Transfer Ownership of Files/Folders in Google Drive

Opportunity

When you create a file or folder in your MyDrive you are the owner. There are times when it’s important to transfer ownership to another individual or to a Shared Drive (best practice for collaborative content), for example:

• When you are leaving Berkeley and the content needs to be accessible to others after you have left.

• When you are leaving your work group and the content needs to be managed and used by your original workgroup.

• When the project/work is being taken over by another group.

• When the content is personal and you want to own it with a personal account.

• And so forth.

Transfer ownership to another person at UC Berkeley

1. Before you can transfer ownership you must have already shared the item(s) with them. 

• Important: If you are leaving UC Berkeley and own a lot of collaborative content shared with others that needs to be retained by someone on your team or in your department, it is important to work with your department to move your content to a collaborative Google Shared Drive. This transfers ownership to the Shared Drive.

Bulk share files

To save time, you can share more than one item at a time.

1. Search to find multiple relevant files at a time. 

2. Click and drag your cursor over the relevant files from your search results to select them. 

   1. If there are individual files you don't want to be shared, hold the Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) key and click on each file you don't want to share to deselect them.

   2. Tip: Click the List view icon in the top right of the results to make it easier to view and select the files.

      1. If there are Google Shortcuts (i.e. links that reference another Drive file or folder) in your selection, you will need to unselect those before attempting to bulk share or transfer ownership of multiple files..

3. Click the Share icon in the top left of the results.

Click Share button and deselect shortcuts

4. Enter the email address of the individual to whom you’d like to transfer ownership in the Add people and groups field.

5. Uncheck the Notify people box to avoid sending the individual multiple email notifications.

6. Click Share.

Bulk transfer ownership

Once you have shared the files, you can now bulk transfer ownership.

Important: You will need to change the ownership of files at the file level and not the folder level. Google folder ownership is not cascading, which means that changing the owner of a folder does not automatically change the ownership of each file and folder within that folder.

Important: Google has limits on the number of Google Drive files you can transfer ownership of in a 24-hour period. There is no workaround for this so if you receive an  error message you will have to wait at least 24 hours before you can transfer more files.

1. Click and drag your cursor over the relevant files from your search results to select them. 

   1. If there are files you don't want to be transferred, hold the Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) key and click on each file you don't want to transfer to deselect them.)

   2. Tip: Click the List view icon () in the top right of the results to make it easier to view and select the files.

2. Click the Share icon in the top left of the results.

3. Click the drop-down menu beside the individual to which you want to transfer ownership and select Transfer ownership.

Choose whom to share with, then from pop up menu, choose Transfer ownership

4. Click Yes and then click Done.

• After the ownership transfer is complete, the individual will automatically become the new owner. The files will move to your Shared with me section in Google Drive, and the new owner will notice the files now appear in their My Drive.

• Depending on how many files are transferred at once, the individual may receive several emails alerting them, “You're now the owner of # items.”

• Note: If you transfer ownership of a lot of files/folders at once, it may take some time for you to notice the changes reflected in your My Drive.

Transfer ownership from another person to yourself (Make a copy!)

If you are trying to gain ownership of something that is owned by someone else who has left UC Berkeley or has an expired account, we recommend that you move that item into a Shared Drive. If that is not a possibility, you may need to make a copy of that item. 

1. To make a copy of a file or multiple files, select the file or files and right-click or select the 3 dots at the top and choose Make a copy. 

Select file(s) and then select “Make a copy”

1. This will create a copy of the item and it will be renamed to “Copy of [original title]” and will be moved to your My Drive. You may rename the item if you choose.