Active Carleton faculty and staff currently have no Google Storage limit, but you should be aware of where your files are stored, with whom they are shared, and how much storage you’re using. Regular sorting and purging of obsolete files is recommended. See our Store Smart page for suggestions.

Navigating Your Google Drive(s)

Google presents files in three distinct sections of Google Drive: My Drive, Shared Drives, and Shared With Me. Each of these sections has different underlying rules and assumptions. When you are assigned your Carleton username, you will have access to your Google Drive, but you may also be automatically assigned to some Shared Drives.

Changing Departments

When you change roles or departments at Carleton, you retain access to all the files in your My Drive, but you may lose access to some Shared Drives or folders in My Drive that were shared with you via Google Group rather than by an individual. In preparation for that transition consider the following:

  1. You’ve transferred ownership of files important to others who need to retain access.
  2. You’ve moved files important to colleagues in your current Department or Team to the appropriate Shared Drive.
  3. You’ve verified that any files in your current Department’s or Team’s Shared Drive that you may need continued access to are shared with you as an individual, downloaded, or that you’ve made personal copies.

Leaving Carleton

When the time comes to move on from Carleton because of retirement or another opportunity, you’ll want to be sure you retain access to files important to you AND be sure others will retain access to files you’ve shared with them.

If you are leaving Carleton and have files in your My Drive that others at Carleton should retain, please do one or more of the following:

When you leave Carleton, your entire Google Account will be locked. At that time, files will become inaccessible to you and those you’ve shared them with. This means that, in advance, you may want to sort and clean up your files, move files to a Department or Group Shared Drive, transfer files to another non-Carleton Google account, or download them. Please see Carleton’s Digital Departure guide for instructions. File Access after you leave depends on your position, and is outlined on the Account Eligibility page under > Faculty and Staff Paid via Carleton Payroll.

If you are leaving Carleton and have files you wish to retain, follow these Transferring / Downloading instructions. Note: As of Dec. 2022, the transfer process pulls both your files AND files shared with you. Be sure to Remove Files or Folders that People Have Shared With You before beginning the transfer process.

For Emeritus Faculty

Unlike other retirees, you will retain access to your entire Google Account, including Gmail and Drive, but your storage capacity will not increase beyond 100GB. This means you may want to thoughtfully curate your files. Steps might still include deleting, downloading, or transferring ownership of files.

For more information on how to Move, Transfer Ownership, or Download your Google Drive Files, visit our Knowledge Base.