Using Google Takeout to export your data

Contents

• Introduction
• Before you begin
• Export your data
• Delete the data from your Google Account
• Getting Help

Introduction

Exporting your data with Google Takeout allows you to transfer your data to another storage location. Exporting your data will not automatically remove the data from your account. To reduce your storage usage, you must delete it from Google Workspace after the data has been safely moved to another location. 

Before you begin

• Consider the format of your exported files. Formatting of Google native files such as Docs or Sheets will be changed due to the export process. Some examples of these export changes are altered formula operations in exported Sheets documents, and changes in font and formatting for exported Google Docs. UDIT recommends that exported files be reviewed to confirm the files were converted correctly.
• Consider what data to migrate. If you only need to export some of your My Drive data, you must move the files that will be exported into a folder prior to export.
• Consider migrating data from Google applications (i.e. Photos, Drive, Gmail) individually as this has a higher success rate. This can be configured in step 2.
• Only data stored in "My Drive" can be exported. Data in "Shared drives" and "Shared with me" cannot be exported.
• Consider where you will store your exported data. The destination must have enough space to store the exported data.
• Do not move your UD Google data to your UD M365 account to resolve Google quota issues. 
• If you download your data to a UD-owned system, do not expand the contents of zip files to your my documents or desktop folders, as doing so may inadvertently move the data to your M365 account.
• Only personal, non-UD data should be moved to non-UD accounts.

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Export your data

1. Go to the Google Takeout page.
2. Select data to include in the export. All Google services are automatically selected. To select individual services, click Deselect all, and check the boxes next to the Google services that you want to include in your download archive.

• To export only a specific folder(s) within Drive, go to the Drive section and click the All Drive Data included option. Uncheck the Include all files and folders in Drive box, and check the boxes for the folders you want to export.

• Select the folders you wish to export and click OK.

   

• You can choose the output for Google native files by selecting the Multiple formats option. You may need to change the output depending on the programs you'll use to open your files.

        

3. Click Next step.
4. Select the transfer destination:

Option A: You can choose to receive a download link via email.

Option B: You can choose to add your archive to Google Drive, Dropbox, or Microsoft OneDrive.

• We recommend that you choose to receive a download link via email so that you can download the exported files.
• If you choose to add your archive to Google Drive, Dropbox, Box or OneDrive, verify that you are transferring personal data, and choose a non-UD account. The OneDrive option only allows transfer to a personal Microsoft account, not your institutional OneDrive account. 
• For the purpose of export, selecting a frequency of Export Once is sufficient.

5. If you chose to "send download link via email", click Create export. If you chose transfer to an external service, click Link accounts and create export. Follow the secondary services log in prompts.       
6. Wait for an email from Google that confirms your data is ready to download, or that it has been transferred to the destination. This may take some time depending on the size and number of files. The Takeout service is run by Google, and the University of Delaware cannot view progress or increase the output speed of the download/transfer.
7. Follow the link in the email to download or view your data. If you selected an external service, the output ZIP files will be created in the external service.

For additional information, visit How to download your Google data.

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Delete the data from your Google account

After you have verified that your Google data has been safely transferred to another location, you can proceed with deleting the data from your UD Google account.

Getting Help

UDIT does not assist with importing Google data to external accounts. If you would like to do so, refer to the external vendor’s documentation. If you have questions about using the Google Takeout Service, contact askit@udel.edu. 

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