Using Takeout to Export Google Workspace Data

Students, faculty, and staff can export their Google Workspace data to Google Takeout, the backup service provided to you through your Google Workspace Account.

What Can I Export with Google Takeout?

• Google Takeout can be used to export all active google applications. For example, Drive, Photos, Calendar, Maps, etc.

Learn more about Takeout before using it:

• Learn more about Google Takeout 

If you have less than ~25 files or a specific data set

If you have a small number of files, you may decide not to use the Takeout tool. When using the Takeout Tool, your only option is to export your entire Drive. If this is not what you need, you may follow the instructions below.

1. Navigate to drive.google.com
2. Sign in with your Illinois Tech email address and Google password.
3. Click on My Drive in the left-hand menu.
   • If you’re now looking at your Drive in the Grid View, you may want to change it to List View
4. Click on the first file. Then hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and click on the last file. This will highlight all files in-between. Alternatively, click on Shared drives in the lefthand menu, find your desired Drive, then select the desired files.
5. Click on the Download button at the top of the page.
6. Google will then “zip” the files together. This process is grouping the files together into one or more .zip files to simplify the download process. Depending on the size and number of files, this may take some time.
7. Once the files have been prepared in a .zip file, they will be ready for download.
8. Download this .zip to your computer.
9. Right-click on the file to Extract All. Leave the default “Files will be extracted to this folder:” file path.

If you have more than ~25 files: Use Google Takeout

1. Navigate to takeout.google.com and sign in with your Illinois Tech credentials.
2. Click on Deselect all to remove other Google products from your export. Begin by deselecting all items because this page has every bit of information Google knows about you (ex. advertising information). This is data is not related to the files you have stored in Google.
3. Items in the list you may want to export are Calendar, Drive, Google Photos, Keep, Mail, and Tasks. Check the boxes of the data you wish to export.

Accessing Files from the Backup

1. When you receive an email from Google notifying you of the completed Takeout process, visit the webpage linked in the email.
2. Download the zip files.
   • This download may take a long time. Please keep the Google Takeout window open to ensure the downloads are complete; if you close the window or work in another window, the downloads will fail after 15 minutes due to a need to authenticate.
3. Windows and macOS have the ability to open .zip files without 3rd-party programs. You can view the folders inside the zip file and move them anywhere.