Suspend or transfer Google acc? We need to keep shared files shared.

[TwistedHelixis]

We have always suspended user accounts when someone leaves, but we are building up a long list of suspended accounts and I would like to tidy up a bit.

 

So my other option is to delete an account and transfer the G Suite files, possibly to an account just for transferred files.

 

We have a lot of files shared onto our website and probably a lot shared between staff, so I need to keep these shares active.

 

If I transfer the data, do the shared files continue to get shared?

[RLR]

We found people that would replace the leaver would get a bit overwhelmed by all the files they have inherited and 90% are probably irrelevant.

 

So we had a Staff Archive google account that we would transfer files to when someone left.

 

We now use Team Drives and tell people that everything department related needs to go into a Team Drive area.

[TwistedHelixis]

We do use Team Drives but have it locked down so files can't be shared externally, which means files on our website need to be shared from My Drive.

 

I will do some testing over the break and see if a shared file remains shared after the account is transferred to an archive account.

[eddyc]

We do use Team Drives but have it locked down so files can't be shared externally, which means files on our website need to be shared from My Drive.

 

I will do some testing over the break and see if a shared file remains shared after the account is transferred to an archive account.

 

Hi @TwistedHelixis,

 

How did your testing go and what did you end up doing please.

 

I deleted loads of old staff accounts last week and yesterday/today have been inundated with staff complaining that files which were shared with them have now gone!

 

I’ve reversed the deletions and all is now well but we have almost 500 staff leavers accounts and it just isn’t practical to keep them anymore so I’m just wondering what approach you took in the end?

 

Cheers

eddyc

[fiza]

Is there an issue with leaving accounts suspended? We have always suspended accounts since 2013.

[eddyc]

Is there an issue with leaving accounts suspended? We have always suspended accounts since 2013.

 

The issue for us is we have around 500 staff leavers so far.

 

Our staff accounts take the form of surname first initial.

 

If John Smith who was smithj left in 2013 is only suspended, then when Joanne Smith starts in 2016 who is now on AD as smithj we have issues with the directory sync as the alias for the email is in use.

 

This seems to happen on a frequent basis. As a work around I’ve added numbers into the leavers accounts but this is now getting very messy.

[TwistedHelixis]

Hi, I have just been suspending accounts so far.

 

There is an option in G Suite / apps / Drive, to transfer an owners documents to a new account, it even says 'useful when deleting a user', so I would probably use that.

[Primus]

If you delete a user their entire account including email and drive goes from vault - this may cause compliance issues depending on your data retention policy.