Anyway of initiating a Takeout?

[David Lee - UK London]

Been using GAM for like 20 minutes now and amazed by it. Many thanks to all those who work on GAM and GAMADV...

I think I know the answer but just in case... is there any way to trigger a TakeOut for a user? And ideally to save to another Drive? Want to use it for faster offboarding.

Thanks,

David.

[Steve - DynTech]

Takeout is not ideal for that. Google Admin console had a tool specifically to move data in Drive to a new user which is also possible using gam. Takeout has no api, therefore not supported in gam.

[David Lee - UK London]

Thanks Steve, will use the Drive transfer thing but also wanted something for email archive. Will just have to keep signing in on the account and triggering manually.

thanks,

David

[Shaun Creighton CUSD]

But that tool doesn't work to transfer Drive data to a Google account outside of the G Suite domain, right? We struggle with this every year when our graduating seniors leave our domain and there isn't a great system in place to transfer their work to a personal Google account so they can keep it if they like (Takeout seems pretty unreliable, particular when there's a large amount of data to transfer).

[+KimNilsson]

Google Takeout and Google Takeout Transfer, two separate services although similar, are not for automated data transfers!

They are both for individuals to use to create exports (Takeout) or copies (Transfer) of their G Suite data.

Neither are admin tools.

[Shaun Creighton CUSD]

Totally get that, Kim. I have created documentation for users to use Takeout Transfer on their own when appropriate (employees leaving our district, seniors graduating, etc.). But I have seen several cases where it just doesn't work reliably, and in my conversations with Google Support, they have acknowledged that it's pretty glitchy. This seems like a huge problem, because there are numerous scenarios where this functionality is critically important.

I'm wondering if anyone else has come across more reliable (and preferably free) alternatives to Takeout Transfer, whether they're admin tools or user tools.

[+KimNilsson]

Making a backup of Gmail works with Jay Lee's other tool GotYourBack (GYB).

https://github.com/jay0lee/got-your-back/wiki

For Drive, I think it's possible to have GAM do converted downloads of much, but probably not all, content. 

For very large content, I mean large individual files, I'd recommend the user set up the Backup and Sync client a couple of weeks before departure and let it download videos and other non-Google content.

/Kim

On Wednesday, 6 February 2019 17:10:05 UTC+1, Shaun Creighton CUSD wrote:

...

[Shaun Creighton CUSD]

Thanks for your suggestions. It still seems as if there are some big limitations with the Drive methods (which you acknowledge in your post). Specifically, a lot of teachers utilize Forms for classroom assessments and activities. GAM won't even download Forms (it spits out a "Not Downloaded: Format not downloadable" error) and even right-clicking on the Form in Drive won't display a download option. Drive will include the Form in the ZIP file that gets downloaded if I select the Form and other Drive files to download, but it is a non-interactive HTML file, which is obviously not much use. I assume Backup and Sync will have similar issues (like you said, that's best for non-Google content). Converting Google Docs and Sheets into MS Word and Excel files during a download will sometimes produce some formatting/formula issues, but at least you get something you can work with ... not so with Forms.

I guess my post isn't much more than a gripe against Google for not having a more reliable tool to transfer files from an account in one domain to an account in another. Seems like a huge, huge oversight.

I do appreciate the recommendation of GYB ... I'll take a look at that.

[Kim Nilsson]

Yes, Google Forms can't be expected to be a downloadable format, since it's a conceptually interactive document which has no comparable format outside of G Suite.

That's where Takeout "Transfer" comes into play.

/Kim

--

There is No Substitute!

google.com/+KimNilsson

[Shaun Creighton CUSD]

How has Takeout Transfer worked for you? I have been pushing that for the last couple of years for transferring teachers, graduating seniors, etc. But the results have been ... mixed. For users with a moderately high amount of files, it seems to choke up. I do encourage them to do some housecleaning on their account before they try Transfer to increase the odds of success, but that hasn't always helped.

What has your experience been with it? Have you found anything that seems to help if people have issues?

[Kim Nilsson]

No real issues, afaik.

Throwing away junk beforehand is a great recommendation, though.