Restoring Access to Google Drive files/folders for Departed Employees
If a person leaves the UW, their NetID is deactivated following the last pay period after their final day. At that time, the services attached to that NetID will be deleted, including files/folders owned by them individual using Google.
- The owner of those files needs to contact the UW IT help center at help@uw.edu and request that their account be renewed.
- Once the account has been renewed, all files owned by the account and shared will become visible again. This page explains how to preserve those files: https://itconnect.uw.edu/tools-services-support/software-computers/productivity-platforms/google-productivity-platform/google-drive/file-ownership/
- If ownership will be changed by the original file owner, they will need to keep in mind that all files within a folder also need their ownership changed. Changing the owner of a folder only changes ownership of the folder, not the files within.
To Prevent Deletion of Files in Google Drive
Files stored in
Google Shared Drives are not removed when the employee's NetID expires, as long as the Shared Drive has a manager with an active staff or faculty affiliation with the UW. We recommend using Shared Drives for most files storage needs when using Google Services, unless the files are only for the personal use of the employee and do not need to be shared or collaborated on.
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