Guide
How to Move Your Business Email Off GoDaddy Without Losing Anything
Want to move business email from GoDaddy to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace that you control directly? Here is how to plan the move, keep every message and avoid downtime.
Short answer: Set up your new Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace account first, copy every mailbox over, switch your domain’s email records (MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC) at a quiet time, then run a final sync and set up Outlook and phones. Done in that order, nobody loses a message.
Why businesses move
- Email bought through a reseller can limit admin control, security settings and backups.
- Bundled plans can cost more than going direct.
- Moving gives you the full feature set of Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
The plan
- List every mailbox, alias, shared mailbox and distribution list.
- Create the new accounts with the same addresses.
- Copy email, contacts and calendars while the old system keeps working.
- Lower DNS time-to-live a day ahead so the switch takes effect quickly.
- Switch MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records at a quiet time.
- Run a final sync to catch messages that arrived during the switch.
- Set up Outlook, phones and tablets, then cancel the old plan.
What trips people up
- Microsoft 365 bought through GoDaddy is a separate setup that needs to be properly released before it can move.
- Forgetting aliases and shared mailboxes.
- Cancelling the old email before the final sync.
We do this remotely, usually over a weekend. See moving email off GoDaddy.
Frequently asked questions
Will my email address change?
No. You keep the same addresses on your domain; only the service behind them changes.
Do I have to move my domain away from GoDaddy too?
No. The domain can stay where it is. Only the email records change.