How to find and preserve your Google Workspace records

Where your Google Workspace history lives

Your records are spread across several Google apps. Each person's account holds its own mail and files. Shared drives hold files that belong to the company, not to one person.

• ·Gmail: every user's inbox, sent mail and labels, including attachments.
• ·Drive: files each user owns in My Drive, plus Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.
• ·Shared drives: team folders owned by the organization. These often hold the most important company files.
• ·Chat: direct messages, group messages and spaces. Direct and group messages are only kept if Chat history is turned on.
• ·Calendar: each user's primary calendar events. Secondary and group calendars are handled differently by Vault.
• ·Former employees: suspended users, archived users and users with an Archived User license may still hold years of data. Check them too.

An admin can never open a user's files through the Admin console. To see or save content, use the export tools in the Preserve section.

How to measure how much data you have

Google gives admins two built-in views of storage. Use them to see the total size and which people hold the most data.

1. 1Sign in to admin.google.com with an admin account.
2. 2For the company total, go to Menu → Apps → Storage. The top of the page shows total storage used and your storage limit.
3. 3On the same page, open Users using the most storage → View all users to see everyone ranked by storage.
4. 4Then open Shared drives using the most storage → View all shared drives to see the biggest shared drives.
5. 5For a per-person breakdown, go to Menu → Reporting → User Reports → Accounts. Turn on the Gmail storage used (MB), Drive storage used (MB) and Total storage used (MB) columns.
6. 6In the Accounts report, click Download. Save it as a Google Sheet or CSV file. It can hold up to 100,000 rows.
7. 7Keep this file with your records. It is your inventory of who holds what, and how much.

Storage numbers can lag by up to 24 hours. Users with less than 1 MB show as 0 MB, but they still count toward the total.

How to find how far back your records go

Buyers and future users of your data care about how many years it covers. Spend a few minutes finding your oldest records.

1. 1Open the Accounts report from the Volume section. Look at the last-used columns, like Gmail (Web) last used time and Drive last active time. This shows which accounts are still active and which are old.
2. 2Ask a long-time user to search their own Gmail for very old mail. In the Gmail search box, type before:2012/01/01 and adjust the year until results stop.
3. 3In Drive or a shared drive, open the oldest project or client folders and note the earliest dates you see.
4. 4If your edition includes Vault, sign in at vault.google.com, create a matter, and run a Gmail or Drive search with an early date range. Vault can search by user, organizational unit, date and keyword.
5. 5Write down the earliest year you find for mail, files and calendar. Add it to your inventory file.

Deleted data is gone unless Vault was set to retain or hold it. If you never set up Vault rules, your history only goes back as far as what users kept.

How to save a full copy of your data

The Data Export tool is the main way to copy the whole organization. Run it while your subscription is still active.

1. 1Make sure the admin who will run the export is a super administrator, has 2-Step Verification turned on, and has an account that is at least 30 days old.
2. 2In the Admin console, go to Menu → Data → Data import & export → Data export → Set up new export.
3. 3Name the export. Choose the entire organization, or pick specific users, groups or organizational units. Then click Start export.
4. 4Wait. The export is ready no sooner than 48 hours. It usually takes about 72 hours and can take up to 14 days.
5. 5When it finishes, download the files from the Google Cloud Storage bucket to storage your company controls. Do this quickly, because the default bucket deletes the data 60 days after the export started.
6. 6If you have Vault, also use it for targeted copies. In vault.google.com, open a matter, run a search, click Export, and pick PST or mbox for Gmail and Chat. Download it from the Exports page.
7. 7Store every copy in at least two places your company owns. Keep the inventory file from the Volume section with it.

• ·The Data Export covers Gmail, Drive (including shared drives), Calendar, Chat, Contacts, Groups, Keep, Tasks, Voice and more. It includes active, suspended and archived accounts.
• ·Individual users can download their own data with Google Takeout. An admin turns this on at Menu → Data → Data import & export → Google Takeout → User access to Takeout for Google services. Takeout only covers one person's account, so it is not a substitute for the full export.
• ·If you have more than 1,000 users, Google asks you to contact Google Workspace support before you use the Data Export tool.

Keep your exports inside the company. Do not share raw export files or admin passwords with anyone outside your authorized team.

Limits, deadlines and what happens when you shut down

Google deletes data on fixed timelines. Most of it cannot be recovered once it is gone. Finish your exports before you delete anyone or cancel anything.

• ·The Data Export needs an active subscription. Core data like Gmail, Drive and Chat is left out if the subscription is canceled or suspended.
• ·Data Export files in Google's default bucket are deleted 60 days after the export began. Once an export starts, it cannot be canceled in the Admin console.
• ·Accounts created in the 24 hours before an export are not included. Deleted data is not included unless Vault kept it.
• ·Vault comes with Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and Frontline editions. It is not listed for Business Starter or Business Standard, where it may only be sold as an add-on. Since November 1, 2025, admins need their own Vault license to use Vault.
• ·Vault is not an archive. It only keeps data covered by retention rules or holds you set up. Vault exports are deleted 15 days after they start, and only 20 can run at once, so split large ones by month or team.
• ·A deleted user can be restored for 20 days. After that, any data you did not transfer or export is gone for good. You cannot delete a user who is on a Vault litigation hold.
• ·After you cancel, Gmail and Calendar stop working and shared drives become read-only. Canceled data is deleted and cannot be restored. You can resubscribe within 51 days. The cancellation finishes after 84 days.

Safest order: measure, export, check the export, then delete users, then cancel. Never cancel first.

Official sources

• Export all your organization's data
• User reports: Accounts
• Review storage use across your organization
• Allow or block Google Takeout
• Google Vault overview
• Export data from Vault
• Vault supported services and data types
• Delete or remove a user from your organization
• Cancel Google Workspace

Vendors change menus and plan limits often. Check the official pages above before you delete anything. This guide is general information, not legal advice.