Exporting your data from Google Workspace lets you migrate your data to another workplace platform like Microsoft 365. Using a tool like Google Takeout ensures you don’t miss crucial files or data that could be missed in a manual transfer.
We show you how to use Google Takeout to safely export your data to your computer, Google Drive, oranother cloud storage option. You can perform this action from any device with a browser. We recommend using a desktop PC or one ofour favorite Chromebooksfor a smoother experience.
What data can Google Takeout migrate or export?
Takeout can export data from54 Google productsto another cloud storage service, such as OneDrive, Box, or Dropbox. You can also transfer your data to a new account or your Google Drive associated with your personal Gmail account if you intend to continue using Google’s services. If you’d rather download your data, archive the data into ZIP files and download them to a local device.
We show you how to use Google Takeout to migrate your data from Google Workspace.
Google Workspace has a dedicated Data Export tool similar to Google Takeout, but it can only be accessed by a super administrator. An admin typically uses it to transfer a user’s data, such as a former employee, from one account to an existing account in the same organization.
Ask your administrator if you want to export your data from Google Workspace.
How to prepare your Google Drive data for Google Workspace migration
Your Google Drive data export will likely be your biggest headache if you don’t take the time to prepare your data first. Although the original files stay in your Google Drive when you create an export, there are some things you’ll want to know before exporting.
You can skip this section if you will be exporting little or no data from Google Drive.
If you may’t take ownership of a shared file and can’t request access, keep the file by manually downloading it or exporting it in a different file format like PDF. Alternatively, make a copy of the file because you will own the copied file, and it can no longer be shared. If all else fails and it’s a document or spreadsheet, use the copy and paste function and copy it to a new Docs or Sheets file.
How to start your Google Workspace migration
Before you start, make sure Google Takeout is the right choice. If you only want to transfer or download a small amount of data from one Google app like Google Drive, considermoving your files manually. It will be easier to prevent data loss and ensure you retain options like sharing permissions and revision history.
Google Takeout is the better option to migrate Google Drive data stored in several folders or data from multiple Google products like Gmail, Google Photos, Google Chats, and Google Play Store. First, decide what data you want and the file format you want it in. Different Google-specific file types, like Google Sheets or Docs, allow you to export to another file format like Microsoft Excel and DOCX or more universal formats like PDF and CSV.
Things to know when using Google Takeout
If you only have a small amount of data or are confident your data is ready for export, skip this section. Google Takeout isn’t perfect, and we recommend reading on to ensure your data is prepared before you start the transfer. Read this section to ensure you understand how your data is exported and in what format.
Gmail labels will be lost
Labels in Gmail are not exported in a format header that other mail clients recognize. They are saved as X-Gmail-Labels headers, which can look messy even if you import your emails into a different Gmail account. If you have a lot of labels and sub-labels, consolidate them and get rid of the sub-labels. Another option is to use the Forwarding and POP/IMAP options in your Gmail Settings menu.
How to transfer emails from one Gmail account to another
Effortlessly transfer emails between Gmail accounts with POP downloads and the forward feature
Google Takeout cannot export some apps
Google Sites, Google Forms, Google Analytics, and other Google products can not be migrated using Google Takeout. For example, you must move your Google Analytics property from one account to another. Some features within Google products that Takeout supports don’t transfer, like Google Meet links, video and audio conferencing links in events, and reminders in Google Calendar. You may lose metadata for some files created with Google products.
Large exports are split into multiple ZIP files
The file size you choose for your archive export is important to understand. Exports larger than the selected file size are split into multiple files. For example, if you export 50GB of Google Drive data and select 2GB, you receive 25 ZIP files. If you have folders in Google Drive that are larger than 2GB, the files within that folder are split across multiple ZIP files, and you must piece them back together.
Select a larger file size if you have files larger than 2GB (like 4k videos, for example). Some external drives have limitations on the size of the files you’re able to transfer to them. This could be a concern if you store your data on an external drive and leave it compressed in the format you downloaded. Some older external hard drives,flash drives, andSD cardsalso have a file size limitation of 4GB when formatted in Fat32.
You’ve prepared your data for export, and you’re ready to choose where you want to send it.
The file type and file size options are limited, and you may want to use the default ZIP archive file type unless you are familiar with TGZ file archives. Additional software is required to open TGZ files on Windows computers, but larger TGZ files don’t have limitations like ZIP files.
ZIP file archives have the advantage that they can be opened on almost any computer without additional software. When you choose a file size larger than 2GB, it is compressed using zip64, which may not work with older operating systems. Some third-party apps can uncompress them, but those aren’t built into the operating system.
A data migration solution for small businesses (and big ones, too)
As long as you prepare before starting your export, you’ll be glad Google Takeout is straightforward. While downloading or transferring your data is easy, the hard part is putting it back together.
Now that your export is sorted, check that your personal data is secure byregularly backing up your Google account data.
