How To Change Ownership In Google Drive

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It's an unfortunate situation. You lot're working with someone and collaborating in Google Drive, just the human relationship ends on a sour annotation. Now you're left with a bunch of content that you're not the owner of. You want to transfer ownership of the Google Drive folder to yourself, merely to your dismay, it's not as unproblematic as information technology seems.

Key Takeaways:

If your onetime employee or contractor is on your company's Google Workspace account, then transferring the buying of a binder in Google Drive can be a relatively like shooting fish in a barrel task.
Setting a new owner for a Google Drive folder gets a bit more complicated when the original owner is on a different Google account, simply it'southward not an impossible chore.
If you're attack staying with Google Drive, you have two options: pay to add your contractors and office-fourth dimension employees to your Workspace or apply "shared drives" instead.
If Google's ownership arrangement is too much for y'all, you can always switch to a service like Egnyte Connect, which makes user management a breeze.

Even if things do end well with your contractor, it's still a hassle to transfer ownership of their files. It's a common scenario, but it doesn't have to be a painful one. In this article, we'll guide you through how to transfer ownership of a folder in Google Bulldoze, so you can avert messy breakups with employees and contractors.

The brusque answer is yes, you can. However, information technology but works if you're using a Workspace Enterprise account with the right privileges and if the person you're transferring from is also on that same account.
If yous accept a Workspace Enterprise account, it'due south easy to move files around and change ownership via the admin panel. If that's not the case, the process is quite a bit more than involved and isn't as easy as it seems.
Although yous might recall you're the possessor of your ain files on Google Drive, that's not always the instance. If you're collaborating with some other person, fifty-fifty if information technology'due south in a shared folder you lot created, they own any folders and documents they add to that folder.

Is It Possible to Transfer Ownership of Google Drive Folders?

You would remember changing the possessor of a binder is a simple procedure, but in reality it'southward not that straightforward. If your company is using the Enterprise version of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), only your contractor isn't on that same account, at that place is no direct way to change the possessor of their files and you have to use work-arounds that go out the job half washed.

In that location are exceptions to this. If you're the administrator of your company's Workspace account, you can change the possessor of any file or folder stored on that business relationship, as long as it was created by someone on the same account.

Likewise, if your business organisation uses a Workspace account, and your contractor or employee is on that same account, then they can transfer ownership of their files to other people within the company themselves.

The same goes for if you're both using the regular Google domain (in other words, a "gmail.com" email address). However, this depends on the goodwill of the other person to actually transfer their files to yous.

Tin can You Change the Owner of Whatsoever Google Drive File?

Unfortunately, you can simply set a new owner for files created in Google apps. In other words, you tin can change the owner of Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings and My Maps. Y'all tin can transfer ownership of a folder besides, just changing the owner of the folder won't change the owners of the files within that folder.

However, this does not apply if the original owner is on your company'south Workspace account. In that case, the admin can transfer all of their files to another owner, although the original folder structures will exist lost.

That said, at that place are several ways to transfer the ownership of a binder or file in Google Drive, though the results might not be fully satisfactory if you lot're not on the same Workspace Enterprise account. Let'south jump right in to all the means you tin change the possessor of a Drive folder.

How to Transfer Ownership of a Google Drive Folder Using Enterprise Features

If both your company and your contractor are on the aforementioned Workspace Enterprise account, the procedure is pretty like shooting fish in a barrel and it'due south all handled from the admin console in Workspace. We'll give yous a few steps that you can follow to change the owner of a binder, merely first you need to make sure that yous take everything y'all need.

Brand sure that the original owner'southward account is active — not deleted or suspended
Cheque to run across that there is plenty space in your own business relationship to fit all the files yous want to transfer
Make certain your Workspace account has the "Data Transfer" and "Drive and Docs" privileges enabled

Now that you take your house in guild, let'southward wait at the steps to transfer buying of a Drive folder.

Log in to Your Workspace Admin Console
In whatever spider web browser, become to admin.google.com and enter your login credentials.

If you want to transfer buying of a folder to a new user, the first footstep is to enter the admin console.
Enter the "Apps" Section of the Admin Console
Now that you're in the admin console, first enter the "apps" section. This will let yous access all Google Apps, such as Google Docs and Drive.

In the admin console, the "apps" section contains all Google Apps, including Google Docs and Drive.
Navigate to "Drive and Docs"
Next, click on "Google Workspace" and finally from there select "Bulldoze and Docs." This will let yous alter a few settings inside Google Drive and Docs, but more than importantly, you'll meet the pick to transfer ownership of the unabridged contents of a person's profile to a new owner.

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Navigating to the "Drive and Docs" option will reveal options for managing your Google Drive and Google Docs settings.
Transfer Ownership of the Previous Owner'southward Files
While in "Drive and Docs," click on "transfer buying." You will encounter two fields named "from user" and "to user." Enter the original possessor's username in the "from user" field and the new user'south username (or your own) in the "to user" field. Then only click on "transfer files" to finish the job.

To modify the possessor of the files you lot want to transfer, enter the quondam owner'due south email address in the "from user" field and the new owner's email address in the "to user" field.

When everything is finished, the new user will run across a folder announced in their personal Drive named with the previous owner's email address. This folder volition contain every file and document the old owner created inside your company's Workspace account. Both owners will receive an email notifying them of the transfer and the old owner will lose access to their files.

Yet, as we mentioned previously, this method is only valid if the person you're transferring files from is on the same Workspace business relationship equally you lot. If that's non the case, equally it very often isn't, you'll have to look for an alternative way to transfer their files (we'll tell y'all how to do that in a scrap).

How Well Does Google's Enterprise Folder Buying Transfer Work?

If you're moving files around inside your company's Workspace account, then you shouldn't see any major issues. The real problems arise when your contractor or employee is on a public email account and you are non. Another issue with this method is that binder structures aren't preserved, then you'll have to reorganize their files after they're transferred.

Other Ways to Transfer Buying of Google Drive Folders

If y'all're not able to transfer the folders you lot want, to a new owner via the admin console, here are a few alternative ways you can yet become the transfer done.

Use Shared Drives

The simplest way to transfer ownership of files and folders within Workspace is to not do it at all. If you lot're confused by that argument, you've probably been going about this thing the incorrect manner. It's all well and good if your organization wants its users to piece of work in separate Drives, but trust us, the culling is much less of a hassle.

workspace share drives — Using "shared drives" is an easy way to mitigate all of Google Bulldoze'southward ownership issues.

You encounter, Enterprise users take access to and then-chosen "shared drives." In these special Workspace folders, it'due south the company that owns the shared files, not individual users, so problems over ownership never come up in the kickoff identify. So simply have all your employees and contractors work in "shared drives" and all your buying woes will go away.

If y'all're not keen on changing your Drive's construction to using "shared drives" there are still ways to transfer buying. File sharing is a bones function of cloud storage, but Drive offers a few tidbits that give a little more depth to its sharing features, including irresolute the possessor of a file or folder. The post-obit method will require two things:

Both the new owner and the original i have to be on the same Workspace account or at least on regular Gmail accounts
The original owner volition have to do most of the legwork, so their cooperation and availability is fundamental

If you've checked off both of those things, you lot (or rather the person who owns the folder) can move on to the following steps.

Et voilà! Yous are now the possessor of the folder. Withal, because everything makes perfect sense in Google Land, when you alter the owner of a folder, it doesn't transfer buying of the files inside the binder.

To do that, your one-time employee or contractor volition take to go into the folder, select every file and repeat the sharing procedure. Oh, and that goes for every subfolder, too. Sounds fun, correct?

Copy the Previous Owner'due south Folders to Your Account

Now, this might exist the least complicated manner to transfer buying, but there are some serious drawbacks to it. Still, if you're that desperate, it's really the only pick you have left. If your former contractor or employee is not quite willing to cooperate, you can take buying of their files by just copying them to your account.

Select Every File in the Folder
Google Drive doesn't let yous copy entire folders (of class), so the first pace is to actually become inside the binder and select every file. Make sure you don't accidentally select a subfolder, as that will remove the option to copy.

Select every file or document inside the folder, but avoid selecting any subfolders.
Re-create the Files
Right-click on the files you've selected and choose "make a copy."

Re-create the unabridged contents of the folder, over again avoiding any subfolders.
Move the Files and Documents to Your Own Folder
The final step is to but motion the copies you lot've made to your own folder by correct-clicking and selecting the "move to" choice, and then selecting either "my Drive" or whatsoever other folder you own from the menu. Be certain to select the copies and not the original files. The copies volition have "copy of" before their file names.

Move everything yous copied to your folder.

Unfortunately, this method comes with a few drawbacks. Whatsoever comments you've made in documents volition disappear. The same goes for attached files in documents. Plus, if yous use whatsoever productivity plugins that link to specific documents, they will all get unlinked. The former owner doesn't lose access to the original files either, which tin can sometimes be a problem.

Alternatives to Google Drive: Transfer Folder Buying Easily

If the whole process of changing binder buying in Google Workspace seems too involved and complicated, that's merely because it is. Thankfully, y'all've got several options that do the job much better than Google.

MultCloud

MultCloud is a cloud-to-cloud management platform that lets you handle multiple deject accounts from one identify. Information technology'due south far from a 1-fox pony, though. One of the aces up its sleeve is moving files between different cloud services, and this pick works for transferring files between different Google accounts as well.

Which means MultCloud can transfer the files from the folder in your visitor's Google Drive account (that you're not the owner of) to your own. This, of grade, will as well change the ownership to y'all. This comes with the same drawback as copying the files manually, and so it might not fit the bill exactly. Read more than about what Multcloud can do in our total Multcloud review.

Egnyte Connect

egnyte user management — Egnyte offers a host of third-party integrations, including both Google Apps like Workspace and Microsoft Office apps.

If all the issues with Google Drive's ownership system are as well much for yous, you lot tin can always switch to a new cloud storage provider. Egnyte Connect is an splendid alternative that too happens to work with Google Docs and the rest of Google's part apps, as well equally Microsoft Function 360. Read our full review of Egnyte for more data.

Egnyte is a powerhouse for productivity and its features are geared specifically toward businesses. Besides the wealth of third-party apps it integrates with (including remote work staples such every bit Trello and Jira), it as well has a user direction system like no other. You tin can set permissions for users at every level and, best of all, in that location's no trace of Google's buying shenanigans.

Concluding Thoughts

Transferring buying of a binder in Bulldoze can be a real pain in the rear. If you and the previous owner are on the same Workspace business relationship, you have the right privileges and Jupiter and Venus are in only the right position in the heaven, you may exist able to go through the process with relative ease.

In most other cases, information technology's gonna get messy. At that place are some roundabout ways to transfer ownership of a Drive folder, only most of them involve a few rolls of duct tape and some elbow grease. However, if you've managed to follow forth with this guide, you lot've probably solved all of your Google Drive buying issues.

Did you manage to transfer ownership of all your old employee'south files to your account? Have yous had enough of Google'south ownership system and are prepare to move on to improve things (similar Egnyte Connect)? Let us know in the comments below. Every bit always, thank you for reading.