Google Drive - Transferring Ownership of Files

Overview

Google Drive allows for convenient collaboration between individuals and teams with its ability to easily create, share and edit documents. With ample storage space, it is also a convenient method to store files that are used by teams and organizations so that they are available to others who need those documents.

When an individual leaves a team or organization, however, the files they own stay with the individual's Google Apps account, even if the individual no longer needs those documents. Additionally, when an individual leaves Texas A&M, those documents will be automatically deleted along with their account.

In order to provide continuity to teams, departments, and organizations, and to prevent the undesired loss of commonly-used files, documents and folders should be transferred to an individual or account that will remain on that team or with that department or organization. There are two ways this can be done, either manually or administratively. When transferring files that are used by a university department or business unit, consider transferring ownership or an organizational account rather to an individual within that organization.

Transfer ownership manually within Google Drive

The owner of a file or folder can transfer the ownership of that file or folder to an individual or account with whom that file is shared. Only one account can be an owner of an individual file or folder.

Files

1. Open the "Share with others" window
   1. To transfer ownership of an individual file while editing the file, click the Share button in the upper right of the document
   2. To transfer ownership of an individual file while in your file list, click the Share icon (a silhouette with a + sign)in the toolbar or right-click the file in your list and select Share
   3. To transfer ownership of multiple files at once while in your file list, select all of the files you need to transfer,  click the Share icon (a silhouette with a + sign) in the toolbar or right-click the file in your list and select Share
2. Click on Advanced in the lower right of the "Share with others" window
3. Click on the Edit icon (a pencil) to the right of the name of the person you are transferring ownership to
4. Select Is owner from the menu
5. Click the Save changes button in the lower left corner of the "Sharing settings" window
6. Click Yes in the "Are you sure" confirmation window
7. Click Done

Folders

1. Open the "Share with others" window either by clicking the Share icon (a silhouette with a + sign)in the toolbar or by right-clicking the folder in your list and selecting Share
2. Click on Advanced in the lower right of the "Share with others" window
3. Click on the Edit icon (a pencil) to the right of the name of the person you are transferring ownership to
4. Select Is owner from the menu
5. Click the Save changes button in the lower left corner of the "Sharing settings" window
6. Click Yes in the Are you sure confirmation window
7. Click Done

Note: Transferring ownership of a folder DOES NOT transfer ownership of the files in that folder. Ownership of those files will still need to be transferred.
 

Transfer ownership manually via download

In addition to transferring ownership of files and folders within Google Drive, the owner of the files or folders can download the files as a zip file. When the new owner uploads the files, they will have ownership of those files.

1. Select the folder and/or files you need to transfer. Holding shift, control, or command will allow the selection of multiple files.
2. Right-click the selected files and choose Download. Google will display a message indicating that the files are being readied for download. Once prepared, they will be downloaded to the default download location of your browser. The zip file will be named "drive-download" followed by a series of numbers indicating the date and time of the download. The file will end in .zip.
3. Transfer the downloaded zip file to the new owner via your preferred method.
4. The new owner will need to unzip the files and folders on their local machine before uploading them.
5. In Google Drive, click on New and select File Upload.
6. Select the files you wish to upload. Folder upload is only supported by some browsers, such as Chrome.
7. Once uploaded, the files will be owned by the new owner.

Transfer ownership administratively 

Texas A&M Technology Services is able to transfer ALL FILES AND FOLDER owned by an individual to another account. Ownership transfer in this manner is not granular and should not be used except in cases where access to Texas A&M Google Apps for Education has been lost, such as graduation or leaving employment by the university. To request an administrative transfer of ownership, email helpdesk@tamu.edu and include

• NetID of the previous owner of the documents to be transferred
• NetID of the individual or account the documents need to be transferred to
• Name, phone number, email address, and title of the person making the request
• Explanation of need of the transfer

You will be contacted once the transfer has been completed or if additional information is necessary.

Individual account versus organizational account

Individual employees and students join and leave teams, organizations, and departments regularly. Transferring ownership from one individual to another may be adequate for small numbers of documents or for small or short-lived teams. For large organizations such as university departments or business units, however, a more institutional ownership account may be more appropriate.

An IT Resource Account account may be a more appropriate owner for files that are used by a department, college or business unit. These accounts are not tied to any single individual, but are instead controlled by the organization itself. Files owned by an IT Resource Account will not run the risk of being deleted when an individual leaves the university.

More information about IT Resource Accounts can be found at Requesting and Deleting an IT Resource Account. When filling out the form to request an account, make sure to select Google Apps for Education Account in part 5, "Additional functionality."