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Use cases → Documents and Drive

Bulk migrate Drive files between Workspace users

Reassign ownership and transfer content at scale across user accounts using a delegated service account.

Who it is forIT admins handling leavers, mergers, or department restructures.
APIsDrive API
Typical scopesdrive

The problem

Manual migration doesn't scale: content is missed, permissions break, and shared drives add complexity. Automation is required to ensure nothing is left behind when users leave or teams change.

How it works

  1. List all files owned by the source user using the Drive API with impersonation.
  2. For My Drive files, use the 'files.update' endpoint to transfer ownership to the target user.
  3. For content in shared drives, update membership or move files if the target user has access.
  4. Move or copy any orphaned files and adjust permissions as needed.
  5. Log each action, tracking files that fail to transfer for manual review.

What changes

User data is moved comprehensively, with clear logs of what was and was not transferred, reducing manual intervention and lost documents.

The trap in this one. Drive API’s ownership transfer is not immediate: after a call to 'files.update', it can take several minutes for the new owner to see the file in their My Drive. If you script follow-up moves or permission changes too soon, they silently fail or target the wrong user. This lag is not documented and only shows up at scale, leading to inconsistent migrations unless you build in explicit retries and verification.

Watch it explained

“Google Workspace | Use the transfer tool for unmanaged users | Google Workspace Admin Training” — The Cloud Nerd on YouTube. Third-party video, included because it covers this ground well. We are not affiliated with the channel.

Questions people ask

Does this work for both My Drive and shared drives?

Yes, but the mechanisms differ. My Drive files can be reassigned; shared drive content typically requires changing membership or moving files, subject to drive permissions.

What happens to file sharing permissions?

File-level sharing is preserved, but folder-level sharing may need to be rebuilt if the folder moves or is recreated under a new user.

Want this built?

This is a pattern we run in production. We will set up the delegation and build this on top of it — $500 per hour, most of it working the same day.

Talk to us Or read the setup guide

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