If you are leaving a company, graduating from university, or simply handing over a project to a colleague, sharing a Google Doc with them is not enough. If your Google account is eventually deleted by an administrator, any file you created will be deleted too, even if it is shared with dozens of people. To prevent data loss, you must permanently transfer the ownership of the file to another person.
How to Transfer File Ownership
You can only transfer ownership of a file to someone who already has access to it.
- Open Google Drive in your web browser.
- Locate the file or folder you want to transfer.
- Right-click the file, click Share, and select Share again from the submenu.
- If the new owner is not already in the list of collaborators, type their email address into the box and click Send to share it with them first.
- Once they are in the list, look for their name and click the dropdown menu next to it (it usually says “Editor” or “Viewer”).
- Select Transfer ownership from the dropdown list.
- A popup will ask you to confirm this major action. Click Send Invitation.
The person will receive an email asking them to accept the transfer. Crucially: You will remain the owner of the file until they click the “Accept” button in that email. Once they accept, they become the absolute owner, and your access level is downgraded to a standard Editor.