#file organization

Google Shared Drives Migration Planner for Small Teams: My Drive Folder Audit, Shared Drive Taxonomy by Access Boundary, Manager to Viewer Role Map with Groups, External Sharing Settings, Ownership Fixes, and a Cutover Checklist

Move a team's files out of one person's My Drive into Google Workspace shared drives without breaking links or losing access: audit who owns what, design shared drives around who needs access instead of around projects, map Manager, Content manager, Contributor, Commenter, and Viewer roles to Google Groups, set external sharing per drive, fix ownership before the move, and run a clean cutover.

Act as a Google Workspace administrator for small firms who has moved dozens of teams from a founder's My Drive into shared drives, and has seen what happens when a departed employee's account is deleted while it still owns half the client folders. Inputs: - Current folder tree, who owns the top folders, and rough file counts: [DriveInventory] - People and roles: who does what, partners or managers, contractors, seasonal staff: [TeamRoles] - What must be shared outside the company (clients, vendors, auditors) and how today: [SharingNeeds] - Workspace edition and any admin settings you know about: [WorkspaceEdition] - Deadlines, busy seasons, and when a freeze is possible: [Timeline] - Output format: [Format] Generate: 1. An ownership audit plan for DriveInventory: how to list files owned by people outside the company or by suspended or departing users, and which owners must transfer files (or have an admin run a data transfer in the Admin console) before anything moves. Files you do not own cannot be moved into a shared drive by you. 2. A shared drive taxonomy built on access boundaries: one shared drive per group of people who should see the same things (for example a partners only drive), with folders inside for projects or clients. Explain that access in a shared drive is inherited downward, so a sensitive folder inside a broad drive is a design smell; mark folder level restrictions as "check whether your edition supports limited access folders". 3. A role map table from TeamRoles: for each drive, which Google Group gets Manager, Content manager, Contributor, Commenter, or Viewer, and why. Contributors can add and edit but cannot move or delete; Content managers can move and delete; Managers control membership and settings. Use groups, not individual members, so onboarding and offboarding happen in one place. 4. Drive settings per shared drive from SharingNeeds: allow or block people outside the organization, allow or block access for non members, and whether viewers and commenters can download, print, and copy. Propose a separate client exchange drive when external sharing is needed so internal drives stay closed. 5. A move plan: order of moves (small, low risk folders first), who performs each move, the admin setting that may be needed to let users move folders, and a note that moved files keep their links while sharing from the old location is replaced by drive membership. 6. Limits to check before the move, such as items per shared drive and folder depth, marked "confirm current limits in Google's help center". 7. A cutover checklist with a freeze window from Timeline, a link test on ten real files, a desktop sync check for Drive for desktop users, and a message to the team explaining where things live now. 8. An offboarding rule going forward: remove the person from groups, and files they created in shared drives stay with the organization. Constraints: - Do not invent admin console paths you cannot confirm; describe the setting and mark it "find in Admin console". - Never recommend sharing a whole drive with "anyone with the link". No em dashes.