Transfer Ownership of Files in Google Drive

Audience

• All individuals who need to take ownership of files or save them from deletion.
• All individuals who need to make someone else, or a group, the owner of their files.

 

Any file that is shared with you, even in a folder you own, is at risk of deletion when the owner leaves UC Berkeley, unless it is stored in a Shared Drive. Files stored in Shared Drives remain accessible to the group and are not affected by individual account changes.

Taking Ownership

To transfer ownership of files owned by someone else: 

• Transfer files to your department/group by following the Changing Ownership with Shared Drives walkthrough, or reading the instructions in Move Files to a Shared Drive.
  • If you can’t move the file directly, make a copy of the file to move into a Shared Drive.

Transferring Ownership

To transfer ownership of files owned by you: 

• Transfer files to your department/group by following the Changing Ownership with Shared Drives walkthrough, or reading the instructions in Move Files to a Shared Drive. 
• Transfer personally relevant files to another individual by first sharing your individual files (not folders), and then making that person the owner of your file. This option is best for files intended for a single individual; department/group files should be moved to a Shared Drive.
• Transfer your non-UC Berkeley files to your personal account: 
  • Download your personal files to your computer. Read how to download a file in Google Drive.
  • Bulk download/transfer personal files using a service like Google Takeout, Google Transfer or VaultMe.

Important: If you transfer a large number of files at once, it may take some time for you to notice the changes reflected in your My Drive. Google has limits on the number of files you can transfer in a 24-hour period; you may receive an error message, and must wait before transferring more files.