New Adventures + old files You Can Do

How's your summer going? It's still the early part of July, and I am fully enjoying the slower pace, the sunshine, and the over all relaxed atmosphere in my house. I'm writing this in one of my most favorite spots at my house ... the front porch.

One of the pieces of my job at the end of the year is to help those who are retiring or leaving our district decide what to do with items in their Google Drive. I know, based on the conversations in the Google Trainer group, many districts struggle with this. There really isn't any one perfect method. I'm not the biggest fan of Takeout or Transfer - too often you are taking a bunch of "crap" that you will never look at or use again.

Instead, I always recommend making 2 folders - "Keepers" and "I don't need". (Some of you may need a 3rd folder "Transfer ownership".) Create these, then go through your Drive and make FAST decisions. Don't open everything, don't stress about it, just decide. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you go through your Drive:

• did I use this file/folder THIS school year?
• will it help me in my future position?
• should I digitally "give" this to someone who is staying here?

You could also use the "Last modified" date to help you decide if you are unsure. If it wasn't modified in the pas 2 years or so, I'd say you most likely won't miss it. You might be surprised at what you REALLY end up taking with you.

Once you've done this clean up, don't worry about the "I don't need" folder. Just leave it alone. For the "Keepers", it gets a little tricky. You CAN share it with a personal or other school domain account, but that doesn't transfer ownership. You CAN make copies in your personal account ... but this takes a TON of time.

INSTEAD:

• right click on your "Keepers" folder & select download
• note where it downloads - it'll become a "zip" file
• click ONCE on the zip file - THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT ... ONCE. ONLY ONCE.
• you should now see a file folder named "Keepers". DO NOT OPEN IT.
• Open the Google account you want to move it to
• MAKE sure you have the setting turned on to "Convert uploads to Google Docs editor format" 
• drag & drop the "Keepers" folder in

VOILÁ!!!

You have just saved what YOU choose to take with you to your new adventure! It might even be smart to create a brand new Google account to keep your brain straight, or depending on how much you decide to keep, you might need it for storage purposes. 

Transferring ownership is a wonderful ability within Google Drive. If you are good with it and you don't have 1,000 files, rather than sharing or making others to make copies of files you own, you can transfer ownership. Yes, it must be done to each individual file - ugh - but it IS easy. OR ... share the folder with those who need/want these files and they can make their copies for themselves. One final option - if you have the ability, you could create a shared drive and drop files in there, adding on those who need/want them, and they can pull the files out and become the owners. This all depends on the sheer number and the comfort level of you and those you are sharing with.

ONE MORE THOUGHT ... have you thought about your email??? Let's tackle that next week!

Here's the link: New Adventures + old email You Can Do

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