How to Transfer Ownership of a Google Calendar to Another Account

The Need for Ownership Transfer

When you create a new calendar in Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), your Google account is permanently designated as the primary owner. This means you alone have the ultimate authority to delete the calendar, change sharing permissions, and manage all events within it.

However, what happens when an employee leaves a company, a project manager shifts to a different department, or an administrator retires? If their Google account is deleted or suspended, any calendars they created will vanish entirely, destroying years of organizational planning and upcoming meetings.

To prevent this catastrophic data loss, Google allows you to completely transfer the ownership of a specific calendar to another Google account. This is a permanent action that transfers all administrative rights to the new owner.

What Cannot Be Transferred

Before proceeding, it is critical to understand a major limitation in the Google ecosystem: You cannot transfer ownership of your primary, default calendar.

Your primary calendar is the one permanently linked to your email address (usually named exactly the same as your name or email). It is hardcoded to your account. You can only transfer ownership of secondary calendars—those that you created manually under the “Other calendars” or “My calendars” section.

Step 1: Accessing Calendar Settings

The transfer process must be initiated by the current owner of the calendar.

1. Open Google Calendar on your desktop browser. (This action cannot be performed on the mobile app).
2. On the left-hand sidebar, locate the calendar you wish to transfer under the My calendars section.
3. Hover your mouse over the calendar name, click the three vertical dots (Options) that appear, and select Settings and sharing.

Step 2: Adding the New Owner

Before you can transfer ownership, the target account must first be granted the highest level of administrative access to the calendar.

1. Scroll down the settings page to the section titled Share with specific people or groups.
2. Click the + Add people and groups button.
3. Enter the exact email address of the person who will become the new owner.
4. Click the Permissions drop-down menu and select the absolute highest permission level: Make changes and manage sharing.
5. Click Send.

Step 3: Transferring the Ownership

The person you just added will receive an email notification. They do not need to accept anything yet. You must complete the transfer process from your end.

Keep the settings page open. After clicking “Send” in Step 2, the person’s name will now appear in the list under “Share with specific people or groups.”

1. Look at the name of the person you just added.
2. Click the drop-down menu next to their name (which currently says “Make changes and manage sharing”).
3. At the very bottom of the permission list, you will now see a new, red option that was not there before: Make owner. (Note: This option will only appear if the recipient is within your organization or using a compatible Google account).
4. Click Make owner.

Step 4: Confirming the Action

A stark warning dialog box will appear, cautioning you that this action cannot be undone. Once you confirm, the calendar will be moved to the other person’s account, and your permission level will instantly be downgraded.

Click Transfer ownership to finalize the process.

The new owner will now have complete control over the calendar, ensuring its survival even if your original Google account is deleted.