Remigrate a Mailbox, Drive, Site, or Team

Understand when and how to remigrate items that need to be processed again after an initial migration.

Last updated: 2026-01-05 How To

Remigration vs Delta Pass

🔄 Delta Pass

  • • Syncs only NEW items since last migration
  • • Uses same license
  • • Fast and incremental
  • • Standard continuation method

🔁 Remigration

  • • Processes ALL items from scratch
  • • Requires NEW license
  • • Complete re-processing
  • • Used for special cases only

Overview

Remigration is the process of running a complete migration again for an item that has already been migrated. Unlike delta pass (which only syncs new and modified items), remigration processes all content from the beginning.

Remigration is different from a delta pass and should only be used in specific situations where a fresh migration is truly required. In most cases, delta pass is the preferred method for synchronizing additional content.

License Consumption

Remigration consumes a new license for each item being remigrated. The original license used for the first migration cannot be reused. Make sure you have sufficient licenses before initiating a remigration.

When to Remigrate

Consider remigration only in the following scenarios:

🗑️

Target Content Was Deleted

If content in the target was accidentally deleted and needs to be restored from the source.

⚙️

Configuration Changed

Migration settings were incorrect and data needs to be remigrated with correct configuration (e.g., different folder mapping, different date range).

🔀

Target Changed

The migration needs to go to a different target (e.g., different mailbox or site URL).

Critical Errors During First Migration

If the initial migration had significant issues that couldn't be resolved with delta pass.

Try Delta Pass First

In most cases, running another delta pass will resolve migration gaps without requiring a new license. Only remigrate when delta pass truly cannot address your needs.

License Requirements

License Usage Comparison

Action License Required
Initial Migration 1 license
Delta Pass (any number) No additional license
Remigration 1 new license
Second Remigration 1 additional new license

Before initiating a remigration, verify you have sufficient licenses available in your Cloudiway account. You can check your license balance in the Licenses section of the dashboard.

Remigration Process

The principle of delta pass is that already migrated items are never migrated again to avoid duplicates. Therefore, you cannot reuse the same license to migrate the same item twice.

If you want to remigrate an item, you must delete it from the Cloudiway user list, recreate it, and assign a new license. From the platform's point of view, this will be considered a new user to migrate and it will be entirely remigrated.

New License Required

Remigration is not a built-in feature. You must delete and recreate the user entry, which requires assigning a new license. Make sure you have available licenses before starting the remigration process.
1

Empty the Target

First, empty the target mailbox, drive, or site. Since all items will be migrated again, you need to clear the target to avoid duplicates.

2

Delete the User Entry

Navigate to your migration project and delete the user/item entry from the Cloudiway user list.

3

Recreate the User Entry

Create a new entry for the same user/item in your migration project with the desired source and target configuration.

4

Assign a New License

Assign a new license to the recreated entry. The original license cannot be reused for remigration.

5

Start Migration

Start the migration. The platform will treat this as a new user and migrate all content from scratch.

Applies to All Migration Types

This same process applies across the entire platform: Mailboxes, Drives, Sites, Groups, and Teams all follow the same logic for remigration.

Mailbox Remigration

When remigrating an email mailbox, all mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks will be processed again. This may result in duplicate items if the target mailbox wasn't cleared.

Consider Before Remigrating

  • • Do you need to clear the target mailbox first?
  • • Will duplicate prevention work for your scenario?
  • • Has the source data changed significantly?

Duplicate Prevention

Cloudiway uses message IDs and timestamps to prevent duplicates during remigration. However, if the target content was significantly modified, some duplicates may occur.

Drive Remigration

Remigrating OneDrive or Google Drive content will reprocess all files and folders. Existing files in the target will be handled based on your conflict resolution settings.

Conflict Options

  • Skip: Keep existing target files
  • Overwrite: Replace with source files
  • Rename: Add suffix to source files

Considerations

  • • Permission remapping will reprocess
  • • Sharing settings will be reapplied
  • • Version history may be affected

Site & Team Remigration

Remigrating SharePoint sites or Microsoft Teams involves reprocessing all content including document libraries, lists, pages, and team channels.

Structure Considerations

If the target site or team structure has changed since the initial migration, remigration may create duplicate content or conflict with manually created items. Plan carefully and consider whether a delta pass might suffice.

Remigration Includes

  • All document libraries and files
  • List items and metadata
  • Team channels and conversations (Teams)
  • Permissions and sharing settings
  • Site pages and web parts (SharePoint)

Best Practices

🔍 Before Remigrating

  • • Confirm delta pass won't work
  • • Check license availability
  • • Document the reason for remigration
  • • Backup target content if needed

⚙️ Configuration

  • • Verify target address/URL is correct
  • • Review date filters if applicable
  • • Check conflict resolution settings
  • • Confirm permission mapping

🧪 Testing

  • • Test with one item first
  • • Verify results before bulk remigration
  • • Check for duplicates in target

📊 Monitoring

  • • Monitor progress closely
  • • Check for errors early
  • • Validate completion thoroughly

Was this article helpful?

We value your feedback

Help us improve your experience

What would you like to share with us?

Need direct support? Open a ticket