Guides1 min read
A weekend guide to leaving Big Tech
Moving your mail, photos and files off the big platforms sounds daunting. It isn’t — here’s a calm, step-by-step plan for a single weekend.
A weekend guide to leaving Big Tech
Moving your mail, photos and files off the big platforms sounds daunting. It isn’t — here’s a calm, step-by-step plan for a single weekend.
You do not have to migrate your whole digital life in one heroic push. Spread across a weekend, the move is mostly waiting for imports to finish while you get on with other things.
Before you start
Set aside an hour on Saturday morning and have your old passwords handy. Then work top to bottom.
Saturday: the big stuff
- Import your mail and contacts, then turn on forwarding
- Upload your photo library and let it back up overnight
- Move your most-used files into encrypted storage
What to bring across first:
| Data | Source | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail | High | |
| Photos | iCloud | High |
| Files | Dropbox | Medium |
Sunday: the long tail
- Update the logins that matter most
- Move your passwords into the vault
- Share a folder or album so the family lands in one place
Your weekend checklist:
- Mail imported and forwarding on
- Photos uploading
- Passwords migrated
- Family invited
Done is better than perfect. You can always tidy the long tail later.
Stuck on a step? The migration guide has the details.