Migrating shared content

What is shared content?

In the context of a user content migration, shared content in Google Workspace is content shared with the users by other users or is owned collectively.

• Content shared with the user by other individual users is located in the "Shared with me" folder in Google Drive.
• Content that is owned collectively is located in shared drives. Not all organizations rely on shared drives, although it's a common practice to do so.

What is "Shared with me" content?

"Shared with me" content in Google Drive is files and folders shared with the user by other people (either within or outside the organization, if applicable). These files and folders are owned by other people's Google Drives and do not count against storage use in the user's source Drive.

Why is understanding shared content important?

1. Unlike with other collaboration systems, in Google Drive, owned and shared content is often blended together, with end users heavily relying on shared content to do their work without thinking about the ownership structure.
2. While the content shared internally in an organization will be migrated if each individual Drive is migrated, the content shared by external users will not be migrated unless "Shared with me" is added to the scope.
3. When an organization is planning a migration of shared content, the fact that this content does not use storage in users' source Drives is often overlooked, which leads to an underestimation of the total migration size.

Administrators should carefully analyze the file-usage structure within their organization before making decisions on migration scope. To do so:

1. Check if shared drives exist in the organization. As an administrator, sign in to Admin Console and navigate to Menu > Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Manage shared drives. If you see a list of shared drives here, then shared drives have been created. Use filters with "No members" or "No managers" to identify inactive or misconfigured shared drives.
2. Discuss shared content usage with the representative of the organization. Ask which documents, folders, or shared drives they rely on, which they need for archival purposes, and whether losing access to them would disrupt their work.

How is content "Shared with me" copied?

What is copied from "Shared with me"?

VaultMe for Admins will copy all supported file types. For more information about what will be copied, see Supported content types.

Where does the copied content go and how is it organized?

Copies of "Shared with me" items created by VaultMe for Admins for Admins are best understood as snapshots of files and folders with all sharing and collaborative settings removed. These copies are brand-new items owned by the destination account. They should be treated as archival copies, not files where collaboration will continue.

Because of this:

• Copies of "Shared with me" will not appear in the "Shared with me" section of Google Drive. They will be organized into a new folder in the users' "My Drive."
• Each user will get a complete snapshot. If one item is shared with multiple users, each user will get their own copy.
• The folder will be named "Shared with me," but it will be located inside a migration folder created by VaultMe for Admins during the migration.

Depending on the content organization scenario that you choose, the name of the migration folder will vary:

• If you choose to merge content, VaultMe for Admins creates a folder named “TODO” in "My Drive." Inside it, a “Shared with me” subfolder is created.
• If you choose to separate content, VaultMe for Admins creates a new folder named after the source account’s email address. The folder is located in "My Drive." Inside that folder, a "Shared with me" subfolder is created.

The "Shared with me" folder structure will be recreated in both cases.

Does VaultMe for Admins need owners' permissions to copy "Shared with me" content?

VaultMe for Admins does not require special permissions from the owners of files and folders in "Shared with me." As long as the owners have not modified the files' settings to prevent copying, VaultMe for Admins will copy them.

We recommend copying "Shared with me" content only if you are confident that you or the organization on behalf of which you are running the migration has explicit permissions to copy items owned by other people or organizations. Even if file copying is not disabled in Google Workspace, the organization may be bound by a contract prohibiting copying.

Will all content from "Shared with me" be copied?

While VaultMe for Admins always attempts to migrate all items, there are two limitations:

1. Some files may be protected against copying by their owners.

If the owners of the files disable copying, downloading, and printing for users with certain types of collaboration roles (such as viewers or editors), the affected files will not be copied. Copying is often restricted for sensitive content, but for the majority of files, it's typically allowed.

If the organization knows that some highly sensitive files are protected against copying, it can reach out to the file owners and ask them to temporarily enable copying.

To check if a file is protected against unauthorized copying:

• Right-click the file or folder.
• Select "File information" > "Details."
• Review the "Security limitations" section. If the section is empty, the file is not protected against copying. If there are any limitations, they will appear in this section.

In some situations, copying shared content may violate contractual agreements, so when planning a migration, the organization must ensure it has all the necessary permissions to copy this content.

If some of the files have copying disabled, this will be reflected in the report generated by VaultMe for Admins, so you'll be able to trace these items.

2. Files shared with "Anyone with the link" may not be fully accessible.

If some folders are shared with "Anyone with the link" and not with the users' email addresses, the copied content may be incomplete due to the way Google Drive handles this scenario. When a file or folder is shared with "Anyone with the link," Google Drive can only associate this item with the user's "Shared with me" section after the user opens it. Because of this:

• Files shared with "Anyone with the link" that have never been opened will not be copied, even if the user has added shortcuts to them in their Google Drive.
• Folders shared with "Anyone with the link" that have never been opened will not copied, even if the user has added shortcuts to them in their Google Drive.
• If a folder is shared with "Anyone with the link," only the files that have been opened within that folder will be copied. For all items within the folder to become indexable, the user must also open each file in the folder.

For items shared with the user's email address, there is no such limitation.

If necessary, you may need to instruct users to check the settings of the shared folders before the migration. Users will need to:

• Identify folders shared with "Anyone with the link" by checking the folder permissions.
• Either open each item or reach out to the owners of the folders and ask them to share these folders directly with their email addresses.

For more information on how folders can be shared, you can use Google Drive's help article: Share folders in Google Drive.

Does VaultMe for Admins transfer the ownership of "Shared with me" documents?

VaultMe for Admins does not change ownership of "Shared with me" items; it only creates personal copies of these documents for the user. Nothing will change in the source.

Are changes made in the source after migration reflected in the copies?

Changes made to the shared file in the source folders will not be reflected in the copies in the destination, unless the administrator runs a sync-up migration. Sync-up migrations are only possible within 30 days of the migration date. For more information about sync-up migrations, see Sync-up (delta) migrations.

How can I tell whether a file is an original shared item or a migrated copy?

If a file was shared with the source account before the migration and then re-shared with the destination account, search results for the file's name will return two results: one for the original re-shared file and the other for the copy created by VaultMe. To check which file is a copy and which one is the original, users can review the properties of the file in the "Details" panel.

An original shared item usually has these signs:

• Owner: someone else
• Access: inherited from a share
• Location: often appears through Shared with me or in a shared folder
• Activity/history: older history that predates the migration

A migrated copy usually has these signs:

• Owner: the destination account
• Created date: around the time of the migration
• Sharing: no original sharing permissions carried over, or only default/private access
• Version/activity history: starts fresh, with no earlier collaboration history

To check these details, in Google Drive:

1. Right-click the file.
2. Open File information or View details.
3. Look at the owner, location, created date, sharing access, and activity.

To avoid further confusion, it may be best to rename files or folders by adding "Archive" or any other descriptor to the name of the copy.

What happens to sharing permissions?

VaultMe for Admins does not copy sharing permissions. Copies created during the migration are brand-new items owned by the destination account. These copies are intended to be used for archival purposes only.

For this reason, after the migration, files from the source Drive's "Shared with me" items will not automatically appear in the "Shared with me" section in the destination. Instead, their copies will be organized into a new migration folder in "My Drive."

To continue collaboration, owners of the original "Shared with me" files will need to re-share the files with the new accounts after the migration.

How do users resume collaboration after the migration?

Because VaultMe for Admins does not copy sharing permissions, the original files and folders must be re-shared by their owners after the migration for collaboration. Users will need to ask collaborators to re-share them with the new accounts.

Here's a checklist that you can use to work on restoring all permissions:

1. Before the migration, identify content where collaboration must continue. Each user should review their "Shared with me" items and identify files and folders they actively collaborate on. They should note who owns the file, who needs access after migration, and whether edit or view access is required. They can use a simple spreadsheet with columns for:

• File/Folder name
• Location
• Current owner
• Required collaborators
• Access level (view/edit/comment)

It may be reasonable to work through these files in a centralized way, so that each department, if applicable, creates one document instead of multiple documents by individual users. For each collaborating partner or organization (such as for each customer), a separate document may need to be created.

The same process needs to be applied to the files that are shared by the users in the source accounts. With internal files, each user will need to create a list of collaborators and files that will need to have access to the copies of the documents.

This applies both to files and folders that are shared within the organization and files and folders that are shared with partners outside of the organization.

2. Notify collaborators in advance. Send a short message to internal teams and clients explaining:

• Users are migrating to new accounts
• Links will change
• Collaboration will resume immediately after permissions are re-added by the owners of the documents

Here's a simple template that you can use for collaborators outside the organization:

"Subject: Temporary impact to shared content during account migration

Hello,

We’re reaching out to let you know that we’ll be migrating our accounts to a new environment. As part of this process, content that you have shared with our organization may be temporarily affected.

What to expect:

• Content you’ve shared with us will need to be re-shared with our new accounts after the migration.
• Existing sharing links on our end will also change.
• Collaboration will resume shortly after the migration, once the owners re-add the necessary sharing permissions.

No action is required from you at this time. We'll reach out with a list of files that will require re-sharing shortly.

Thank you for your understanding".

3. After the migration, ask the owners of the files to re-share the documents. Users will need to reach out directly to each collaborator and ask them to re-share the affected documents with the new email addresses.

If applicable, they will also need to contact internal teams and users in an organization and request that they re-share internal documents.

This may be a good moment to consider whether some of the documents can be moved to shared drives for easier access and collaboration. Typically, if each employee has too many documents to share internally, shared drives may not be used effectively, and moving frequently accessed internal documents to shared drives would reduce reliance on individual ownership.

What are VaultMe's recommendations for migrating "Shared with me" content?

The recommendations below apply to most migrations. Still, each migration is different, so consider your unique situation when preparing for the migration.

1. Include "Shared with me" items in the migration.

As long as there are no legal concerns, content from "Shared with me" should be copied. The contents of this folder will be different for each user, so we recommend including this type of shared content in the migration for all users.

However, if one document is shared with multiple users within the organization, each user will get their personal copy of this document. Remember that VaultMe for Admins creates a snapshot of the shared document, which should be used primarily for archival purposes.

To continue collaboration, users should avoid editing their personal copies. Instead, the owner of the original file must re-share the original file with all other users.

2. Account for storage used by "Shared with me" items.

To get an estimate of the total migration size and assign appropriate storage for users in the destination, administrators need to account for not only owned content (such as the contents of "My Drive" for all users and shared drives), but also the items from "Shared with me."

Because "Shared with me" content does not count against the storage quota of the source accounts but will use storage in the destination accounts, it needs to be taken into consideration when planning how much storage space each user needs.

Google Drive does not display how much storage space "Shared with me" items take, so the only way to estimate their size is to connect the accounts to VaultMe for Admins and run a scan.

How is content from shared drives copied?

What is copied from "Shared drives"?

VaultMe for Admins will copy all supported file types. For more information about what will be copied, see children.

Where does the copied content go and how is it organized?

• VaultMe for Admins migrates content from shared drives into "My Drive" in the destination. Migrating content from shared drives directly to shared drives in the destination is not supported.
• All original sharing permissions and document-level settings are removed.
• If shared drives are included in the migration for multiple users, each user receives their own copy of the shared drive content.

Once content has been migrated to "My Drive", it can be moved to shared drives or reorganized as needed. For instructions on how to do that, refer to Google's help article: Move your organization's content to shared drives.

To locate content from "Shared drives" in the destination account:

• If you choose to merge content, VaultMe for Admins creates a folder named “TODO” in "My Drive." Inside it, a “Shared drives" subfolder is located.
• If you choose to separate content, VaultMe for Admins creates a migration folder named after the source account’s email address. Inside that folder, a “Shared drives” subfolder with copies of all items from the source shared drives is located.

For each shared drive, VaultMe for Admins will create a separate sub-folder to preserve the folder structure.

Will all content from shared drives be copied?

Because content from shared drives is owned by the organization, all files and folders can be included in the migration.

VaultMe for Admins will migrate the content from all shared drives. Including only selected drives in the migration is currently not supported.

What happens to “Shared with me” content during migration?

Copies of items from shared drives created by VaultMe for Admins are best understood as snapshots of documents and folders with all sharing and collaborative settings removed. They are added to a destination user's "My Drive" for temporary storage. The folder structure of shared drives is fully retained.

Copies created by VaultMe for Admins are brand new documents owned by the destination. Collaboration will continue once these documents are moved to shared drives in the destination and permissions are assigned. For more information on moving content to shared drives, see Move your organization's content to shared drives.

Are changes made in the source after migration reflected in the copies?

Changes made in the source shared drives after the migration will not be reflected in the copies, unless an adminitrator runs a sync-up migration. Sync-up migrations are only possible within 30 days of the migration date. For more information about sync-up migrations, see children.

Are external collaborators notified about the migration?

External collaborators are not notified automatically. They must be notified in advance about the upcoming migration by the administrator or the organization.
Here's a simple template that you can use for collaborators outside the organization:

"Subject: Temporary impact to shared drives during account migration

Hello,

We’re reaching out to let you know that we’ll be migrating our accounts to a new environment. As part of this process, content in shared drives created by our organization will be temporarily affected.

What to expect:

• The content that we've shared with you is moving to a new platform. Access to it may be temporarily limited.
• Existing sharing links on our end will change.
• Collaboration will resume shortly after the migration, once our organization adds the necessary sharing permissions.

No action is required from you at this time. We'll reach out with updated links shortly.

Thank you for your understanding".

What happens to sharing permissions?

VaultMe for Admins does not copy sharing permissions.

Once the content is moved to shared drives in the destination, the administrator will need to re-assign permissions. To do so:

1. Before the migration, create a list of all shared drives and who has access to each. The list should include both internal and external users (such as collaborators from different organizations).
2. After you've moved the content, add users to the shared drives using the document you created earlier. For more information on adding users to shared drives, see Google Workspace's help article: Manage shared drives as an admin.
3. For collaboration outside the organization, add external users to selected drives.

What are VaultMe for Admins recommendations for migrating content from shared drives?

1. Avoid copying "Shared drives" for all users.

Because shared drives are owned collectively, including shared drives in the migration for each user will result in each user getting a copy of the same set of documents.

Instead, it is recommended to select one user with access to all shared drives (typically, this is the business owner or the administrator of Google Workspace) and migrate all shared drives to their Drive in the destination.

If storage for this user is limited, consider splitting shared drives between several users for the migration. Once the content is copied, it can be moved to shared drives. For instructions on how to do that, refer to Move your organization's content to shared drives.

For all other users, shared drives should be excluded from the migration.

Note: Shared drives in the destination will need to be created and configured separately.

2. Avoid moving content in the destination before a sync-up (delta) migration.

If you plan to run delta migrations, avoid moving or reorganizing the copied content in the destination until all changes from the source have been fully captured. This includes moving files or folders into newly created shared drives, renaming folders, or changing content ownership.

For example, if copied content is moved from the user's "My Drive" to a shared drive, VaultMe for Admins may no longer be able to reliably match source items to their destination counterparts.

To avoid migration delays and ensure all updates are captured, keep the destination content in its original post-migration location until the final delta has completed.