Transfer folder/file ownership with ease

📌 Important notes on Sharing settings and File Restrictions

If you have read-access to files or folders, but the file owner restricted their Sharing Settings - preventing you from copying them, then Folgo won’t be able to copy or duplicate them either. The accompanying Process report will indicate whether or not Folgo was able to copy each of your files.

To remedy this, ask the folder/files owner to change the Sharing Settings. Learn more about this in Google’s article on how to Stop, limit, or change sharing.

💡 Tip: For Personal Google Account users (between Gmail accounts), it's recommended to use our copy feature instead of the transfer feature.

ℹ️ The transfer ownership process is best suited for Google Workspace users within the same domain.

Reminders about File Ownership in Google Drive

By default, you own any file that you create in (or upload to) Google Drive. 

📌 There are important considerations that you need to factor in if you're using a Personal Google/Gmail Account

Steps for the Current Folder Owner
(for Gmail & Workspace accounts)

Before you transfer ownership

Google Drive doesn't have the capability to transfer all of your files in a folder - this is where Folgo comes in. 

💡 Tip: If you transfer ownership of a lot of files and folders at once, it may take some time for you to see the changes.  Learn more.

⚠️ Important

1. Initialize the transfer feature

Once Folgo is open > click Transfer / Request Folder owership.

2. Select the Transfer folder

You will see a prompt saying 👈 Select a folder to transfer.

The 👈pointing finger prompts you to choose a source folder within Google Drive (and not in the Folgo sidebar).

ℹ️ Folgo will behave like a file picker at this point.

Navigate/locate and select your transfer folder.

Once selected, the Folgo UI will update and display your chosen transfer folder.

3. Enter the recipient's email address

In the New owner email field, enter the transfer recipient's email address. 

⚠️ Note: Transfer ownership is only possible between: 


That is: Transfers are not possible

Learn about our alternative solution: Move to Shared Drive.
Move to Shared Drive New is a great way for teams (internal & external) to move or transfer files in Google Drive.

4. Supplementary file management options

In this example, we'll leave the current selection (as is) to Folders & Files.  

ℹ️ By default, Folgo selects the Folders & files option.  Depending on your needs, choose: 

◯ Folders only - if you want to transfer only folders. 

◯ Files only - if you want to transfer only files. 

◯ Folders & Files - if you want to transfer both folders and files.

5. Activate the transfer process.

Click the TRANSFER button to initialize the transfer process. 

ℹ️ Once the transfer process is started, you can opt to close Folgo, Google Drive, your browser, or your computer.

This is possible (and safe) because Folgo will process everything using Google servers (operating behind the scenes).

6. Finishing touches

Now that the transfer process is initialized, the Folgo UI will display: 


7. Transfer request complete

Once the transfer request is finished, the Folgo UI will: 

☝️ To see this prompt in the Folgo UI, click the Refresh button when the entire process is done. 


📌️ The transfer process is handled differently between a Personal Gmail or Workspace account. 



Want to get more out of Google Drive for work or school?  Sign up for a Google Workspace trial at no charge. 

After you transfer ownership (between 2 personal Gmail accounts)

When you send an ownership transfer request: 

Learn more.

Steps for the Pending Owner
(between 2 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. Invitation to own emails will be sent to you

ℹ️️ 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: 

or

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:

A. Pending ownership alert telling you: 


B. All the files with pending ownership. 

4. Accept or Decline ownership

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

But in our example, we will accept the ownership. To do this, click: 

a. The Accept ownership? button.

b. Accept.
(Your status will change from Editor to Owner.)

c. Done.


Once you accept transfer ownership

Learn more.

Supported file types in transfers

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 (as clearly demonstrated in our example above).