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I\u2019m afraid that I\u2019m one of those people who have accumulated a number of Google accounts. I have one for subscriptions, newsletters, and other general purposes; one for work; one for my fiction writing; one to use when I want to test an online app; and one \u2014 well, quite honestly, I don\u2019t remember what that one\u2019s for.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Normally, it\u2019s not a problem \u2014 except for those occasions where I found I\u2019ve put a file or folder in the wrong Drive account. I\u2019ve tried to fix things by simply sharing the folder \/ file with the account I want to use it with, but that isn\u2019t a satisfactory fix \u2014 for one thing, it means the file is taking up space in two accounts. And if, say, I am planning a party and decide to hand the responsibility off to a friend, it becomes even more important to be able to move the content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
However, it is possible to switch the ownership of a Google Drive folder or file, and it isn\u2019t that difficult \u2014 although there are some<\/em> issues. Here\u2019s what you do.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Before you can change the ownership of a folder or file, you first have to share it with the person who will eventually own it. This is the easiest part.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Now it\u2019s time to get down to the real task: moving the responsibility for the content to a different account.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you\u2019re the potential new owner, you will receive an email titled \u201cInvitation to own [file or folder name].\u201d The email will also have two buttons that will let you either accept or decline the ownership, along with a warning that owning the content may use the account\u2019s storage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If for any reason you don\u2019t see the email, you can accept ownership another way:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n You will now be listed as the owner of that folder \/ file, and the previous owner will get an email saying that you accepted. (If you declined, they will also be notified of that.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There is one inconvenient glitch, however: if you change the ownership of the folder, the files within the folder will still<\/em> be listed with their original owner. You can simply change the ownership of each file separately, following the directions above \u2014 but if you have a lot of files, your best bet may be to use Google Takeout to export the folder and its files, and then import it into the new account. To do this:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n