OneDrive or Google Drive: moving between Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
· 4 min read · Updated
Changing cloud storage is usually part of a bigger move. A company adopts Google Workspace, a school issues Microsoft 365 accounts, or a family decides it no longer wants to pay for two storage plans, and the files have to come along.
Blober transfers files in either direction between OneDrive and Google Drive. It streams them through your computer, so you do not need enough free disk space to download the entire account first.
Google Drive fits best when most work already happens in Gmail, Google Docs, Meet, and Calendar. A move from OneDrive can make sense when:
- your company or school has standardized on Google Workspace;
- people collaborate mainly in Docs, Sheets, and Slides;
- Chromebooks or browser-based work have replaced Windows desktops;
- you want storage billed under an existing Google One or Workspace plan.
Office files do not have to be converted during the transfer. Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint files arrive in Google Drive as .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx files.
Google can open and edit them, and you can choose later whether to convert them
to native Google formats.
OneDrive is the more natural home when work revolves around Windows, Microsoft 365, Teams, and the desktop versions of Office. People commonly move in this direction because:
- their organization has moved to Microsoft 365;
- Office formatting needs to survive round trips without surprises;
- Teams and SharePoint are now the main places where people collaborate;
- OneDrive storage is already included in a Microsoft 365 plan.
In this direction, Google's native files are converted, because Drive does not
store a Google Doc as a .docx file. When Blober moves native Google files out
of Drive, it exports Docs to .docx, Sheets to .xlsx, and Slides to .pptx.
Those copies open in Microsoft Office, but Google comments, revision history,
sharing rules, and some format-specific features stay behind.
| Source | Destination | File behavior |
|---|---|---|
| OneDrive | Google Drive | Office files and other regular files keep their existing formats |
| Google Drive | OneDrive | Native Docs, Sheets, and Slides export to Microsoft Office formats |
| Either service | The other service | Folder structure is recreated; sharing rules, links, comments, and version history are not |
Shared files are handled differently on each side. Blober offers Google Drive's "Shared with me" list as a read-only source. OneDrive has no equivalent root that Blober can use with the narrow permission it requests, so OneDrive's shared items and cross-drive shortcuts are not shown.
- Connect OneDrive with a Microsoft app client ID.
- Connect Google Drive.
- Create a workflow with OneDrive as the source and Google Drive as the destination.
- Select the source folder and destination folder.
- Run the workflow and keep Blober open until it finishes.
After the transfer, open a sample of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in Google Drive before closing the old account. Decide whether to leave them in Office format or convert the files you still edit.
Use the same process in reverse: choose Google Drive as the source and OneDrive as the destination. Include "Shared with me" only for files you are allowed to copy and want to keep. Native Google files are exported during the transfer.
Check a few converted documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in Microsoft Office afterward. Complex layouts, formulas, fonts, and embedded Google-only features need a manual look.
Compare file counts and inspect the folders that matter most. Keep the old account available until you have checked converted documents and confirmed that other people can reach the new location.
Then recreate sharing permissions in the destination. File ownership, organization policies, public links, and team memberships belong to the old service and cannot be carried over as ordinary files.
Can I move between OneDrive and Google Drive without downloading everything? Yes. Blober streams each file through the computer running the app, so the whole library is never staged on disk.
Will Google Docs work in OneDrive? Yes, as Office files. Blober exports Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats. Check complex files after conversion because the two editors do not support every feature in exactly the same way.
Will Office files become Google Docs automatically? No. They arrive in Google Drive as Office files. Google Drive can edit them in that format, or you can convert selected files later.
Does the migration copy shared files? Google Drive's "Shared with me" items can be selected as a read-only source. OneDrive's "Shared with me" items and shortcuts to other drives are not available in Blober.