Over the past couple of months, it has become clear that Microsoft sees its growing Surface portfolio becoming increasingly appealing to disenchanted Mac users: we’ve seen many ads comparing Surface devices to MacBooks and iPads, and the company also launched a MacBook trade-in program last year which didn’t go unnoticed.
It seems that Microsoft is not done chasing Mac users, as the Redmond giant has quietly launched a Surface Migration Assistant app on macOS. As its name suggests it, it’s a simple tool that Mac users can use to transfer all their personal documents from their Mac to a Surface device (via Neowin). The app was discovered last week by Twitter user WalkingCat:
https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/843131000548802560
The app itself is a pretty easy to use: it lets Mac users create a zip archive of their selected files and folders, which can then be transferred to a Surface (or any Windows device). You can see how it works in the screenshot below:
Interestingly, it looks that the app will put Microsoft’s Windows 10 Surface app to good use: indeed, once you’re done creating your archive on your Mac, the app invites you to complete the transfer process on your Surface by using the “Mac to Surface Transfer command” in the Windows 10 Surface app. We couldn’t find this feature as of today, though it could be coming in a future update. Anyway, you can just unzip the archive on your Surface and you’ll be good to go.
It’s worth noting that Microsoft has also created a pretty detailed “Switch to Surface” page on its website, but this Surface Migration Assistant is not listed on it at the time of our writing. We’ll see if the company makes its new Mac tool official in the coming days.
