version Count in Delta Migrations:
- Warning: Changing the "Maximum number of previous document versions" setting and re-running a migration (especially a delta migration) will NOT bring over extra versions unless the current version of the document has also changed in the source.
- Full Re-migration Required: To increase or decrease the number of versions migrated for a document that has already been migrated, you will need to:
- Clear the files from the destination (e.g., delete the document and its versions in SharePoint/OneDrive).
- Clear the migration history for that item in CloudM Migrate.
- Re-run the migration with the new version setting.
- When to Enable: Due to the large data volume, this feature should ideally be enabled for any bulk/full migration pass, not just at the delta stage. Enabling it only at the delta stage is not recommended.
- Extra Metadata Not Migrated: Additional metadata associated with each version (e.g., if a version included a file rename) is not migrated.
- File Size Limit: If sites or libraries contain files that are equal to or larger than 2GB, it will cause the migration of those files (and their versions) to fail when this feature is enabled.
- Resolution: For affected items, you will need to:
- Create a separate batch for these specific migration items.
- Disable the document versioning migration feature for that particular batch.
- Resolution: For affected items, you will need to: