How To Switch Ownership Of Google Drive Files And Folders
One of the most chaotic parts about working with other people, whether that’s a team of five or an organization of 500, is managing shared files. This becomes particularly tricky in situations when you need to hand over documents, media, or what-have-yous to another individual or department, say at the end of a project or when leaving the company. Unfortunately, it isn’t usually as easy as sending the files via email, especially if they’re too large. Sure, you can upload them through an online storage service and then share them from there instead. But the problem with that is the files can eat up your precious device space when they should no longer be in your possession.
This is where Google Drive comes to the rescue. Not only is it an excellent tool forsharing big files, but it also includes a feature to transfer ownership of your files and folders. Here’s a guide for ways to leverage this feature in Google Drive.
Changing ownership of files in Google Drive
To transfer the ownership of any file in your Google Drive, here’s what you need to do:
The other person will then receive an “Invitation to own” email, where they can press Accept or Decline. Until they accept the invitation, they’ll remain an Editor for the file. Once they do accept, your role will be changed to Editor, and you can still view and edit the file as you please.
However, note that the new owner can choose to downgrade your access level to Viewer or Commenter or remove your access from the file at any time. If they do revoke your access, the file will still appear in your Google Drive, but you won’t be able to open or edit it. In case you need to regain access, right-click on the file, select Request access, and wait for the new owner to approve the request.
Switching ownership of folders in Google Drive
Changing the ownership of folders in your Google Drive is less straightforward compared to individual files as there are a few important points to keep in mind:
Now, for the steps to transfer ownership of any Google Drive folder:
