Transferring Ownership of OneDrive Files

Overview

If you are leaving the University, please make certain to transfer ownership of any University files on University-provided services—for example, OneDrive for Business —before your account expires.

Anyone you have shared your files with will lose access after your account expires unless you transfer ownership in advance to another University user.

Please follow the instructions below to transfer ownership.

Microsoft OneDrive

Transferring ownership of folders in OneDrive involves adding a co-owner to the folder you wish to transfer, having that co-owner transfer the folder’s contents to a new location in their own OneDrive account, and then having the co-owner recreate any sharing permissions on that folder. Follow these instructions:  

1. Open a web browser and navigate to your OneDrive file library.
2. Right-click the name of the folder you wish to transfer.
3. Click Details.
4. Click the Manage Access link in the window that appears on the right.
5. Click Grant Access.
6. In Enter names or email addresses… field, search for the person to whom you want to assign permissions, then click on their name to select it.
7. Leave the setting Can Edit.
8. Optional: Enter a personal message explaining why you are sharing the folder.
9. Click Grant Access.
10. The new editor will now see the folder in their own OneDrive file library under the Shared tab on the left-hand menu.
11. Ask the new editor to download the contents of your folder and transfer those contents to a new folder that they create within their own OneDrive account (or another cloud service like Box).
12. Ask the new editor to share their new folder with the same people who had access to your folder.