Transfer File/Folder Ownership With Ease

Folgo helps you transfer ownership of multiple Google Drive files and folders at once. This is useful when content needs to move from one account to another, for example after an employee leaves, when reorganizing Drive ownership, or when handing over project files.

Before starting, make sure the transfer is possible for your account type.

Important notes before starting

Best for Google Workspace accounts: This feature is best suited for transfers between Google Workspace accounts, especially within the same organization.
Personal Gmail accounts have limits: You can invite another personal Google account to become the owner, but the new owner must accept the request before the transfer is complete.
Copy may be better for Gmail users: If you are using personal Google accounts, Folgo’s copy feature may be a simpler alternative.
Gmail and Workspace transfers are restricted: You cannot transfer ownership from a personal Gmail account to a work or school account, or the other way around.
Shared Drives can be another option: For team-based ownership and long-term access management, moving content to a Shared Drive may be more suitable.
Pending requests can be canceled or declined: The current owner can cancel a pending transfer request, and the pending owner can decline it.
Restricted files may fail: If the file owner has restricted sharing or copying, Folgo may not be able to transfer or duplicate those files. The process report will show which items were processed successfully. To resolve this, ask the owner to update the sharing settings. Learn more in this article.

Transfer ownership with Folgo

1. Open Folgo in Google Drive

Open Google Drive, then click the Folgo icon in the right-hand sidebar. And select "Transfer / Request ownership" from the Folgo menu, and then "Transfer ownership".

2. Select the files or folders to transfer

Folgo will ask you to select the content you want to transfer. Click the files or folders directly in Google Drive, Folgo will detect your selection automatically.

You can select one item or multiple files and folders at once.

3. Additionnal options

Depending on your needs, select one of the following options:

Folders only: Transfer only the folders.
Files only: Transfer only the files.
Folders & files: Transfer both folders and files.

4. Enter the recipient's email address

Enter the Google account that should become the new owner. Make sure the email address is correct before continuing.

Reminder: Transfer ownership is only possible between:

(Personal) Gmail to another (Personal) Gmail account
Google Workspace to another Google Workspace account
Transfers are not possible from (Personal) Gmail to Google Workspace accounts or vice versa.

5. Activate the transfer process.

Click Transfer to start the process.

Folgo will process the ownership transfer in the background. You can close Folgo, Google Drive, your browser, or your computer once the process has started. Processing time depends on the number of files and folders selected.

While the transfer is in progress, the Folgo interface will show:

Transfer folder (A): open the folder containing the transferred content.
Process report (B): review the transfer details and check whether any items failed.
Job progress (C): see the number of folders and files being transferred.
Refresh (D): update the interface to check the latest progress.

6. Review the process report

When the process is complete, Folgo will send you an email notification with a summary and a link to the process report. Once the transfer request is finished, the Folgo will .Display the total number of folder(s) and files.

You can open "Transfer folder" to access the transferred content or "Process report" spreadsheet to review the transfer details and check whether any items failed.

Information:

Between 2 personal Gmail accounts: When you open the Process report, you will see that the status is set to PENDING USER OWNERSHIP ACCEPTANCE. It means the new owner needs to accept the file transfer request.
Between 2 Google Workspace accounts: There will be no Pending status for Workspace users since the files are automatically transferred to the New Owner. You will only receive an email notification titled "You're now the owner of <TRANSFERRED FOLDER>".

For transfers between two personal Gmail accounts, when you send an ownership transfer request:

The pending owner is notified by email that if they accept the transfer request, they become the file owner. Until then, you remain the owner.
The pending owner is upgraded to an Editor, unless they’re already an Editor.
If the pending owner accepts, you’re downgraded to Editor. The new owner can remove you.
If the pending owner declines, you remain the owner.

Steps for the pending owner

Info: Follow these steps if you are the pending owner in an ownership transfer between two personal Gmail accounts.

You will get an email when someone requests a file transfer. You can accept or decline the invitation. You can also search in Drive for files pending a response to an ownership transfer request.

1. Receive the ownership invitation

In Google's effort to protect Personal Google Account (Gmail) users, the Pending Owner (recipient) must explicitly accept all folders/files that were transferred to them.

These files/folders will be sent as individual emails titled Invitation to own: "<FOLDER / FILE NAME>"), allowing the recipient to open the folder and files to accept the transfer ownership.

Tip: You don't need to open each invitation to accept or decline them. We will show you a simpler way to do this efficiently later on.

Here's a sample invitation to own email:

2. Display the transfer files in Google Drive

Enter or type this query in Google Drive's search bar:

pendingowner:me

from xxxxx pendingowner:me

Where xxxxx is the email address of the current owner.

All files/folders with pending ownership will be displayed.

3. Click the "Share" button

To start accepting or declining the files with pending ownership, click the "Share" button (C). You will also see:

Pending ownership alert (A): Shows how many ownership requests are pending and reminds you to select the files before clicking "Share".
Files with pending ownership (B): Displays all files waiting for your ownership decision.

4. Accept or decline ownership

At this step, you can either accept or decline the ownership transfer.

In this example, we’ll accept the request:

Click Accept ownership?
Click Accept to confirm.
Your status will change from Editor to Owner.
Click Done.

Once you accept transfer ownership:

You are now upgraded as the Owner.
The previous owner is down graded to Editor.
You can remove the previous owner.

Information: Personal Google Account (Gmail) users were previously only allowed to transfer Google-native files (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Maps, Sites, and Folders). But that restriction has been lifted and it's now possible to transfer any and all file types!