Transfer Ownership

The Transfer Ownership operation transfers file ownership to another Google account. This is a significant action — once ownership is transferred, the new owner has full control over the files.

How to Transfer Ownership

Select files in the file table
Click Transfer Ownership from the More menu in the selection toolbar
Enter the email address of the new owner (autocomplete excludes your own email)
Optionally enable Include subfolders to transfer ownership of files inside selected folders
For "Select All Matching" selections, check the confirmation checkbox
Click Start

Important Considerations

Consumer Gmail Accounts

For personal Gmail accounts (not Google Workspace), ownership transfers are pending until the recipient accepts. The recipient receives an email notification to accept or decline. Until accepted, you remain the owner.

Pending transfers appear in the Transfers tab of the Sharing Panel, where you can track and cancel outgoing transfers.

Google Workspace Accounts

For Workspace accounts within the same organization, ownership transfers typically take effect immediately without requiring acceptance.

What Happens After Transfer

You lose ownership of the transferred files
The new owner gains full control, including the ability to remove your access
Your access level reverts to whatever permissions the new owner chooses to retain for you

Managing Transfers

The Sharing Panel's Transfers tab shows pending transfers in two groups:

Group	Description
Outgoing	Files you own where transfer is pending
Incoming	Files being transferred to you

From the selection toolbar, you can:

Accept Transfers — accept incoming ownership transfers
Reject Transfers — decline incoming transfers
Cancel Transfers — cancel outgoing transfers you initiated

Learn More

Actions Overview — All batch operations
Job Queue — Monitor transfer operations