Seven thousand users migrated without a single email sent

What had to move to the new platform

My client was moving to a new platform. The old one had thousands of users, each with their own account and permissions, and everything had to reach the new one without users having to start from scratch.

Why importing the users was risky

Modern platforms send emails automatically: welcome, confirmation, notification. If you import thousands of accounts without precautions, thousands of messages nobody asked for go out, all at once.

The second risk concerns the data. A badly run migration leaves data half-transferred, which is hard to spot afterwards.

How I moved the users without sending any emails

I blocked automatic sending, made a copy of the database and moved accounts and permissions with a repeatable script.

• Blocks on email sending. During the import, automatic sending was blocked: no message went out.
• A copy before anything else. Before the import I made a full copy of the database, so I could go back at any moment.
• Import with a script. Accounts and permissions were moved with a repeatable script rather than by hand.
• A simple first login. Users get into the new platform with “forgotten password” and choose a new password, through a procedure they already know.

What the migration achieved

• More than 7,000 users and more than 14,000 permissions moved.
• No emails sent during the import.

What you can take away

• Before importing users, switch off all automatic sending and check that it really is off.
• Always make a copy before importing: it is your way out.

Details have been changed to protect the client's confidentiality.