Looking to export only some of your organization's data? Go to Export your users' data.
With the Data Export tool, you can export your organization’s data to a Google Cloud Storage archive and download it. Organizations with any Google Workspace edition can perform one full data export (and one single-user export) every 30 days.
To let your users download their data, allow Google Takeout and refer users to How to download your Google data.
Important: If your organization has FedRAMP Authorization or more than 1000 users, contact Google Workspace support before you use the Data Export tool. The Google Workspace support team does not access or process the data that is exported from the Data Export tool.
On this page
- Before you begin
- Step 1: Export your data
- Step 2: View and download exported data
- Retry errors in an export
- View the data export report
Before you begin
Step 1: Export your users' data
These steps initiate a full export of your organization's data and are available in all Google Workspace editions. For information about more advanced options, see Export your user's data.
You must be signed in as a super administrator for this task.
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Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
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In the Admin console, go to Menu DataData import & exportData Export.
- Click Set up new export.
- In the Name box, enter a name for your export.
- In the Scope box, check Export all user data.
- In the Continuous export box, leave the check box unselected.
Note: Only organizations with the Assured Controls add-on see the Continuous export box. - In the Destination box, choose to use a Google-provided Cloud bucket.
Important: Depending on your edition, the Destination box may offer the option to export to a Cloud Storage bucket that you own. The data exported to a customer-owned bucket may be more limited than the data exported to a Google-provided bucket; see Export your user's data for more information. - Choose whether to use a bucket located in the United States, Europe, or whether you have No preference.
Supported editions for this feature: Enterprise Plus; Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials Plus; Google Workspace Assured Controls. - Click Start export.
When you start an export, all super admins receive an email that a data export is pending. The export is available no earlier than 48 hours after you start the export. This waiting period helps provide security for your organization's data.
Data export typically takes 72 hours but can take up to 14 days, depending on the size of your data export. All super admins get a notification email when the process is complete. All super administrators can view the export.
Note: If your Google Account loses super admin privileges while an export you started is running, the export may not complete.
Step 2: View and download exported data
Before you begin: Make sure you have Google Cloud turned on for your account. For details, see Turn Google Cloud on or off for users.
- In your confirmation email or in the Data Export tool, click View archive.
- Review the status of the export in the Admin console or in Google Cloud Storage:
If the export had errors, you can try exporting only the missing data. For instructions, go to Retry errors in an export on this page.
- The Data Export page in your Admin console shows one of the following status indicators for the export archive:
- Failed—No data was exported.
- Complete with errors—Some data is missing from the archive.
- Complete—All data was exported.
- In the archive in Cloud Storage, the export report includes a failure summary if any errors occurred. For more information about the information in the export report on this page go to View the data export report.
- The Data Export page in your Admin console shows one of the following status indicators for the export archive:
- When you're ready to view and download exported data, in the archive in Cloud Storage, click the root folder. The root folder contains a list of user folders. Each user folder contains a zip file of that user's data.
Notes: Some data, such as files in shared drives, is owned by a service account rather than a user. In the export archive, service accounts are named "Resource."
Only individual objects can be downloaded using the Cloud Storage UI. To download a folder or multiple objects at a time, use the gsutil command line tool. Learn more
Example:
gsutil -m cp -r \ "gs://[gsutil URI for your Takeout bucket]" \ .
- Click the zip file to download the user's data.
- Unzip the file to review the user's data by product.
Retry errors in an export
If any data is missing from the export, it's listed in your export report as an error. When you retry errors, called remediation, the Data Export tool starts another export process to export only the missing data.
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Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
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In the Admin console, go to Menu DataData import & exportData Export.
- Click Start remediation.
You'll get an email to notify you when the remediation process is complete. Only the admin who started the remediation gets an email notification, but all super administrators can view the export.
The remediated data is added to a new archive.
- Review the remediated export. If there are still export errors (missing data) after the remediation process, retry the export again. You are limited to 3 remediation attempts for each export.
Important: The export expiration time remains the same, beginning with your first data export. Remediation does not refresh the expiration time.
For help with obtaining files that weren't exported, contact Google Workspace support. They can reset the export time limit, so you can start another full export without waiting 30 days.
What's included in a remediated archive
A remediated archive can include the following data:
- Data that was missing because a temporary error occurred—for example, an image wasn't included in a document during export processing
- Data a user lost access to between an admin's export attempts—for example, because their license was downgraded
A remediated archive doesn't include the following data:
- Data that was missing because of a permanent failure. For example, the user deleted or changed ownership of a document before the export process started or between export attempts.
- Data that was previously exported, with the following exception: If an item was partially exported—for example, a document that was missing an image or comment—the Data Export tool attempts to export the entire item again.
View the data export report
The data export report includes the status of your export and metadata, such as which admin started the export and when.
- In your confirmation email or in the Data Export tool, click View archive.
Note: Only the admin who started the export gets an email notification, but all super administrators can access the export.
- In the root folder of your data export archive, click the report. You can open the report in a browser.
If any export errors occurred, the report includes the following details:
- User/Service ID—Username of a user account, group name, or ID of the service account for which there were export failures. Accounts are in alphabetical order.
- Account type—Can be one of the following types:
- User
- Group
- Customer-owned data—Files owned by your organization, not individual users
Note: The report shows some specific types of customer-owned data, such as shared drives. These files are listed as "Resource."
- Service account—Account that was automatically created for data without an owner, such as Google Jamboard content
- Archive—Links to archive files with the content owned by the user or service account.
- Failure summary—The number of files that were exported and the number that weren't exported. To see a list of files that weren't exported, click the arrow to the left of the failure summary.