Are you seeing Google Drive warnings?

Are you seeing a scary WILL BE DELETED warning in Google Drive?

A screenshot with a red button that says will be deleted and a description explaining that the owner is no longer affiliated with the university

The owner of this file has left the university. Their account and contents they own have been scheduled to be deleted. The deletion will generally occur six months after their final separation/departure date, often referred to as the expiration date. You may have thought you owned this content, but Google permissions are not intuitive. If you are seeing this message, you do not own the file, and you should take action if the file needs to be retained.

No content will be deleted prior to September 2024.

Are you seeing an Alumni owned warning in Google Drive? 

Google Drive label for Alumni owned content

The owner of this file is an Alumni who may or may not have renewed their berkeley.edu Google account. This content may become at risk for being deleted. If you are seeing this message, you do not own the file, and you should take action if you want to ensure your continued access to the file. Generally it would be a best practice to have all collaborate content in a Shared Drive where alumni could edit the content, but it would be owned by your department, unit, or project. Read more about collaboration best practices. 

How to search for content scheduled for deletion or that is owned by alumni

You can find videos and other resources explaining how to search for content on our video tutorials page.

How to retain control of this content

  • You can make a copy of the item

    • Before you make a copy, coordinate with others with whom the file was shared so that only one copy is made rather than several. This will prevent version confusion. You can check who the file is shared with by clicking the Share button at the top right corner of your screen; this will reveal everybody who has access to the file and what their share permissions are. 

Share Button

  • However, best practice is to move the file to a shared drive so that it remains available even if someone leaves the university.

  • If content is research data sets, backups, or archives, it should be removed from Google altogether. Please visit our alternative storage solutions page for destination suggestions.

Topics