Google Drive Files
Download Files from Your FCPS Google Drive Account
(for Graduating Seniors)
This document details how to “take your Google Drive files with you” when you graduate from or otherwise leave FCPS. Google does not allow you to transfer ownership of documents across domains (from an FCPS Google account to a personal Google account), so files must be downloaded to save them out of your FCPS Google Drive. Use one of the two methods below to download your files. Please do this before the school year ends for students.
Method 1 - Use Google Takeout to download all files
Sign into your FCPS Google account
Uncheck everything other than Drive
To select just specific Google Drive folders, click All Drive data included, uncheck Include all files and folders in Drive, click Deselect all, select the desired folders, and click OK.
Click the Next step button at the bottom of the page
Change “Delivery method” to Add to Drive. Leave the rest of the settings as is, although if you have a lot of files in your Drive, under File Type & Size, change the 2GB to 10GB or 50GB, otherwise you’ll get a lot of 2GB zip files.
Click the Create export button
Google will build the export. Google states that it can take hours or days to complete, but most exports are done within an hour.
A folder called Takeout will be created in your Google Drive. Open that folder on a personal computer (not on an FCPS device), right-click on the zip file, and select Download
Select the location to save the file, rename the file if desired, and click Save.
If you get a “Can’t scan file for viruses” message, click Download anyway
The files will be saved in a .zip file in the download location you chose.
Go to the download location, right-click the zipped file, and select Extract All > Extract
Your files will now be in that extracted folder.
Method 2 - To download only select files or folders:
On a personal computer (not an FCPS device), sign into your FCPS Google account and access your Google Drive
Select the individual files and/or folders you want to download (use Ctrl-click to select multiple files/folders), or press Ctrl-a to select all files in the current folder
Click the three vertical dots up top (More actions) and select Download
Select the location to save the file, rename the file if desired, and click Save.
If you get a “Can’t scan file for viruses” message, click Download anyway
The files will be saved in a .zip file in the download location you chose.
Go to the download location, right-click the zipped file, and select Extract All > Extract
Your files will now be in that extracted folder.
Note: Both methods will convert all Google files to MS Office format.