Google My Drive or shared drives for team-owned files

If team files must stay with the team after their creator leaves, choose a shared drive for those files, provided its access rules suit the people who use them. Keep a file in My Drive when individual ownership is intentional or a move would disrupt access you have not resolved. Google says My Drive files are individually owned, while shared drive files belong to the organization or team and persist when their creator leaves. Google’s comparison

Decision point	What to check before moving
Creator leaves	A shared drive addresses the ownership problem: its files persist with the team. Google’s comparison
Internal visibility	Members normally see all shared drive content. Check whether every proposed member should see each file; limited-access folders are possible. Google’s shared drive guidance Limited-access folders
External collaborators	A move can remove their access if shared drive restrictions override the file’s sharing settings. Google’s move guidance
External ownership	Externally owned files cannot be moved into a shared drive this way. Identify them before setting a migration date. Google’s move guidance

Imagine a three-person client team whose project lead is leaving on Friday. Her My Drive contains the current schedule, a fee worksheet for just two managers, and a brief owned by the client but shared with her. Moving the whole folder is a poor handoff: shared drive members normally see its contents, while the externally owned brief cannot be moved into the shared drive by this route. Move the team-owned schedule into a shared drive whose members should all see it. Give the fee worksheet a narrower destination only after checking whether a limited-access folder meets the managers’ requirement. Keep the client-owned brief on a separate handoff list and agree with its owner how the successor will receive access. Google’s comparison Google’s move guidance Limited-access folders

Before the lead leaves, write down the current owner, intended readers, external collaborators, and next editor for each item. Check the proposed shared drive’s restrictions against every external share. Google warns that moving a file can remove an external collaborator’s access when shared drive restrictions override the file’s sharing settings. An internal successor opening the moved file therefore proves only half the handoff. Ask the outside collaborator to open it under their own account as well. Google’s move guidance

Use a harmless sample of each access pattern for the trial. After the eligible team file moves, remove the departing lead from that sample’s access and ask the successor to find and edit it from the shared drive, without using the lead’s old link. Ask a manager who should see the restricted sample and a team member who should not to test their own accounts; then test the external collaborator’s access separately. Pass the handoff only if the successor can work, the restricted audience is correct, and no outside partner loses required access. Otherwise, change the destination or its settings before moving production files.

Shared drive ownership addresses persistence after a creator leaves; it does not by itself specify a retention period, legal hold, or recovery target. Verify those requirements under the organization’s actual settings before relying on the move for them. Google’s comparison