Transfer Google Drive Files to Another Account: 5 Ways, and What Each Keeps

Move Google Drive files to another Google account with Takeout, sharing and ownership transfer, rclone, CloudsLinker or Alist — and see which keep Google Docs native, folders intact and ownership.

Introduction

Google has no button that moves a whole Google Drive to another account. What it does have — sharing, ownership transfer between personal accounts, Takeout — each solves part of the problem, and the cloud-to-cloud tools solve the rest. The right choice depends on three questions: are both accounts personal Gmail accounts, or is one a work or school account; do Google Docs, Sheets and Slides need to stay Google files; and is it a handful of folders or years of data. This guide answers those first, then walks through five methods and what each one keeps.

Quick Navigation

Which Situation Are You In?
Method One: Export & Import Using Google Takeout
Method Two: Share, Then Transfer Ownership or Copy
Method Three: Use Rclone to Copy Between Google Drive Accounts
Method Four: Use CloudsLinker to Copy Between Google Drive Accounts
Method Five: Use Alist to Copy Files Between Google Drive Accounts
Comparative Overview of Transfer Methods
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Step-by-Step Video Tutorial

Which Situation Are You In?

Situation	Best fit
A few files from one personal Gmail account to another, Google Docs must stay Google Docs	Share, then transfer ownership
A work or school account to a personal one (or the reverse)	Copy: ownership can't cross that boundary — CloudsLinker or rclone
A whole drive, or folders with thousands of files	A cloud-to-cloud copy — CloudsLinker, rclone or Alist
An offline archive before an account is closed	Google Takeout
Files for a team in Google Workspace	Move them into a Shared drive, which the organisation owns, or copy into one

One thing to decide up front: Google Docs, Sheets and Slides only stay native Google files when they are shared and transferred, or copied with Google's own Make a copy. Every export-based route — Takeout, rclone by default, CloudsLinker, Alist — turns them into Word, Excel and PowerPoint files (Drawings into SVG). They open in Google Docs again, but comments and edit history stay behind. Google Forms, Sites and My Maps can't be exported by these tools at all.

Method One: Export & Import Using Google Takeout

Step 1: Visit Google Takeout and Select Drive Data

Sign in to the old account at Google Takeout, Google's official export tool. Click Deselect all, tick Drive, then use All Drive data included to limit the export to certain folders and Multiple formats to choose what Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are converted to (Word, Excel and PowerPoint by default).

Google Takeout with Drive selected in the list of Google products to export

Step 2: Choose Export Format and Delivery Method

Choose Export once, the .zip file type and a part size of 1, 2, 4, 10 or 50 GB — larger exports are split into several numbered files. For a move to another Google account, pick Send download link via email: Add to Drive puts the archive into the same old account's Drive, not into another account, and the Dropbox, OneDrive and Box options deliver to those services.

Google Takeout Choose file type, frequency and destination step, here with Transfer to set to Add to OneDrive to show the delivery options

Step 3: Download, Unpack, and Re-Upload

When Google emails that the export is ready, download every part before the links expire, extract them into one folder, and upload the folders to the new account — in a browser, or with Google Drive for desktop signed in to the new account.

Tip: uploaded .docx, .xlsx and .pptx files stay Office files unless you open each one in Google Docs and save it as a Google file, or turn on Convert uploads in Drive's web settings before uploading through the browser.

Important: Takeout is an archive, not a transfer: everything passes through your computer twice, and you need free disk space for the parts and the extracted files at the same time. It is the right tool for keeping a copy of an account that is about to be closed.

Method Two: Share, Then Transfer Ownership or Copy

Step 1: Open the Source Account and Locate the Files

Sign in to the old Google Drive account and select the files or folders to move. Right-click and choose Share. Grouping files into one folder first makes the next steps shorter.

Google Drive right-click menu on a folder with the Share option

Step 2: Add the Destination Account’s Email

Enter the new account's address, give it Editor access and click Send. The items appear in the new account under Shared with me.

Google Drive share dialog with another account added as Editor

Step 3: Transfer Ownership, or Make Copies in the Second Account

Both accounts personal? Back in the old account, open Share again on the shared files, open the menu next to the new account and choose Transfer ownership. The new account receives a request and becomes the owner once it accepts; until then the old account stays the owner. Ownership doesn't cascade, so transfer the files themselves, not just the folder that contains them. Google Docs stay native, and the files count against the new owner's storage from then on.

Work or school account involved? Ownership can't move between a Google Workspace account and a personal one. In the new account, select the shared files and choose Make a copy — this works on files, not on folders, so recreate the folders yourself or use a cloud-to-cloud copy for whole folder trees.

Important: sharing on its own only grants access. If the old account stops sharing, deletes the files or is closed, the new account loses them — finish the ownership transfer or the copy before retiring the old account.

Method Three: Use Rclone to Copy Between Google Drive Accounts

Step 1: Install and Initialize Rclone

Download rclone from rclone.org, then open a terminal and run:

rclone config

The wizard creates remotes — rclone's name for a configured account.

Step 2: Set Up Two Google Drive Remotes

Create two Google Drive remotes, for example gdrive1 for the old account and gdrive2 for the new one, signing in to the right account in the browser each time. Check them with:

rclone listremotes

Step 3: Copy Files Between Accounts

Test with a dry run, then copy:

rclone copy gdrive1:Docs "gdrive2:From old account/Docs" --dry-run
rclone copy gdrive1:Docs "gdrive2:From old account/Docs" --progress

Note: by default the data flows through the computer running rclone — downloaded from one account, uploaded to the other — and Google Docs are exported as Office files on the way. If the new account already has access to the files (for example through Method Two's sharing), adding --server-side-across-configs lets Google copy them directly, which keeps Google Docs native and uses no local bandwidth (rclone Google Drive docs).

Method Four: Use CloudsLinker to Copy Between Google Drive Accounts

About CloudsLinker:

CloudsLinker holds several Google accounts at once — personal, Workspace and Shared drives — and copies between them on its own servers, so nothing passes through your computer and the browser can be closed while it runs. Each account is connected through Google's own sign-in page with OAuth; CloudsLinker never sees the passwords.

Step 1: Connect Your First Google Drive Account

Sign in to CloudsLinker, click Add Cloud and choose Google Drive. Sign in on Google's page with the account you are moving files from and approve access to its Drive files. The connection is named after the account's email address.

Google sign-in page asking to allow CloudsLinker access to Google Drive files

Step 2: Connect the Second Google Drive Account

Click Add Cloud → Google Drive again and sign in with the account you are moving files to. If Google signs in the first account automatically, choose Use another account on Google's account picker. For a Workspace Shared drive, use the Shared Drive (Team Drive) tile instead.

Step 3: Set Up the Transfer

Open Transfer. In Source, expand the old account and tick the folders and files to copy. In Target, expand the new account, create a folder such as From old account and select it. Keep Copy; Move deletes each file from the old account after copying it. The Conflict strategy decides what happens to files that already exist in the target, and filters can include or exclude file types or limit file sizes.

CloudsLinker Create transfer task page with two Google Drive accounts: alex.old@example.com as the source with Documents, Family photos, Freelance 2022-2025 and Taxes ticked, and a new From old account folder in alex.new@example.com selected as the target, with Copy checked

Step 4: Start the Transfer

Click Create transfer. The copy runs in the cloud, so you can close the browser; Task shows live progress, and a finished task can be retried, which by default only copies files that are new or changed. Google limits uploads to 750 GB per account per day, so a very large drive takes more than one day whatever the tool.

Step 5: Confirm Completion

When the task shows Finished, sign in to the new account and check the folders. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides arrive as .docx, .xlsx and .pptx files; open one in Google Docs to confirm it converts the way you expect before deleting anything from the old account.

Why It Matters: unlike sharing, CloudsLinker creates independent copies owned by the new account, and it works between work or school accounts and personal ones, where ownership transfer isn't allowed. If the old account is later closed, the copies are unaffected.

Method Five: Use Alist to Copy Files Between Google Drive Accounts

About Alist:

Alist is an open-source, self-hosted file manager that mounts several storage accounts — including more than one Google Drive — in one web interface, where files can be copied or moved between them.

Step 1: Install Alist

Download the latest release for Windows, macOS or Linux from the Alist GitHub release page and unzip it; no compilation is needed.

Step 2: Launch and Log In

Start Alist with:

./alist admin random
./alist server

Then open http://127.0.0.1:5244 and log in with the admin password the first command printed.

Step 3: Add Two Google Drive Accounts

Under Manage > Storage, add the first Google Drive account, then the second one as a separate storage; each needs its own OAuth token, as described in Alist's Google Drive driver documentation.

Step 4: Copy Files Between Drives

On the home page both accounts appear as folders. Open the source folder, select the files, click Copy and choose a folder in the second account.

The copy runs on the machine where Alist is installed: on your computer the traffic goes through your connection; on a VPS or NAS, through that server's.

Why It Matters: Alist creates real copies owned by the second account, without a third-party service in between — at the cost of installing, securing and updating a server yourself.

Comparative Overview of Transfer Methods

Method	Best For	Google Docs	Data passes through	Limits
Google Takeout	Offline archive of an account	Converted (formats selectable)	Your computer, twice	Parts of 1–50 GB; manual download and upload
Share + transfer ownership	A few files between personal accounts	Stay native	Nothing — Google changes the owner	Personal accounts only; new owner must accept; file by file
Rclone	Scripted or very large copies	Converted, or native with server-side copy	The rclone machine, unless server-side	Command line; 750 GB/day upload cap
CloudsLinker	Whole folders or drives from a browser, incl. work ↔ personal	Converted to Office files	CloudsLinker's servers	750 GB/day upload cap; Forms and Sites not copied
Alist	Self-hosters with a server	Depends on Alist's export handling	The machine running Alist	Setup and OAuth tokens to maintain

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Not with a Google button. Personal accounts can transfer ownership only file by file, and Takeout produces an archive you have to download and upload again. A cloud-to-cloud copy — CloudsLinker, rclone or Alist — can copy the whole My Drive into a folder of the other account in one task.

Only with ownership transfer, Google's Make a copy, or rclone's server-side copy. Takeout, CloudsLinker, Alist and a normal rclone copy export them as Word, Excel and PowerPoint files (Drawings as SVG). They open and convert in Google Docs, but comments, suggestions and version history stay with the originals. Google Forms, Sites and My Maps can't be exported by these tools.

No. Ownership moves only between personal accounts, or within the same organisation. To keep files from a work or school account, copy them — before the account is closed, and within what your organisation allows.

No. Sharing gives access while the old account keeps ownership and storage use; if it stops sharing or is deleted, the files disappear for the new account. Transferring ownership or copying makes the new account independent.

Google lets each account upload 750 GB per day and store files up to 5 TB, so copies of several terabytes continue the next day. Takeout splits exports into parts of 1 to 50 GB. The new account also needs enough storage: 15 GB free, shared with Gmail and Google Photos, or a Google One plan.

Google Drive's Make a copy works on files but not on folders. To duplicate a whole folder tree in the same account, select the same Google Drive connection as both source and target in CloudsLinker and pick a different target folder, or use rclone with one remote.

CloudsLinker, rclone and Alist all connect through Google's OAuth sign-in, so the tools get access tokens rather than passwords. Remove the connections when you are done, and revoke the access under Security → Third-party access in each Google account.

Watch Our Step-by-Step Video Tutorial

A walkthrough of five ways to move files between Google Drive accounts: Google Takeout, direct sharing, rclone, CloudsLinker and the self-hosted Alist, each shown with real examples.

Conclusion

Between two personal Google accounts, sharing and then transferring ownership keeps Google Docs native and costs no transfer at all, but works file by file and needs the new account to accept each request. For whole drives, or when a work or school account is involved, copy instead: rclone and CloudsLinker copy folders between accounts, with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides arriving as Office files, while Takeout gives an offline archive. CloudsLinker runs the copy on its own servers from a browser, so nothing passes through your computer. Whichever you use, copy into a separate folder, check the result in the new account, and only then delete or downgrade the old one.

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