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HOW TO SAVE YOUR GOOGLE FILES WHEN LEAVING WDMCS
When you leave WDMCS, your WDMCS google account will be deactivated. You will no longer have access to any files you created within Google using your @wdmcs.org email address, such as docs, presentations, YouTube videos, etc. If you would like to keep your documents, you must go download or transfer your data to a personal account.
Please note that you should NOT simply share the documents with your personal email address. If you do this, the document will still be deleted when your account is removed because your school district account is still the owner of the documents.
There are two methods you can use to keep your files. 1) Google Transfer or 2) Google Takeout. Please keep in mind that these methods are effective as of at that moment in time. So if you start the transfer right now, but you finish a final paper next week, that final version would not be included. If you start the transfer now, it will not move or delete any of your current documents, you just may not get every last edit you make. Therefore, it’s recommended that you start either option after you are finished with all of your projects.
Also, keep in mind that both methods will ONLY apply to YOUR documents… Not documents that are shared with you but owned by someone else. So for example, if you collaborated with a friend on a document and you have this in your “My Drive” folder, but the owner of the document is listed as your friend, then that file will not be included in your export. If you use Option 1 below, you will get a list of any documents that were unable to be transferred.
Option 1 - Google Transfer
Google Transfer will let you transfer your Google Drive content to another Google account. This is preferable for most students, as this will allow you to keep your Google files as native Google files, just with a new owner. You can jump right in here:
https://takeout.google.com/transfer
Or view some step by step instructions here:
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6386856
There are two important “Gotchas” to this method:
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It will not transfer your YouTube channel. If you utilize your WDMCS account for YouTube content you wish to keep, you will want to download those videos manually, or use option 2 for only your YouTube content.
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Your WDMCS Google account has unlimited storage, but normal gmail accounts are limited to 15GB (for free… you can buy more). You can check the amount of storage you’re using by visiting drive.google.com. In the left side column, you’ll see a listing for Storage. Look at this number and as long as the sum of this number plus this number from your personal Google Drive account are lower than 15GB, you’re good to go.
Option 2 - Google Takeout
The second option is Google Takeout. This option is a little more involved, but it actually downloads your Google content to files so you can hold onto them. Docs become Word files. Sheets become Excel files. Presentations become PowerPoint files.
You can jump right in here:
https://www.google.com/settings/takeout
Or view some step by step instructions here:
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190
The last day we guarantee access to your current documents is the day you end enrollment or at the last day of school when not returning next year, so please go download any documents you want to keep before that time because once it’s gone… it’s gone!