Need an easy way to migrate files within Google Drive to Shared Drive?
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Do you have important files in your nonprofits’ Google Drive that are associated with their owners’ personal gmail address? Google lets you migrate those files to Shared Drive so your organization never loses access to them. This Google Drive trick for nonprofits makes it easier.
Google Workspace is fantastically easy for nonprofit start ups to set up and doesn’t take a lot of technical know-how to manage until you grow to a larger staff size. Community IT sees lots of growing nonprofits who want to stay with Google Workspace but realize they need some technical administrative help to manage it well. (We are fans of well-managed IT!) You can learn more about growing your nonprofit with Google Workspace here.
One of the common issues we run into is ownership of files. In Google world, the creator “owns” the files even when shared or saved on a shared Google Drive, and if that owner leaves the organization – through any number of scenarios – the organization no longer has access to those files.
Depending on how important the files are, that can cause problems! For example, if you are using an outsourced CFO – or if a photographer “shared” files with you – you can lose access.
A while back Google created “Shared Drive” and we recommend moving files from individually shared folders to organizationally owned folders.
In this podcast, Steve shares a Google Drive trick for nonprofits on migrating those files to Shared Drive relatively easily, by making the owner a temporary manager of the new folder.
The takeaways:
- Google regards the creator as the “owner” of files. Various options for sharing files may not grant complete access to those files for as long as they are needed.
- Community IT recommends creating Shared Drive in Google Workspace and migrating individual files and folders there to preserve organization access to them. This changes the “owner” from the individual to the organization.
- If you are running into migration issues with shared files disappearing, it is probably because the file was “owned” by someone outside your organization, or even someone within your organization using an individual gmail account to access Google. It is very easy to mistakenly log in to Google under other accounts to do your work!
- To migrate files in that situation, Google makes it possible to solve the ownership problem without a third-party tool. Staying within the Google universe preserves the file formats and makes migration easier. Links remain valid as will dynamic connections within Google Sheets.
- Community IT recommends creating a Shared Drive and temporarily making those external people managers with their individual gmail account. That gives them the ability to move whole folders of their files into the Shared Drive, where they become “owned” by the organization even after the individual leaves. This also helps clear up files created by external vendors where ownership needs to sit with the organization not with the individual owner, such as photos.
- It sounds complicated, but Steve walks through how to approach “ownership” in the Google Workspace universe and make data management as easy as possible.
Presenters
As Director of IT Consulting, Steve Longenecker divides his time at Community IT primarily between managing the company’s Projects Team and consulting with clients on IT planning. Steve brings a deep background in IT support and strategic IT management experience to his work with clients. His thoughtful and empathetic demeanor helps non-technical nonprofit leaders manage their IT projects and understand the Community IT partnership approach.
Steve also specializes in Information Architecture and migrations, implementations, file-sharing platforms, collaboration tools, and Google Workspace support. His knowledge of nonprofit budgeting and management styles make him an invaluable partner in technology projects.
Steve is MCSE and Microsoft 365 Fundamentals MS 900 certified and is a certified Professional Google Workspace Administrator. He has a B.A. in Biology from Earlham College in Richmond, IN and a Masters in the Art of Teaching from Tufts University in Massachusetts.
Carolyn Woodard is currently head of Marketing and Outreach at Community IT Innovators. She has served many roles at Community IT, from client to project manager to marketing. With over twenty years of experience in the nonprofit world, including as a nonprofit technology project manager and Director of IT at both large and small organizations, Carolyn knows the frustrations and delights of working with technology professionals, accidental techies, executives, and staff to deliver your organization’s mission and keep your IT infrastructure operating. She has a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management from Johns Hopkins University and received her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Williams College.
She was happy to have this podcast conversation with Steve about this Google Drive Trick for Nonprofits.
Ready to get strategic about your IT?
Community IT has been serving nonprofits exclusively for twenty years. We offer Managed IT support services for nonprofits that want to outsource all or part of their IT support and hosted services. For a fixed monthly fee, we provide unlimited remote and on-site help desk support, proactive network management, and ongoing IT planning from a dedicated team of experts in nonprofit-focused IT. And our clients benefit from our IT Business Managers team who will work with you to plan your IT investments and technology roadmap if you don’t have an in-house IT Director.
We constantly research and evaluate new technology to ensure that you get cutting-edge solutions that are tailored to your organization, using standard industry tech tools that don’t lock you into a single vendor or consultant. And we don’t treat any aspect of nonprofit IT as if it is too complicated for you to understand. When you are worried about productivity, change management, and implementation of new technology, you shouldn’t also have to worry about understanding your provider. You want a partner who understands nonprofits.
We think your IT vendor should be able to explain everything without jargon or lingo. If you can’t understand your IT management strategy to your own satisfaction, keep asking your questions until you find an outsourced IT provider who will partner with you for well-managed IT.
More on our Managed Services here. More resources on Google tools used by nonprofits here.
If you’re ready to gain peace of mind about your IT support, let’s talk.