Overview
Google Takeout is a tool developed by Google that allows you to export and download a copy of your Google Account content to use it with a personal Google account or another service outside of Google. You can store the data locally on your computer or use the data with another third-party cloud storage service. This article will review how to prepare and use the tool. This article will also review how to download and delete any files in your SUNY Oswego Google Workspace account.
Available to new alumni. This tool is also available for accounts that were recently suspended and have already been granted temporary access by CTS. Retirees can fill out this form to enable the Google Takeout Service for Retirees.
Important Considerations
- Internet Connection: Downloading large ZIP files can be time-consuming and bandwidth-intensive. Ensure you have a stable and reasonably fast internet connection.
- Storage Space: Make sure you have enough free storage space on your device to accommodate the downloaded ZIP files and the extracted data. Consider that the file size may not be uploaded to another Gmail account unless you have enough space. Check your storage space in your personal Google account you wish to upload to at drive.google.com/settings/storage.
- Potential for Many Files: A very large export might result in a significant number of ZIP files to download and manage. It might work best to download less files rather than all at once.
- Important: Your data export file may not include certain data types and changes made to your data between when you request an export and when it is ready to download/view. Learn more about what data may not be included.
Suspended Alumni Account Restoration
Suspended alumni may recover their email access and temporarily access Google data for download or transfer to a personal Gmail account.
- Submit the Alumni Recovery Form by June 1 if you missed the last renewal form.
- If you missed a previous renewal form, contact the alumni office to recreate your email on a later date.
- Follow the outlined procedures to update your password appropriately through Account Tools.
- Lost the temporary password?
- First, see if you have already made a copy to your clipboard or have the tab still open in your browser.
- If you lost the last form page and do not have the temporary password saved, reset your password.
- If you filled out the Alumni Data Recovery Form, a temporary password is sent to your personal email provided. Check your spam email folder.
- Recent Graduates: If you have access to your Google data, such as Google Photos or Drive, proceed with this article for further instructions. You may access your Google data for transfer or download for a limited time.
Alumni Note
Please note that Alumni have specific quota requirements, which are available on the Alumni Account FAQs. Failure to mitigate the quota appropriately may result in loss of email account access. Storage in Google Drive, Photos, and Sites has been discontinued. Alumni can review the "Storage Quotas" section of the Alumni Account FAQs for more information.
Note for Alumni: Be sure your Google Photos data is transferred promptly and then deleted, and that your Gmail is under the 15 GB quota to avoid account suspension.
Instructions
1. Check Your Google Quota
- 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.
- 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. Personal files should be downloaded/removed. Shared Drives can be accessed at drive.google.com.
- Expand the “Shared drives” item in the left sidebar.
- Select the Shared Drive you’re interested in.
- Then choose the three dots to the right or the drop-down arrow if the Shared Drive is open.
- Select "Manage Members" if you have manager access.
- Shared Drive access should be transferred to the new managers. You can remove access for yourself after assigning a manager(s).
- Shared Drive managers can remove access to ex-employees.
- 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.
2b. Google Data Takeout
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:
- Organize your Gmail data into separate labels so that institutional data is not downloaded. Apply personal data to a label.
- Navigate to Google Takeout on a computer browser.
- 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.
- Verify file types by selecting the Multiple Formats option on each Google service with the available option.
- Select Next Step
- 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.
- Select Export Once for the frequency.
- Click Create export.
- 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.
- From the email, click each ZIP file link to download.
- In your computer's download folder, right-click on each ZIP folder to Extract.
- Verify the files are working as expected. You may choose to upload those files to your personal accounts.
- Once you have verified the files are working as expected, you may choose to delete the ZIP files (optional).
- Continue to the last step, "Delete SUNY Oswego Data".
3. Google Photos Download
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.
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If you use the Google Photos app, start with Step 1.
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If you have not signed into your SUNY Oswego account on your mobile device before, skip to Step 2.
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If you are ready to delete your photos, skip to Delete SUNY Oswego Data.
Using the Google Photos App (Mobile Devices)
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Open the Google Photos app if your mobile device has a backup of your photos.
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Select the profile icon in the upper-right corner and verify that the SUNY Oswego account is selected.
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Select the profile icon again.
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Scroll down and select Photos settings.
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Ensure that Backup is turned off.
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Select the back arrow in the upper-left corner to exit settings.
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You may still see photos with a cloud icon and check mark. These photos are still stored in the Google Photos cloud storage.
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Verify that any photos you want to keep are saved elsewhere, such as on your phone or computer.
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Important: Continue to the next step to delete SUNY Oswego data.
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.
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Sign in to photos.google.com using your SUNY Oswego account.
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Select the photos you want to download.
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Select all (computer browser): Click the first photo, scroll to the last photo, hold the Shift key, and click the last photo.
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Click Download to save the photos as a ZIP file.
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Open the ZIP file in your Downloads folder and extract the contents.
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Verify that all photos downloaded successfully.
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Important: See the next step to delete SUNY Oswego data.
4. Delete SUNY Oswego Data
Next, reduce the SUNY Oswego account storage by deleting any SUNY Oswego account data in Gmail, Drive, Photos, and Sites, etc.
- 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
- See the Google instructions for deleting Gmail messages.
- Empty Gmail Trash & Spam.
- Trash and spam folders contribute to your overall storage quota. Trash will be permanently deleted after 30 days.
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Verify that the current storage has updated within 24-48 hours to meet the storage quota limits. Below is an example of checking your Google Storage.
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.
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On a computer browser, navigate to photos.google.com.
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Select all photos.
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Select the Trash option.
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Empty Photos Trash
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Select all photos in Trash using the same Shift-click method.
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Select Delete permanently.
Deleting Drive Data
- See the Google instructions for deleting Drive data.
- 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.
- Empty Drive Trash.
Where can I get more information?
The following resources are available for more information:
Check out related Google resources:
Need Help?
Need additional information or assistance? Contact CTS.