Google Workspace: Transition from UMN Gmail to a Personal Google Email Account

Faculty, staff, and students who leave the University may lose access to University Google Workspace accounts. This article outlines options for transferring or exporting your personal Google data away from your University Google account. 

The University's Google Workspace includes University Gmail accounts (@umn.edu emails) and a set of other Google services including Drive, Calendar, and Meet. 

For best results, it's important that you begin the processes outlined in this article as soon as possible and complete it before the account is deactivated.

When transferring data, you are responsible for complying with HIPAA, FERPA, and any other regulations or policies regarding Protected Health Information and Protected Student Information. You can learn more from the Health Information Privacy and Compliance Office and the FERPA Resources page. 

In this article:

Health Care Component Account Restrictions

If you are part of a Health Care Component at the University, your account is likely included as a member of the Business Associate Agreement (BAA). In this case, you will not be able to transfer or download your data using the steps outlined in this article. 

Creating a Personal Google Account

If you don't already have a personal Google Account, it's a good idea to make one. Google offers Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, and other Google apps for free. 

Visit the Google Support article Create a Gmail Account to get started. This process takes only a few minutes. 

You can learn more about Google accounts at Google's Account Overview page. 

You can also create a free personal email account with other email providers, such as Outlook, iCloud mail, Yahoo mail, Protonmail, AOL, and others. However, the Google Takeout Transfer (on this page) process will only work to transfer data from your UMN account directly to another Google account. If you'd like to transition to a different email service than Google or download data other than emails and documents, follow the instructions for Downloading Google Data with Google Takeout (on this page) instead. 

Updating Your Contact Email in MyU

Before leaving the University, it's a good idea to update your personal email address in the My Info tab in MyU. You can find instructions for updating this information on OneStop's Update Personal Information page. Set your primary personal email address as your Home address. 

Google Takeout Transfer (Emails and Drive)

You can use Google Takeout Transfer to move your personal (not work-related) email and any personal Google Drive files directly from your University Google Workspace account to your personal Google account. 

Visit Google's support article Copy content from your school account to another account for updated and complete instructions on how to transfer your data. 

If you'd like to transition to a different email service than Google or download data other than emails and documents, follow the instructions to Download Google Data with Google Takeout (on this page) instead. 

Note that these steps will not work for BAA accounts. Refer to Healthcare Component Account Restrictions (on this page).

While OIT does not directly support this process, we have a few tips to help you successfully export your data:

  • You will need to start the transfer while logged into your UMN Google Account. To check which account you're logged in under, click the circle with your initials or picture in the upper right corner of this page.
  • If you have trouble making sure you're starting this process from your UMN Google account, sign into this account in a Private browser window.
  • If the process fails, try exporting just one type of content at a time. For example, you can first transfer your email data, then when this has completed start a second transfer of your Google Drive data. 

Transferring Other Types of Data 

Google Calendar

You can follow Google's instructions to Important Calendar Events from Another Google Calendar.

Contacts

You can follow Google's instructions to Import Contacts from Another Google Account.

Youtube Videos

Videos uploaded to the YouTube channel associated with your UMN account cannot be transferred directly to a different channel. To avoid losing your YouTube uploads, follow Google's instructions to download and reupload the videos manually.

Downloading Google Data with Google Takeout

In addition to transferring your Google data directly to another Google account, Google Takeout also allows you to download a copy of your Google data to back it up or use it with a service outside of Google. You can save information from:

  • Gmail
  • Drive
  • Contacts
  • Calendar
  • YouTube
  • Photos
  • Account activity data
  • And many other apps

Visit Google's Support article on How to Download Your Google Data for updated and complete instructions on downloading Google Takeout.

Note that these steps will not work for BAA accounts. Refer to Healthcare Component Account Restrictions (on this page).

Google Takeout will export a zip archive file or multiple files. These are compressed files containing all your data which can be unzipped for later use. It can take 12 or more hours to deliver your export depending on how much data you have. 

While OIT does not directly support this process, we have a few tips to help you successfully export your data:

  • You can deselect the apps you don't want to include, or you can click Deselect all and then select only the apps you do want to include.
  • If you don't need data from less common apps, you should deselect them in order to reduce the total size of the export.
  • In most cases, when customizing your export options, Destination should be Send download link via email, Frequency should be Once, and File type & size should be .zip and 2GB.
  • If the process fails, try reducing the file size specified or deselecting more apps to reduce the overall size of the archive. 

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