Google Drive files that are owned by ineligible users (e.g., former employees, alumni, students who left CU Boulder, retired employees) are deleted on a rolling basis.
To ensure you don't lose important files, review your Google Drive regularly and make copies of files that are owned by users who recently left CU Boulder or will do so soon.
Use these links to jump to a section below:
- Review Recent Files and Folders
- Review "Shared with me" Files
- Search for Content Owned by Specific Users
- Check Folders You Own or Collaborate In
Note: Faculty, staff and students have a storage limit of 5 gigabytes (GB) across all Google apps. If you exceed the storage limit, your account activity will be limited until you get under that quota. Visit Google Drive - Manage Your Storage for tips and resources.
Review Recent Files and Folders
- Open Google Drive.
- Click Recent from the left-hand menu.
- This should display your most recent files, and likely those you access the most. Look at the Owner column to ensure your most used files are not owned by individuals no longer with the university.
- If you're not sure about a particular user, open the file. Files owned by ineligible users will include a notice that the file is view-only. You can also click the file information button to check who owns the file.
Note: This notice will only appear on files with a native Google file format, like .gdoc (Docs) or .gsheet (Sheets).
- If you decide to save the file, click the three-dot options icon and select Make a copy to save a version to your Google Drive.
- Alternatively, you can select Download from the options menu and either save the file locally or upload it to OneDrive.
Review "Shared with me" Files
Not all of the files listed in your drive belong to you. Even if you've recently used a file or refer to it often, the file will be deleted if its owner leaves the university.
If you depend on a particular file, make sure you save a copy of it or ask the file owner to transfer ownership to you before that individual leaves CU Boulder.
- Open Google Drive.
- Click Shared with me in the left hand menu to show files shared with you by others. Sort by Name, Shared by, or Share date to ensure your most used files are not owned by individuals who are no longer with the university.
- As shown in the review recent files section above, click the three dot menu to make a copy or download a version of the file.
Search for Content Owned by Specific Users
Use this method to look at files shared with you by users who you know are leaving or have recently left CU Boulder. As noted in the review recent files section above, you can identify these users if there is a view only notice in files shared by them.
- Open Google Drive.
- Type owner:name in the search bar. You can use their IdentiKey username or their first and last name.
- A list of the files owned by that user and shared with you will appear.
- Tip: Use the drop-down options to filter your search results. For example, use the Last Modified drop-down to limit your search to recently modified files.
- Tip: Use the drop-down options to filter your search results. For example, use the Last Modified drop-down to limit your search to recently modified files.
- If needed, copy or download the file as shown in the review recent files section.
Check Folders You Own or Collaborate In
If you own a shared folder, you may not own all the data within it. Check shared folders from your Google Drive or other folders you collaborate in.
Files will be lost if the user who owns the file is no longer with the university, regardless of who owns the folder in which it's located.
- Open Google Drive and find the folder you want to check.
- If you see files owned by users who are no longer with the university, copy or download them as shown in the review recent files section above.
