128 AUGUST 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 378
WhateveryourPC,hardware, software,officeapplication
or macroissues,SimonHandby isheretohelp
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Helpfile &
Business Help
I’ve been using Google Drive forages, and
it now contains several years’ worth of
personal and household files. Awhile ago I
started my own business and followed an
ancientShopperguide (BusinessExpert,
Shopper297-299) to setting up Google
Apps (now GSuite). From that point, I
should probably have started saving work
files in the Drive that belongs to my work
account, but Ididn’t.
The result is that although Ihavea
Google account linked to my work email
address, my work files are stored in my
personal Google Drive.When Iwant to
share afile or collaborateonclients’
documents, Ihavetouse my personal
Gmail address.
This looks unprofessional and has
caused some confusion, so Idecided to
move my work files across to my work
Drive.Unfortunately,copying the files
keeps failing with various issues. Is it
even possible to do this?
RonHawkes
Unfortunately,the short answer is no.
Google won’t let you directly copythe
contents of one Drive to another,and while
there are third-party apps and Chrome
plug-ins that claim to do it, we haven’t tested
any of them enough to trust them with
valuable and sensitive files.
The most reliable workaround would be
to share your work files from your personal
account to your work account, without
actually moving them. Visitdrive.google.com
and log in using your personal account, then
right-click atop-level work folder (for
example,work or clients), select Share,then
inviteyour work email address, untick Notify
people and click Done.
Now click your account picture in the top
right corner and either select and sign into
your work account if it appears, or click Add
account and sign in that way. You’ll now have
asecond Drive tab open, showing the
contents of your work account. Click Shared
with me in the left-hand pane and you should
see the folder you just shared; right-click it,
select AddtoMyDrive and the folder will
appear in the toplevel of your work Drive.
Repeat the process forany other work
folders until all of your work folders appear,
and organise them as necessary.
This gives you access from your work
account to your existing files and folders,
but there are some issues and limitations.
Because your personal address (@gmail.com)
and work address (@business.com) aren’t
on the same domain, you can’t transfer
ownership of the files to your work account.
Youcan remove them from your personal
Drive so they’re no longer shown, but they’ll
still be counted against your personal storage
allowance,and they’ll be lost if you ever close
your personal account.
If you continue working within the
shared folders from your business account,
any new files will be counted against your
work account’s storage allowance,but they’ll
still be shared to your personal address.
That might not be aproblem, other than the
fact that you’ll see lots of sharing reminders
when creating files. To prevent this, you could
either manually change the permissions on
new folders as you createthem, preventing
them and their contents being shared, or you
could treat your existing shared work folders
as an archive and begin anew folder structure
within your work Drive.
One final issue is where clients have shared
documents to your personal account and
you’ve organised them intoyour own work
folders. Provided you have edit permission,
these docs will be shared to your work
account along with your own files. If you’ve
only got viewing or commenting access, you
should seek edit permission first, or simply
ask your client to grant edit permissions to
your work address.
Drive!Drive!
⬆You can’t copythe contents of one Google Drive to another,but you can share them, and in some
cases transfer ownership
