Google: Common Challenges When Moving Files and Folders

You can either go to Google Drive, Select the Advanced Search menu icon from the search bar and apply a filter for the label "deletion pending" OR select your primary campus from the list below. These links bring you to your Drive with the deletion pending label pre-applied.

• Crookston - Google Files Pending Deletion
• Duluth - Google Files Pending Deletion
• Morris - Google Files Pending Deletion
• Rochester - Google Files Pending Deletion
• Twin Cities - Google Files Pending Deletion 

• You can create a copy of the files you need to retain.
• You can contact other people with whom the files is shared (who have edit access) and ask them to move the files to a Shared Drive.
  • You can see the names of people with whom Google files are shared by opening the file and clicking on the share button.

You must have edit permission for at least 90% of the files within a folder to move the folder. If you see a message that you don’t have permission to enough files to move the folder you can download a comma-separated value (CSV) file that will list the files that you do not have permission to move. You may

• collaborate with others that have more permission in the folder; or
• move files for which you have edit permissions and copy files you do not have edit permissions for that you need to keep

Remove Files from your Search list. 

• Many of the files you see are likely not important and do not need to be saved. If you do not want to see files that you do not intend to save, you can select the files, right click, and select “remove.” When you return to Drive these files will no longer display in the shared with me section. Please note: you can only remove files from the search results page using the three button "kebab" menu found on the far right. Click the kebab menu and select "remove."
• We also recommend using additional filters to focus on a subset of the overall files that are pending deletion. For example, you can add filters for
  • Type: It may be useful to review files by type such as docs or slides
  • People: You can filter files owned by a specific person with whom you collaborated.
  • Modified: You can review files last modified or specify a period of time
  • Or you may focus on files in a particular f that are pending deletion. 

The bottom line is that if the file is in a Shared Drive, there is no risk that it will be deleted.

The  reason you may still see the the "Deletion Pending" label is that it does not immediately disappear. It is removed during a nightly automated process. Depending on the number of files that are moved in a particular day and are queued for label removal, it may take a few days for the labels to be removed. If you are seeing labels days or weeks after a file was moved, contact Technology Help and we can investigate. 

Also note that accounts are renamed as part of the account closure process. So you may see that a file was last modified by “Deletion Pending [first name last name].” If the file has actually moved (and not just a shortcut to the file), one way to check that is to see if the file has an owner. If the file has an owner, it has not moved to a Shared Drive. 

Look for the Shared Drive Icon

When in the "list" view of Google Drive, any file that is in a Shared Drive will have the Shared Drive icon 

See below for examples of Google's icons that are displayed (or absent) depending on whether or not the file is stored in My Drive and shared or not shared or stored in Shared Drive.

Stored in My Drive; Not Shared

This file is owned by an individual and is not shared with others. Notice no icons appear next to the file name.

Stored in My Drive; Shared with Others

This file is owned by an individual and is shared with others. Notice the "shared with others" (two people) icon.

Stored in a Shared Drive

This file is stored in a Google Shared Drive. Notice the icon for a Shared Drive (two people within a box) is next to the right of file name.