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Files owned by suspended accounts of former faculty, staff, affiliates, alums and withdrawn students are labeled "Pending Deletion" so they can be more easily located prior to being deleted. Move or copy files you want to continue accessing.
In this article
Overview: A backlog of Google Drive storage to clean up
Since MHC moved to Google Workspace in 2010 very few MHC Google accounts have ever been deleted. As a result, a large portion of the Google storage that MHC is paying for annually is sitting in suspended accounts of former employees and alums. Deleting these unused accounts will free up much needed storage space for current students, faculty, and staff.
Before the accounts are deleted, LITS wants to make sure that current faculty and staff have a chance to save any important files shared with them by these accounts.
Due to the current backlog of suspended accounts, this will be a big lift to start. Then, the process of reviewing and saving files will become a regular practice that faculty and staff need to engage in when people leave.
Timeline for the clean up
LITS is labeling files in the affected accounts as "Pending Deletion" so you can more easily find and save the ones that should be preserved. For the batch of files labeled during this clean up effort, you'll have until July 30th, 2027 to save things on your own, and then the files will become inaccessible to everyone.
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October 26th, 2026: Files owned by already suspended accounts of former faculty, staff, affiliates and withdrawn students will be labeled "Pending Deletion" so you can more easily find and move any shared files that should be preserved.
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On a weekly basis until January 2027: Accounts of newly departed employees and other accounts found out of compliance with existing account lifecycle policies will be suspended and manually labeled.
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Starting in January 2027: On an employee’s departure, files will be automatically labeled “Pending Deletion.”
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May 31, 2027: Files owned by alums class of ‘26 and earlier will be labeled “Pending Deletion.”
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Starting on July 30th, 2027: Files that have been labeled for at least 60 days will become inaccessible to collaborators, but remain recoverable in emergencies.
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November 27, 2027: Files owned by alums class of ‘26 and earlier will be deleted from Google.
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July 30th, 2028: Other labeled files that have been inaccessible for at least 365 days will be deleted and no longer recoverable.
Automated timelines after clean up:
Please note that while the clean up efforts remain ongoing, labeled files will remain accessible until July 30th, 2027 date even if they have been labeled for more than 60 days.
To prevent similar issues in the future, LITS is implementing account life-cycle policies that will automate the labeling and deletion process going forward. The process of reviewing and saving files will become a regular practice that faculty and staff need to engage in when people leave.
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Google account suspended and Files are labeled "Pending Deletion" |
Google files become inaccessible to collaborators |
Google account and files deleted |
| Continuing faculty, visiting faculty, and faculty affiliates |
30 days after end date |
60 days after account is suspended and label is applied |
365 days after end date |
| Continuing staff, temporary staff, contractors and other contingent workers |
Immediately after end date |
60 days after account is suspended and label is applied |
365 days after end date |
| Alums class of '26 and prior |
May 31st, 2027 |
July 30th, 2027 |
November 27th, 2027 |
| Alums class of '27 and forward |
1 year after degree conferral date |
60 days after account is suspended and label is applied |
18 months after degree conferral date (180 days after account is suspended and label is applied) |
| Withdrawn students (who withdraw after attending) |
60 days after withdrawal date is processed by the Registrar's Office |
60 days after account is suspended and label is applied |
240 days after withdrawal date |
| Deferred/Melted students (students with withdraw prior to attending) |
14 days after withdrawal date is processed by Registrar's Office |
60 days after account is suspended and label is applied |
240 days after withdrawal date |
| Alum Association Board Members, Alum Association Committee Chairs, and Trustees |
Immediately after volunteer term ends (unless it's still within a year of the alum's graduation) |
60 days after account is suspended and label is applied |
365 days after volunteer term end date |
If you or a colleague is going to leave soon, please work proactively to
move collaborative files to shared drives before losing account access. Files and folders in shared drives are owned by the organization and persist as people come and go, even if their account is deleted. This is why LITS recommends using shared drives for collaborative projects of all* kinds.
*The one exception is Google Forms that include
file upload questions, since Google doesn't currently support these in shared drives. Those forms and associated folders for holding uploaded files should
have their ownership transferred to another faculty or staff member.
Step 1. Finding the right files
This section contains:
Search by the "Pending Deletion" label
This may be particularly useful for managers and colleagues of departed faculty and staff.
According to Google, indexing labeled files in the Google Drive Advanced Search is done on a best effort basis. LITS has found that labeled files you've recently opened are reliably included in search results, but files that haven't been touched in a while may not show up. If you know you have important files that you don't use often, look for them specifically and open them to see if they are labeled "Pending Deletion" up by the file name.
- Open your Google My Drive.
- Use the menu icon on the right hand side of the search bar to open Advanced Search.
- Place your cursor in the Search labels box.
- From the All available labels list, select Documents owned by suspended accounts
- In the fields that appear, select Account Status, is, and Pending Deletion.
- If you want to provide any other filtering criteria (e.g. file type, location, date modified, etc), you can do so on that screen.
- Select Search.
- You'll be presented with a list of files and folders that have been shared with you that have been labeled "Pending Deletion" (and meet any other filter criteria you set).
- The columns will show the file/folder name and will also include the label, the last date it was modified, the file/folder owner, and the file/folder location.
- You won't see anything here that is located in a shared drive, because files and folders in shared drives are owned by the organization and persist as people come and go, even if their account is deleted so these files won't ever be labeled "Pending Deletion". This is why LITS recommends using shared drives for collaborative projects of all kinds.
Search by file owner
This may be particularly useful for faculty members who want to work ahead and save Google Drive content owned by alums they have worked with before those files even get labeled since there's a one year delay between an alum graduating and their files being labeled "Pending Deletion." (Keep in mind that for alums who graduated in 2026 or earlier, their files will not be labeled until May 31, 2027.)
If you are a manager who has a recently departed employee, this will also be the easiest way to locate important files located in that specific person's My Drive.
- Open your Google My Drive.
- Use the menu icon on the right hand side of the search bar to open Advanced Search.
- For Owner, select Specific Person and then enter the name or email address of the person who owns the shared files you want to save.
- If you want to provide any other filtering criteria (e.g. file type, location, date modified, etc), you can do so on that screen.
- Choose Search.
- You'll be presented with a list of files and folders that have been shared with you that are owned by the Google account of the person you selected (and meet any other filter criteria you set).
- The columns will show the file/folder name, the last date it was modified, the file/folder owner (if you've searched by owner, this would all be the person you filtered to see), and the file/folder location.
- You won't see anything here that is located in a shared drive, because files and folders in shared drives are owned by the organization and persist as people come and go, even if their account is deleted. This is why LITS recommends using shared drives for collaborative projects of all kinds.
Step 2. Save files you want to keep for future use
Be judicious and keep things you really need and will actually use or are required to keep for compliance purposes per the College's
Records Retention and Destruction Policy. Don't just keep things to keep them - storage is not infinite!
If you don't have the right shared drives created yet for where you'd like to put files you're moving,
create those shared drives first. Be sure to give people who should be able to move items into it the
Manager role.
1. Select one or multiple files
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Select one file using the three dot icon on the right hand side of the file row.
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Select multiple files by holding down shift (to grab everything between your first selection and the current selection) or command (to grab only the files you select) while selecting the file. Then right click (or 2 finger click on macOS trackpad) to access the menu.
2. When possible, Move files to a shared drive
If you have permissions to move the file, you'll see under Organize > Move that Move is selectable. Faculty and staff have permissions to move files and folders they can edit to Google shared drives where they have a Manager role.
- To Move the file(s), choose Organize > Move to open the file moving wizard.
- Select All locations > Shared drives to see the shared drives you can move to.
- If you want the file(s) to move to the top level of the shared drive, select the blue Move button to the right of the shared drive name.
- If you want the file(s) to move to another folder inside of the shared drive, navigate down to that folder location and then use the blue Move button.
3. If you can't move the files to a shared drive (and no one else on your team can either) Copy them and then move to a shared drive
Coordinate with your colleagues so you aren't all making copies of the same file(s)!
If you don't have permissions to move the file, you'll see under Organize > Move that Move is greyed out.
- To make a copy of the file you want to save, first select Make a Copy to create a copy of the file that you own in your My Drive.
- Then locate the file where it has been saved to your My Drive.
- Finally, follow the steps in the section above (2. When possible, Move Files) to move the copy you've created to a shared drive.
- It is important to move these file(s) to a shared drive now instead of leaving them in your My Drive so that your colleagues won't need to follow the same steps you just completed when you depart the College in the future.
Step 3. Share files that may need to be reviewed by others
If you see files that you don't personally need to save but someone else might, share the files with appropriate colleagues so that they can make a determination.
For example, perhaps you worked with a former employee on a particular program before they left, but now a newer colleague of yours who doesn't have access to those files works on that program and you no longer do. If you think files about that program might be useful to your newer colleague, you can share the files with them in Google Drive. In addition to notifying them when you share the file(s), the colleague you share the files with will then see them when searching for files by the "Pending Deletion" label or searching for files by owner.
FAQs
How can I or my department get help with this process?
We highly encourage you to read this webpage thoroughly as the answers to many questions are provided here.
If after reviewing this page you have follow up questions or you need support, please open a Google Drive support ticket. If you'd like to meet with someone, please share that in your ticket description so we can include that as part of the ticket follow up.
LITS is also planning to host a series of work-along style sessions over the course of the clean up period for people who want some hands-on support getting started. Stay tuned for more details.
How do I know if something should be saved?
Work with your department/colleagues to determine what should be saved.
Be judicious and keep:
Don't just keep things to keep them - storage is not infinite!
What should I do if I see a file labeled "Pending Deletion" that doesn't need to be saved?
Files labeled "Pending Deletion" will be deleted automatically when the owner's Google account is deleted. If you have edit access to the file, you can edit the file name to include something like "READY FOR DELETION" so you and others know that it has already been reviewed.
If you really want to delete a file right away, you can move it to a shared drive where you are a Manager and then move it to trash from there. More about shared drive member permissions.
Why am I not seeing files I expected to see when I search for files with the label?
Google labels files on a “best effort” basis so files that haven’t been used in a while may not have the label applied unless they’re opened or otherwise “touched”. If you aren’t seeing something come up when you search by label only, try searching for it another way like by owner or file name. Or if you have a link to it somewhere, use that to open the file to prompt Google to apply the label.
What should I do if I encounter a file during the course of my search that I shouldn't have access to?
Sharing settings for Google Drive files are set by each community member and sometimes people inadvertently share something more broadly than it should be shared.
- If you have edit access to a file that you think you shouldn’t be able to see, you can go in and restrict permissions on the file.
- If you aren’t able to edit the file, you may want to reach out to the file owner or someone else who has access to the file and let them know the permissions may need to be reviewed.
- If there is no one on the file still who currently works at the College, you can open a Google Drive support ticket to request that LITS restrict access to the file.
In most circumstances, LITS would recommend that files NOT be shared with everyone with an MHC Google account. In some circumstances, where the contents of the file are not internal or restricted, it can make sense to make the file visible to anyone on the internet with the link. The best approach is to share files with specific individuals and Google groups that need access to the file.
Can I just download any files I want to save instead of moving them?
It isn't recommended, but if there are files that you think only you will need and you'd rather work with them offline, you are welcome to download a copy and save it. If you choose to do this, LITS always recommends saving important files in at least three places so you've got backups in case a device is lost or a hard drive fails.
What will happen to shortcuts to files that live in someone's My Drive?
Shortcut will remain after the original file becomes unavailable and the account is eventually deleted, but it will stop working. The original file itself needs to be moved to a shared drive or copied in order for it to be preserved. Learn more about Google Drive shortcuts.
Why can't I move things into the shared drive I want to put them in?
You must have edit access to the file or folder (and all of its contents*) you want to move and be set up as a Manager in the desired destination shared drive. More about shared drive member permissions.
*If you have edit access to a folder but not to all the contents of that folder due to limited access rules, you may not be able to move the folder into a shared drive. Folders with limited access are marked with a cancel symbol on their folder icon instead of a person symbol. LITS recommends working with the folder owner (if they still have an active account) to be granted edit access to all folder contents or have the folder owner or another person with edit access move the folder to the desired shared drive.
If I move something to a shared drive, will the people who currently have access to it continue to have access?
Generally, yes, but not always.
Moving items into a shared drive does not affect sharing permissions or user roles that have been set directly on the item that is moved. However, permissions inherited from the folder the item was in aren’t copied if only the item is moved.
For example: Kat shares a folder in her My Drive “Folder A” with Aime, but doesn’t also share each file inside that folder with Aime individually.
- Scenario 1: Kat moves “File 1” inside “Folder A” to a shared drive that Aime doesn’t have access to. Aime loses access to that file.
- Scenario 2: Kat moves “Folder A” to a shared drive that Aime doesn’t have access to. Aime continues to have access to that folder and its contents, though doesn’t get access to the rest of the shared drive it lives in.
When in doubt: Move whole folders if possible and audit permissions afterwards to make sure the right folks still have access.
If someone does lose access to an item after it is moved and it isn't fixed right away, then when they click through a link to that item they'll be presented with the opportunity to request access. Share requests for items that live in shared drives (and therefore don't have an individual owner) will go to users who have manager access on the shared drive where the item is located.
More on How file access works when moving files and folders into shared drives.
Are there any kinds of Google Drive files that shouldn't be moved to a shared drive?
So long as the files contain data that is eligible to be stored in Google Drive in the first place (according to the College's Data Handling Procedures), almost anything you want to save from someone else's My Drive should be moved to a shared drive if possible.
The one exception is Google Forms that contain file upload questions, since Google doesn't currently support these in shared drives. Forms with file upload questions and associated folders for holding uploaded files should have their ownership transferred to another faculty or staff member.
Are files being preserved due to litigation holds at risk of being deleted?
No. Accounts and files that are subject to data retention and litigation holds will not be affected. They are marked in a particular way within MHC's Google Workspace that prevents their deletion.
What should I do in the future if an employee I’ve worked with leaves the College?
Going forward, files owned by former employees’ Google accounts will continue to be labeled “Pending Deletion” following their departure. Starting in January 2027, automated notice of this will be sent to the employee’s supervisor. If someone you work with leaves, you will have 60 days after their departure (or until July 30th, 2027, whichever is later) to identify and move important shared Google Drive documents owned by their Google account.
Even better - start using Google shared drives now to minimize disruption due to turnover. And if you know someone is going to leave soon, share the LITS guide for departing and retiring faculty and staff to help them prepare.
Department heads and chairs may request certain account life-cycle exceptions for their departing/departed employees if needed.
How do I ensure that Google Drive files I create will remain available to my collaborators if I leave the College?
LITS recommends using Google shared drives to lessen the impact of an employee departure on Google Drive file access. Shared drives allow files to be created and shared without tying them to an individual owner, so they can persist as people come and go.
For any files or folders that are not moved to a shared drive or transferred to a different owner prior to your departure, your collaborators will have 60 days (or until July 30th, 2027, whichever is later) to move them to a shared drive or copy them before they will become inaccessible.
If you're planning on leaving soon, please also review the LITS guide for departing and retiring faculty and staff to help you prepare.