Google Data Download/Transfer

1. Check your storage space for your SUNY Oswego account to make sure it meets quota requirements. Use a private or incognito browsing window or a SUNY Oswego Chrome browser profile. Make note of which Google quota you need to reduce or remove: Gmail, Drive, or Photos.
   1. Shared Drives are not a part of your personal Google quota, but should be managed to maintain access to the appropriate users. If you are not a manager of a Shared Drive, the Shared Drive access will remain as long as you have access to Google Drive. If you are leaving SUNY Oswego, personal files should be downloaded/removed, and managers should transfer ownership. Shared Drives can be accessed at drive.google.com.
      1. Change shared drive user roles
      2. Make someone else the owner of your file
2. If you wish to clean up the Gmail storage size before downloading/transferring, review our Managing Your Google Storage Quota article.

Here is an example of checking Google storage.

Google Takeout Transfer tool allows you to transfer files to a personal Gmail account. If you wish to download files instead, move to step 2b. If you are all set with downloading/transferring Google Drive/Gmail files, move to step 3. If you are ready to delete your Google data and have not signed into the Google Photos app with your SUNY Oswego account on a mobile device, move to step 4. Please note that transferring more than 15 GB to another Gmail account will require paid storage. 

1. Sign into oswego.edu/mail on a computer. This cannot be done on a smartphone.

2. Review instructions for how to use the Google Transfer tool, which will provide an easy-to-use process to migrate your email to a personal Gmail account.

3. After transferring your data, move to step 3.

If you are experiencing any issues with access to the Google Takeout Service, please contact CTS.

Using Google Takeout, you are downloading the data to a separate file that can be uploaded to another application or account. Here are some items to consider first.

• Consider organizing mail into labels if you only wish to download some emails. The takeout tool may default to saving certain mail labels, such as inbox and drafts, but this can be customized by selecting "All Mail data included" from the takeout tool options.

Here are the steps to use Google Takeout:

1. Organize your Gmail data into separate labels so that institutional data is not downloaded. Apply personal data to a label.
2. Navigate to Google Takeout on a computer browser.
3. Select the personal data to include in the export.
   • All Google services are automatically selected. 
   • To select individual services, click Deselect all, and check the boxes next to the Google services that you want to include in your download.
4. Verify file types by selecting the Multiple Formats option on each Google service with the available option.
5. Select Next Step
6. Select the transfer destination:
   • Download link via email (recommended)
   • Do not choose to add your archive to your SUNY Oswego Google Drive or OneDrive, as this will increase your storage quota.
7. Select Export Once for the frequency.
8. Click Create export.
9. Wait for an email confirming the download is ready. It may take a few days to complete. To check on the download status, visit takeout.google.com/takeout/downloads. CTS cannot assist with the download process.
10. From the email, click each ZIP file link to download.
11. In your computer's download folder, right-click on each ZIP folder to extract. 
12. Verify the files are working as expected. You may choose to upload those files to your personal accounts.
13. Once you have verified the files are working as expected, you may choose to delete the ZIP files (optional).
14. Continue to the next step.

Note: CTS does not recommend using Google Takeout Transfer for Google Photos. Instead, follow the steps below to manually download your photos using photos.google.com on a web browser or computer.

You may select multiple photos in the Google Photos app to download, but the Google Photos app is already a reflection of your device's photos. Downloading them may result in duplicate photos on your device. Additionally, deleting photos in the Google Photos app will also delete them from your device. 

• If you use the Google Photos app, start with Step 1.

• If you have not signed into your SUNY Oswego account on your mobile device before, skip to Step 2.

• If you are ready to delete your photos, skip to Delete SUNY Oswego Data.

Step 1: Using the Google Photos App (Mobile Devices)

1. Open the Google Photos app if your mobile device has a backup of your photos.

2. Select the profile icon in the upper-right corner and verify that the SUNY Oswego account is selected.

3. Select the profile icon again.

4. Scroll down and select Photos settings.

5. Ensure that Backup is turned off.

   • If you are using the Sharing feature, download any photos you wish to keep, as sharing will no longer function once account access is removed.

6. Select the back arrow in the upper-left corner to exit settings.

7. You may still see photos with a cloud icon and check mark. These photos are still stored in the Google Photos cloud storage.

8. Verify that any photos you want to keep are saved elsewhere, such as on your phone or computer.

9. Important: Continue to the next step to delete SUNY Oswego data.

Step 2: Downloading Photos Using a Computer Browser (Recommended)

If you are unsure whether photos are stored locally or if you need to download a large number of photos, use a computer browser.

1. Sign in to photos.google.com using your SUNY Oswego account.

2. Select the photos you want to download.

   • Select all (computer browser): Click the first photo, scroll to the last photo, hold the Shift key, and click the last photo.

3. Click Download to save the photos as a ZIP file. This may take a while.

4. Open the ZIP file in your Downloads folder and extract the contents.

5. Verify that all photos downloaded successfully.

6. Important: See the next step to delete SUNY Oswego data.

Next, reduce the SUNY Oswego account storage by deleting any SUNY Oswego account data in Gmail (if needed), Drive, and Photos.

• For alumni, reducing your storage to within quota is required to maintain access to the SUNY Oswego email.
• For retirees and all other groups, reducing your storage is recommended.

Deleting Gmail Data

1. See the Google instructions for deleting Gmail messages.
2. Empty Gmail Trash & Spam.
   1. Trash and spam folders contribute to your overall storage quota. Trash will be permanently deleted after 30 days if not deleted sooner.

3. Verify that the current storage has updated within 24-48 hours to meet the storage quota limits. See the last step for an example image.

Deleting Google Photos (After Downloading)

Important: Do not delete photos from the Google Photos mobile app. Deleting photos there may also remove them from your mobile devices. Make sure the backup in the Google Photos app is turned off and shared photos are downloaded locally.

1. On a computer browser, navigate to photos.google.com.

2. Select all photos.

   • Click the first photo, scroll to the last photo, hold the Shift key, and click the last photo.

3. Select the Trash option.

4. Empty Photos Trash

5. Select all photos in Trash using the same Shift-click method.

6. Select Delete permanently.

Deleting Drive Data

1. See the Google instructions for deleting Drive data.
   1. Note that shared files do not count toward your quota. If you wish to keep a shared file or folder, make a copy or transfer ownership.
2. Empty Drive Trash.

Check your storage space for your SUNY Oswego account to make sure it meets quota requirements.

Here is an example of checking Google storage.