Skip To Main Content

Transfer Drive and Gmail Content

If you are a current employee or plan on leaving the division, you can copy the contents of your Google account and transfer it to a personal Google account. Because files are copied, they will NOT be deleted from your school Google account, so it is safe to transfer files.  

Transferrable Content

What will be transferred:

  • Files in Google Drive folders that are owned by you
  • Shared files that have been “Added to Drive” will be copied but the new file will not be shared with collaborators

What will not transfer:

  • Images stored in Google Photos
  • “Shared with Me” files that have not been added to Google Drive
  • Google Sites, Google Forms, Google MyMaps & other third-party content in Drive
  • Gmail contacts, chats or tasks

Preparing to Copy & Transfer

Before transferring your files, take time to organize your folders and remove files you do not want to transfer. Once you are ready to transfer files using Google Takeout, your files will be copied into your personal account maintaining the same folder structure/organization as they have in your school account. If you have a large number of files, it will take some time for Google Takeout to copy the contents of your entire Google Drive.

Create a personal Google account

To transfer your files, you will need a personal Google/Gmail account. The account must end with @gmail.com. If you do not already have one, visit https://accounts.google.com/SignUp to create your free account.

Prepare your files

If you would like to keep a copy of files that other people have shared with you, you must first add those files to My Drive.

Start the copy process

  1. While logged into your school account, go to Transfer your content.
  2. Enter the email address of the Google Account where you want to copy your content.
  3. Select Get code.
  4. On your Google Account, check your Gmail inbox for a confirmation email from Google. In the email, select Get confirmation code. A new tab will open with a code.
  5. On your school account, go back to the "Transfer your content" page. Enter the code, then choose Verify.
  6. Choose the content you would like to copy, then select Start transfer. You will have two choices, Drive and Gmail. 

Details about the copy process

The copy process usually happens within a few hours, but it can take up to a week. Copied files might appear in batches on your Google Account during the copy process. When your files are finished copying, you will get an email at your Gmail address.

See your copied files

To see the files you've copied, sign in to Gmail or Google Drive with your Google Account.

  • Drive: Copied content will be in a folder labeled with your school account name and the date you started the copy process.
  • Gmail: Copied content will have a label with your school account name and the date you started the copy process.

What changes on copied files

There are a few important changes that happen with files copied from Google Drive:

You automatically become the file owner of all copied files. (The owners of the original files remain the same.)
Copied files are not shared with others - you can always choose to share them later.
Comments are copied, but revision history is not.

Additional Information

For files that will not transfer, you can download these files instead. For example, you can download your Gmail contacts, your YouTube videos, and your photo albums in Google Photos. Once these files are downloaded on your computer, you can copy them to a flash drive or external hard drive.

Give ownership of a file to another

  1. Open Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides.
  2. Click the file you want to transfer to someone else.
  3. Click Share.
  4. To the right of a person that you have already shared the file with, click the Down arrow and select Make owner.
  5. Click Done.

Please note that after you make someone else the owner of a file, you cannot edit the file unless the new owner decides to change your access.

Transfer a calendar you created

If you own a calendar and your Google account is deleted, your calendar will also be deleted. To save the calendar, transfer ownership to someone else. If you're moving to a new Google account, import events to your new Google Calendar.

  1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
  2. On the left side of the page, click My calendars.
  3. Hover over the calendar you want to add someone to and click Options (the three dots) - Settings and sharing.
  4. In the "Share with specific people" section, click Add people.
  5. Enter the email address of the person or group you want to make an owner.
  6. In "Permissions," select Make changes and manage sharing.
  7. Click Send.

The person or group you added will now also own the calendar.