Copy Gmail & Google Drive Personal Files

Using Google’s transfer tool, you can copy existing email and other Google Drive files associated with your Smith account to a personal Google Account.

If you are a graduating student or staff member leaving Smith college, you will likely want to take your own data. (Keep in mind that the college owns work created as part of your employment with Smith.)

This approach requires a personal Google Account. If you don't have an account and prefer not to create one, you must download or export files and messages and upload/import them in the desired target system. This requires considerable effort, and it’s likely some formatting and data would be lost. To discuss alternatives, reach out to IT Help.

Important Considerations Before You Begin

Storage Amounts

Your Smith account has unlimited storage, but a personal Google account is limited to 15 GB. You may have to clean up or purchase more space from Google. To view details on your storage usage, navigate to Google Drive Storage within your Google Drive to see the current storage used for your Gmail, Drive, and Photos.

Transfer Ownership

You should first transfer ownership of files that belong to Smith or others by moving them to Shared Drives. Files that remain in just your My Drive likely cannot be managed by others and may eventually become inaccessible to others with whom you shared them, so it is important that files be moved to an area where someone else can manage them.

Processing Time

If you have a large amount of data, the processes may take up to several days to complete, according to Google Support and Smith users who have gone through the process. Once you initiate the transfer or download, you will be able to continue to do your work and even log out. However, the new files may not be available for some time. Plan accordingly.

Copies

The original files stay in your Smith account. Any changes you make to the copied files in your personal Google account won't affect the originals. Similarly, if you make changes to your Smith email or files after using the Google transfer tool, those changes won’t appear in your copies. You may want to consider this when deciding when to perform the copy process.

Email

The transfer tool may have difficulty transferring email messages with large attachments. If the transfer errors, this could be one cause. Before you begin the transfer (or if the transfer errors and does not complete), you may want to review large emails and save the attachments another way or delete these messages.

Copy Your Email and Drive Files

To copy your personal email and files, we recommend using Google’s transfer option. This will copy Smith’s data (email and/or Drive files) to a personal Google account that you specify. You will have the option to choose which data to copy as part of the set up process.

Note: Using Google Transfer ensures that email messages and Drive files will be under your personal Google account and enables you to manage your information as the sole owner. The files will not be tied to Smith’s arrangement with Google and the related policies and restrictions

Tip: When you start migrating your Smith account data, open an incognito/private browsing window or use a different browser from the one you usually use to log in to your Smith account. This will help ensure the export will look at your Smith account and not any other personal Gmail accounts you might be logged into.

To Transfer:

In a private/incognito window or a different browser, log into your Smith mail account at mail.smith.edu and sign in using your Smith email address.
Go to takeout.google.com/transfer.
Enter your personal Gmail in the destination account field and select Send Code.
From your personal, non-Smith address, retrieve the code and enter it in the Verify field (it is recommended to access the personal Gmail in a separate browser).
Select content to copy. You can leave both email and Drive selected if you want to copy everything. If you only need email or Drive files, deselect the one you will not need. Select Start transfer.

Depending on how much data there is to copy over, the amount of time it can take to complete varies. The messages will start populating shortly after the transfer begins, but it can take up to a week to complete. When the files have finished copying, you will receive an email to your personal Gmail address.

Google Sites

If you have created a Google Site that others will still need, make sure this is also transferred to a Shared Drive, as they are stored in the creator's My Drive by default. For more information on moving files and reviewing permissions, see Transfer Ownership of Smith Files.

The Google takeout and transfer tool will not copy Google Sites to your personal account. You will need to share the Google Site with your personal Gmail account, sign in to that account, and then make a copy of the site:

Share the site with your personal Google account
- Open the site in Edit mode
- Go to Share settings
- Enter your personal Gmail, select Editor and Notify people, then Share
Make a copy using your personal account
- In a private browser window, Sign In to your personal Gmail
- Using the Share notification email you received, open the site. Or access it directly from Drive in edit mode.
- Select the 3 dots menu and Make a copy

Delete Personal Data From Your Smith Account

While not required, we recommend that you delete the personal data from your Smith account after the Google transfer successfully completed and you have confirmed that you have all the data you want.

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