It happens every spring at K12 Montana-supported schools: staff members retire or move on, and students graduate. And almost always, someone asks: "Can I keep my Google Drive files?"
The answer is yes - Google makes it relatively easy to transfer content from a school-managed Google account to a personal Gmail account. Here's the friendly walkthrough.
While signed into your school Google account, visit https://takeout.google.com/transfer and click Start Transfer.
Type in the personal Gmail address you want to receive the files. Google will send a verification code to that personal account.
Sign into your personal Gmail and look for the "Verify your account" email from Google. Open it and click Get Confirmation Code. Copy that code.
Switch back to your school account browser and paste the confirmation code into the verification box. Click Verify.
You'll see a screen that lets you toggle on or off the services you want to transfer - Gmail, Drive, and others. Select what you want and click Start Transfer.
Google says the process can take up to a week. You'll get an email when it's done. Be patient - larger accounts take longer.
This transfer is one-way and permanent. Once the process kicks off, it runs in the background. The school administrator doesn't need to do anything on their end once the user initiates it. Also, the school account will eventually be suspended or deleted according to your district's offboarding policy, so don't wait too long after leaving to start the transfer.
Helping staff and students transition off school accounts gracefully? K12 Montana Inc. can walk your team through offboarding workflows that protect everyone's data. Give us a call.