How to Transfer Ownership of a Google Drive Folder Outside Your Organization

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You can’t directly transfer ownership of a Google Drive folder from a work or school account to someone outside your organization. Google’s rule is that work and school accounts can only transfer ownership to people in the same organization, and that also applies to admins. The practical fix is to give the other person their own copy: share the folder so they can make copies, move the content through a shared drive if your admin allows it, or download it and have them upload it to their account.

If both accounts are personal Google Accounts (for example, two gmail.com addresses), you can send an ownership transfer invitation instead. This guide covers both cases, explains what each option keeps and loses, and helps you pick the right one.

Quick Answer

  1. Check the account type. A work or school account can only transfer ownership inside its own organization.
  2. Personal account to personal account: share the folder, then use Share > down arrow next to the person’s name > Transfer ownership for the folder and each file.
  3. Work or school account to an outside account: share the files, and have the recipient use Make a copy in their own Drive.
  4. For many files, download the folder and have the recipient upload it with New > Folder upload.
  5. For a large export, use Google Takeout, or the school transfer tool if your school turned it on.
  6. Ask your admin before moving organization data outside the company or school.

In This Guide

Before You Start: Why the Transfer Is Blocked

This guide applies to Google Drive on the web as of September 2026. Ownership changes must be done at drive.google.com on a computer; Google says you can’t change a file’s owner from the Android app.

In Drive, the owner of a file controls who can access it, and the file counts against the owner’s storage. An organization is a company, school, or other group that runs its own Google Workspace. A work or school account belongs to that organization, and so does the data in it.

Google’s help page on making someone else the owner of a file sets these rules:

  • With a work or school account, you can only transfer ownership of files and folders to someone in your organization.
  • You can’t transfer ownership from a personal account to a work or school account.
  • You can only transfer ownership to someone you’ve already shared the file or folder with.
  • When you make someone else the owner of a folder, you still own the files inside it.

That last point matters for everyone. Transferring a folder hands over the container, not its contents, so each file needs its own transfer or copy.

Check your data policy first

If the folder belongs to an employer or school, get permission before copying it to an outside account. Many organizations restrict external sharing or downloads, and some treat moving data out as a policy violation. Your admin can tell you which options are allowed.

Personal Accounts: Send an Ownership Transfer

Use this method when both you and the recipient use personal Google Accounts. The recipient must accept, and until they do, you stay the owner.

  1. On a computer, go to drive.google.com and find the folder.
  2. If you haven’t already, share the folder with the recipient: right-click it, select Share > Share, add their email address, and send. Expected result: they appear in the list of people with access.
  3. Right-click the folder again and select Share > Share.
  4. Next to the recipient’s name, select the down arrow and choose Transfer ownership, then confirm by sending the invitation. Expected result: the person is listed as a pending owner and gets an email. Google upgrades a pending owner to Editor if they weren’t one already.
  5. Open the folder and repeat steps 3 and 4 for each file inside, since the files stay yours otherwise. For Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Vids files, you can also open the file and select Share at the top right.
  6. Ask the recipient to accept. They can search Drive for pendingowner:me, right-click each item, select Share, and choose Accept. Expected result: they become the owner and you become an Editor, which the new owner can remove.

Changed your mind before they accept? Open the sharing settings, select the down arrow next to their name, and choose Cancel ownership transfer. After a transfer completes, the file no longer counts against your storage. If you want to tidy up afterward, see our guide on emptying Google Drive to free up space.

Warning: if the recipient’s personal account becomes a work or school account before they accept, Google says they can’t accept the request.

Outside Your Organization: Let the Recipient Make Copies

This is the simplest route from a work or school account to an outside account. The recipient ends up owning brand-new copies in their own Drive, while the originals stay with your organization.

On your work or school account

  1. Right-click the folder and select Share > Share.
  2. Add the recipient’s email address. If you see a warning that the person is outside your organization, read it carefully; your admin may block external sharing entirely.
  3. Give them at least Viewer access and select Send. Make sure copying and downloading aren’t disabled for viewers, or they won’t be able to copy the files.

On the recipient’s account

  1. Open the shared folder from Shared with me.
  2. Create a new folder in My Drive to hold the copies.
  3. Open the shared folder, select the files (click the first, then Shift-click the last), right-click, and choose Make a copy. Expected result: copies named “Copy of …” appear, owned by the recipient.
  4. Move the copies into the new folder and rename them if you like. Our guide to moving a document to a folder in Google Drive covers this step.
  5. Repeat for each subfolder, recreating the folder structure as you go.

Copies don’t bring along the original’s sharing settings, and details such as version history may not carry over. If the folder has many subfolders, the download method below is usually faster.

Download the Folder and Re-Upload It

This works between any two accounts, as long as your organization allows downloads. It keeps the folder structure but creates new files, so comments, version history, and sharing don’t come across the same way.

  1. In the source account, right-click the folder and choose Download. Drive packages the folder, typically as one or more ZIP files. Large folders can take a while to prepare.
  2. Save the ZIP files to your computer and extract them.
  3. Note what happens to Google files: Docs, Sheets, and Slides are converted to formats such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint when you download them.
  4. Sign in to the destination account at drive.google.com.
  5. Select New > Folder upload and choose the extracted folder, or drag it into the Drive window. Expected result: the folder and its files appear, owned by the destination account.
  6. Optional: to turn uploaded Office files back into Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, turn on the convert uploads option in Drive settings before uploading. Google says this setting can only be changed on a computer.

For very big folders, our guide to downloading large files from Google Drive has tips for avoiding failed downloads. If you can’t download at all, the file owner or admin may have disabled downloading, printing, and copying for viewers.

Use a Shared Drive

A shared drive is a Workspace storage space owned by the organization rather than by one person. Google explains that when you move a file you created into a shared drive, the shared drive becomes its owner. That solves the “files are stuck in one person’s account” problem inside an organization, such as when an employee leaves.

Moving content out of a shared drive has its own rules, listed in Google’s guide to moving files and folders into shared drives:

  • You need at least Contributor access to move your files from My Drive into a shared drive.
  • Only people with Manager access can move files or folders out of a shared drive.
  • If the shared drive blocks viewers from downloading, printing, and copying, that restriction stays on files moved out.
  • External members can be added only if your organization allows it, and people whose Workspace edition doesn’t include shared drives get Viewer access.

Some organizations let an outside person with Manager access move content from a shared drive into their own Drive, which effectively hands them the files. Whether this works depends on your admin’s sharing and move settings, so treat it as an option to ask your admin about, not a guaranteed method.

Google Takeout and the School Transfer Tool

Google Takeout

Google Takeout exports copies of your data as downloadable archives. It’s handy when you need everything, not just one folder. Google’s Takeout help page describes the steps:

  1. Go to takeout.google.com while signed in to the source account.
  2. Deselect the products you don’t need and keep Drive selected.
  3. Choose a delivery method, a file type (Zip or Tgz), and an archive size.
  4. Select Create export. Exports take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days.
  5. Download the archive, which expires in about 7 days and can be downloaded 5 times, and upload what you need to the other account.

Workspace admins can control whether users may use Takeout, so it may be unavailable on a work account.

Copy content from a school account

If you’re leaving a school, check takeout.google.com/transfer from your school account. Google’s school content transfer page says this tool copies Drive files you own, plus Gmail, to another Google Account, but only if your school turned the feature on. You enter the destination address, verify it with a code, and select Start transfer. It usually finishes within a few hours but can take up to a week, and revision history isn’t copied.

What Admins Can and Can’t Do

Workspace admins can transfer all of one user’s Drive files to another user in the Admin console under Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Transfer ownership. Google’s admin guide is clear that both users must be in the organization, so this tool can’t send files to a personal account or another company either. Items in Trash aren’t transferred, and a large transfer can take up to 36 hours.

You may also see third-party migration apps that claim to move files between organizations. They typically copy data rather than change the owner, and they need broad access to your Drive. Only use one your admin has approved.

Which Option Should You Use?

Situation Best option Trade-off
Personal account to personal account Transfer ownership invitation Each file inside the folder needs its own transfer
Work account to a coworker Transfer ownership, or a shared drive Must be in the same organization
Work or school account to an outside account, few files Recipient makes copies Sharing and history don’t carry over
Work or school account to an outside account, many files Download and re-upload Google files are converted on download
Leaving a school School transfer tool, if enabled Only files you own; up to a week
Everything in an account Google Takeout Archives expire; admin may block
Keep files owned by a team Shared drive Stays owned by the organization

Troubleshooting

I don’t see Transfer ownership

You’re probably using a work or school account with an outside recipient, or you haven’t shared the item with that person yet. Share it first, and remember cross-organization transfers aren’t supported. Also make sure you’re on drive.google.com on a computer.

The recipient can’t accept the transfer

Ask them to search Drive for pendingowner:me. If their personal account has since become a work or school account, Google says they can’t accept; use copies or download and re-upload instead.

The folder transferred, but the files didn’t

That’s expected. Folder ownership doesn’t include the files inside, so transfer or copy each file too.

Make a copy or Download is missing

The owner or admin may have disabled downloading, printing, and copying for viewers and commenters. Ask for Editor access, or ask the owner to change that setting.

I can’t share with someone outside my organization

Your admin has likely blocked external sharing. Ask the admin for an approved way to hand over the files.

Uploaded files look different

Downloaded Google files become Office files. Open them in Drive and use the convert option, or turn on upload conversion in settings before re-uploading.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I transfer ownership of a Google Drive folder to someone outside my organization?

Not from a work or school account. Google only allows those accounts to transfer ownership within the organization, so use copies, download and re-upload, or another option above.

Does transferring a folder transfer the files inside?

No. Google says you still own the files inside a folder after transferring the folder, so each file needs its own transfer.

Can I transfer ownership from my Gmail account to my work account?

No. Google doesn’t allow transfers from a personal account to a work or school account. Share the files and make copies in the work account instead, if your employer allows it.

Can I transfer ownership on my phone?

Google says you can’t change a file’s owner in the Android app. Use drive.google.com on a computer.

Can my admin move my files to my personal account?

No. The admin ownership transfer tool only works between users in the same organization.

Will the original owner still have access?

After a personal ownership transfer, the previous owner becomes an Editor until the new owner removes them. With copies, the original files stay where they were.

Summary

  1. Work and school accounts can only transfer ownership inside their organization.
  2. Between personal accounts, share the folder and send a transfer ownership invitation for the folder and each file.
  3. To an outside account, have the recipient make copies, or download the folder and re-upload it.
  4. Shared drives keep files owned by the organization; moving content out needs Manager access and admin approval.
  5. Use Google Takeout or the school transfer tool for large exports.
  6. Check your organization’s data policy before moving anything out.

Next step: open the folder at drive.google.com, check whether your account is personal or work, and pick the matching option from the table above.

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