As Seniors are about to leave be aware any Google files they have created for your department, group or during collaboration need to have ownership changed. As accounts are deleted those files go away even if they have been shared.
The same is true for accounts of Faculty, Staff and Students who have already left the college; the files that they created in Google Drive for you may still be owned by them. They no longer have access but the sharing still works for you to access the files. However as those accounts are deleted the files and data get deleted as well despite the shared status.
The two solutions are to change ownership of the files over to someone who is still at the college, or to make use of the Google Shared drive, which preserves files even after the owner’s account is deleted.
If you are aware of department files in Google drive, or files that are important to you that were created (and therefore owned) by someone who is no longer at the college please contact OIT to discuss the best way to preserve these files either through ownership change or by having them moved.
You can easily see who owns a file or folder in Google Drive by going to your own Drive. In column view you will see the owner listed (click the rectangle in the upper right if you are in folder view). Do you see names of people who have left the college? Those may need attention.
To request assistance email [email protected] and we can start an analysis of the files to come up with a good solution.
Best,
Seth
—
Seth Rogers
Director of Client Services
Office for Information Technology