This article outlines simple steps to move content from your AU Account to another location. You will have the option to download files and photos and transfer content to a new Gmail account.
The email messages, files, and photos associated with your AU Account will need to be moved prior to your account suspension date. The following four steps will help you with this transition.
Step 1: Delete Unwanted Content
Before you download your content, you may wish to do some spring cleaning first. There is no reason to download content that you no longer need!
- Visit gmail.com to log into your @anderson.edu Google account.
- Review your messages and delete anything you don't want to save.
- Go to Google Drive (drive.google.com).
- Review your content and delete any unwanted files you don't want to save. Be careful deleting files with a shared icon. You may want to transfer the ownership to others before deleting it (see Step 2: Transfer File/Folder Ownership to Others below).
- Go to Google Photos (photos.google.com).
- Review your content and delete any photos you don't want to save.
Please refer to Google's documentation for full instructions:
Step 2: Transfer File/Folder Ownership to Others
If you collaborated with others on research, class, or work projects, and you are no longer interested or affiliated but those projects are ongoing or important to others, be sure to transfer the ownership of any Google documents to the relevant colleagues that need to continue to access that information.
- Visit gmail.com to log into your @anderson.edu Google account.
- Go to Google Drive (drive.google.com).
- Locate and open the file that needs to be shared.
- Click "Share."
- Review the list.
- If an existing individual is the best person to own the document (and their contact information is still current!), select the person's current access role (e.g. Editor) and choose "Transfer ownership". Select "Yes" when prompted to confirm the action.
- If no one on the list is an ideal contact, then add the relevant email address in the "Add people and groups" box, enter a message (optional), and click "Send". Once added, then change the role from "Editor" to "Transfer ownership." Select "Yes" when prompted to confirm the action.
- Click "Done" when finished.
- Repeat for any additional files/folders.
Please refer to Google's documentation for full instructions: "Make someone else the owner of your file".
Step 3: Transfer or Download Google Content
If you'd like to keep any of your Google data, you can choose one of two methods:
- Transfer all of your emails and drive contents to another Google Account (Prior to the transfer, check the storage space in your Google Account to make sure you have enough room).
- Download your Google Data to your computer.
You could also use a combination of the two. For example, if you have a lot of files in Drive, you could download the files first and then delete them before transferring your email to a new Google account.
Please note: As a former employee of the university, please refrain from downloading any files that are not strictly your own. Hopefully, you have already transferred files and folders to former colleagues and deleted items that you no longer need, so this won't be a problem.
The "Google Takeout" tool allows you to download much of your personal AU Google account data as an export file to your own computer. You can select all of the options you desire and then choose the file format and method for retrieval. The Google Takeout process can take up to a week depending on the amount of content involved.
Remember, be sure that you have adequate storage space on your local computer hard drive. See the "Before You Begin" steps above. Also, deleting or transferring ownership of files will reduce your download, too.
Option 1: Transfer Email/Drive to Another Google Account
- Visit gmail.com to log into your @anderson.edu Google account.
- Visit "Google Takeout" and the "Start the Transfer" option at https://takeout.google.com/transfer
- In the "Enter a destination account" area, enter your Gmail account.
- Click "Send Code" to have a confirmation code sent to the Gmail account that you've entered.
- Check your Gmail account for the confirmation code and enter it in the blank. Click Submit.
- Select what you would like to copy and transfer: Drive and/or Gmail.
- Click "Start Transfer."
- Follow the remaining onscreen or email instructions to complete the process and download the appropriate file(s) once they are ready.
Option 2: Download Google Data to Your Computer
- Visit gmail.com to log into your @anderson.edu Google account.
- Visit "Google Takeout" and the "Download or delete your data" option at https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout
- On the "Create a New Export" form, select all of the data to include in your download (e.g. Drive and Google Photos).
- Click "Next Step" to continue.
- Select: “Send download link via email” and “Export once.”
- Select the file format (e.g. .zip) and size (e.g. 2 GB increments).
- Click “Create export.”
- Follow the remaining onscreen or email instructions to complete the process and download the appropriate file(s) once they are ready.
Please refer to Google's support article for complete details and instructions, "Copy content from your school account to another account".
Once you have downloaded the relevant data to your computer, you may keep the files on your personal computer or upload the files to your personal third-party cloud storage service.
To learn how to extract data from a .zip file, refer to the following resources:
Step 4: Download Shared Drives
Shared Drives are different from the files stored in My Drive and shared. Instead of an individual being an owner of a file, the drive itself is an owner of the file. When a person is removed from a Shared Drive, the content remains for the other members of the Shared Drive. Because the content is connected to an individual, none of the items will be downloaded in the process listed above in Step 3. You will need to download any content from a Shared Drive that you would like to save manually.
- Visit gmail.com to log into your @anderson.edu Google account.
- Go to Google Drive (drive.google.com).
- Locate and open the file that needs to be shared.
Please note: As a former employee of the university, please refrain from downloading any files that are not strictly your own.