How to Transfer Ownership in Google Drive (2026 Guide)
Transferring ownership in Google Drive matters when someone leaves the company, when a project changes hands, or when a file is eating into your storage quota. The mechanism depends on whether the file is in My Drive (per-file transfer) or a shared drive (membership-based ownership), and on whether you’re a regular user or a Google Workspace admin. Here’s the full picture.
1. Transfer a Single File or Folder
The standard ownership transfer flow lives inside the same Share dialog you use for permissions.
- Open drive.google.com and find the file.
- Right-click and select Share > Share.
- Under People with access, make sure the future owner is already listed. If not, add their email and set them as Editor first, then click Send or Save.
- Re-open the Share dialog if it closed.
- Click the role dropdown next to the future owner.
- Select Transfer ownership.
- A confirmation appears, click Send invitation.
The new owner gets an email asking them to accept ownership. They have seven days to accept; after that, the invitation expires and you’ll have to start over. Until they accept, you remain the owner.
Once they accept
- You’re automatically downgraded to Editor.
- The new owner can change your access (or remove you entirely).
- The file no longer counts against your storage quota, it counts against theirs.
- Any existing share permissions stay in place; the only thing that changes is the owner role.
Same-domain restriction (Workspace)
If you’re on a Google Workspace account, you can only transfer ownership to someone in the same organization. The dropdown won’t even show Transfer ownership for external collaborators.
For personal Google accounts, you can transfer ownership to any other personal Google account, but you cannot transfer from a personal account to a work or school account.
2. Transfer Files in Bulk
There’s no native multi-select Transfer ownership action, you have to do it per file. For a handful, that’s tolerable. For dozens or hundreds, use one of these approaches.
Move into a shared drive (recommended)
If both you and the future owner have access to a shared drive, this is the cleanest path:
- Open the source folder in My Drive.
- Select all the files you want to hand off (Cmd+A or Ctrl+A).
- Drag them into the destination shared drive in the left sidebar.
- Confirm the move when Drive prompts you.
Files in a shared drive are owned by the shared drive itself, not any individual. Members with Manager or Content manager roles can manage everything inside it. There’s no per-file ownership transfer to worry about.
Workspace admin transfer (when someone leaves)
Workspace administrators can hand off all of a user’s Drive content in one step.
- Sign in to admin.google.com.
- Go to Directory > Users.
- Hover over the user whose files you want to transfer and click More options > Transfer data.
- Enter the email of the new owner.
- Set Application to Drive.
- Click Transfer files.
All files owned by the original user move to the new owner’s My Drive, inside a new folder named after the original user. Existing share permissions are preserved. Use this when an employee leaves, it’s the fastest way to retain their work without keeping the user account active.
Tip: Run the transfer before deleting the user account. Files in the user’s Trash are not transferred, so empty Trash beforehand if there’s anything in there worth keeping.
3. Shared Drives, No Ownership Transfer Needed
Shared drives work differently from My Drive. Files in a shared drive are owned by the drive itself, not a person. There is no “transfer ownership” step for individual files in a shared drive.
To change who controls a shared drive:
- Open the shared drive from the left sidebar.
- Click the drive name at the top, then Manage members.
- To grant control: add a person and set their role to Manager.
- To remove control: change an existing member’s role from Manager to a lower role, or remove them entirely.
Roles in a shared drive:
| Role | Can do |
|---|---|
| Manager | Everything, including managing members and deleting the shared drive |
| Content manager | Add, edit, move, and delete files; cannot manage members |
| Contributor | Add and edit files; cannot move or delete |
| Commenter | Comment on files only |
| Viewer | View only |
If a project changes hands, add the new lead as Manager and (if needed) demote or remove the previous lead. No file-level transfer required.
4. What Happens to Forms, Apps Script, and Add-ons
Google Drive ownership transfer covers the file itself, but a few attached objects deserve attention.
- Google Forms: When you transfer ownership of a Form, the new owner receives all responses going forward. Existing responses stay tied to the Form and are accessible to the new owner.
- Apps Script projects: Standalone scripts and bound scripts (attached to a Doc, Sheet, or Slide) transfer with the parent file. However, triggers (time-based or event-based) are owned by whoever set them up, they may continue running under the original creator’s account until that account is suspended, and may stop running afterward.
- Add-ons published from a script: These remain owned by the original publishing account, regardless of file transfer. If an employee leaves, plan to either re-publish the add-on from a service account or have the new owner re-create it.
- Linked Sheets in Looker Studio, AppSheet, etc.: Permissions to the underlying Sheet transfer cleanly, but any service account credentials or OAuth grants tied to the original user need to be re-issued.
If you’re transferring a critical workflow, audit the Apps Script triggers (open the script, go to Triggers in the left sidebar) and re-create them under the new owner’s account.
Quick Reference
| Scenario | Method | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| One file, both people in same org | Share > Transfer ownership | Recipient must accept within 7 days |
| One file, personal Google accounts | Share > Transfer ownership | Cannot transfer to a Workspace account |
| Many files, same project | Move files into a shared drive | No per-file transfer needed |
| Employee leaving | Admin console > Transfer data | Run before deleting the account |
| Project lead change in shared drive | Manage members > set new Manager | No ownership transfer at all |
| Files in Trash | Restore first, then transfer | Trash items are not transferred |
Which Method Should You Use?
- Single file handoff? Use the Share dialog > Transfer ownership. It’s the fastest path when one person is taking over one document.
- Whole project moving to a team? Move the files into a shared drive instead. You skip the per-file transfer dance and avoid future ownership headaches.
- Employee leaving the company? Use the Admin console > Transfer data to move everything they own at once, before deactivating the account.
- Shared drive lead change? Don’t transfer files at all, just adjust the Manager roles in Manage members.
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More on Google Drive: How to share a folder in Google Drive · How to organize Google Drive · How to recover deleted files in Google Drive · How to add Google Calendar to Outlook
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