Transferring files when someone leaves

A complete guide to transferring Google Drive files, email, and calendar data from a departing team member — so nothing is lost when someone leaves.

When someone leaves your organization, their files, emails, and calendar data belong to your business — not to them. But if you delete their account without planning ahead, all that data can be lost. This guide walks you through how to transfer everything safely.

Quick summary

Before deleting a departing user's account: transfer their Drive files to a manager, forward their email to someone covering their role, and download important data if needed. Suspend the account first. Then delete it after 30 days or once everything is confirmed safe.

Why this matters

Imagine an employee leaves and had been managing important client files, contracts, or project documents in their personal Google Drive. If you delete their account without transferring, those files are gone — even if the documents are shared with others, the underlying ownership disappears.

Using shared drives prevents this problem entirely — your organization owns those files, not the person. If your team isn't using shared drives yet, this is the biggest reason to start.

Step 1 — Suspend the account

Always suspend first. This cuts off the person's access without deleting any data.

See Removing a user safely for the suspension steps.

Step 2 — Transfer Drive files

Go to admin.google.com and sign in.

Open Menu → Apps → Google Workspace → Drive and Docs, then click Transfer ownership.

For "From user", enter the departing person's email address and pick them from the results.

For "To user", enter the new owner's email address. This is usually the person's manager or whoever is taking over their responsibilities. They need an active account (not suspended or deleted) with enough storage space left.

Click Transfer Files. The transfer runs in the background, and everyone involved gets a confirmation email when it finishes. A big transfer can take a while; if it runs past 36 hours it stops and you have to start it again.

Before you start, move anything worth keeping out of the person's Trash. Items in Trash are not transferred, and if you then delete the user, they're deleted with the account.

What happens after transfer

Google creates a transfer folder in the new owner's My Drive holding what was in the departing person's My Drive, plus shortcuts to files whose folders aren't shared with them. The new owner can then reorganize it all. Note that the previous owner can still edit the files they used to own, until you delete their account or change their permissions.

Step 3 — Handle their email

There's no one-click "hand this mailbox to someone else" button, but there are several ways to keep the mail. Sort this out before you delete the account.

Option A — Redirect new mail to someone else

You can map their address to a colleague's so future messages go there instead. In the Admin console, go to Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Routing (not "Default routing"), scroll to Email forwarding using recipient address map, click Configure or Add Another Rule, and map the old address to the new one. Leave "Also route to original destination" unticked to redirect rather than copy. Routing changes can take up to 24 hours to apply, though they're usually quicker.

Option B — Move the old messages into another account

Google's data migration service can copy the email out of the old account and into a new or existing one — useful when the replacement genuinely needs the history, not just future mail.

Option C — Keep the mailbox itself

If your edition includes Google Vault, you can export the user's email for archiving or legal purposes. An Archived User licence is the other option Google offers: it keeps the account's data searchable and exportable without anyone signing in. Ask us if you're not sure which fits.

Option D — Reuse the address

Once the account is deleted you have 20 days in which you can reassign that email address to another user in your organization; after 20 days Google removes it. Reassigning can take up to 24 hours to take effect. If the mail needs to reach several people rather than one, use a group — email sent to a group's address goes to every member.

Step 4 — Review shared drives

If the departing user was a Manager of any shared drives, make sure someone else holds that role before you delete the account. Only a Manager can add or remove members and change what other members can do, so a shared drive with no manager left is a problem.

In Google Drive, click Shared drives on the left.

Open each shared drive where the departing user was a manager. You need Manager access yourself to change members.

Click Manage members at the top, find the user, and change their access level or remove them.

Add a replacement manager if needed.

Step 5 — Revoke third-party app access

If the departing person used their Workspace account to sign in to third-party tools (like Slack, Notion, or project management tools), revoke that access directly in those tools.

Step 6 — Delete the account

Once everything has been transferred and confirmed, delete the account following the steps in Removing a user safely.

Wait at least 30 days from the person's last day before deleting — just in case something comes up.

Common questions

Can I access the leaver's Gmail to read historical emails?

Not by simply opening it. Redirecting the address only affects new mail. To get at the old messages you need an admin tool — Vault, the data migration service, or the organization-wide Data Export tool — or the account's password. Even with the password, a login challenge may block you; an admin can turn that off for 10 minutes from the user's Security page. For legal or compliance reasons, consult your legal advisor before accessing someone else's email.

I already deleted the account — is the data gone?

You have 20 days after deletion to recover the account and its data. See Recovering a deleted user or files for instructions. Act quickly.

How do I prevent this situation in the future?

Use shared drives for all team and business files. Your organization owns those files, not the individual, so they're unaffected when a user is deleted. See Shared drives explained.

Need a hand?

If you're stuck, email support@chykalophia.com and we'll help. Include your website address and a screenshot if you can.