Export your users' data

With the Data Export tool, you can export some or all of your organization’s data to a Google Cloud Storage archive and download it. Some organizations need to export only certain data, and not the entire dataset.  For example, an organization may only need to export content generated by the sales department.

• Before you begin
• Step 1: Export your users’ data
• Step 2: View and download exported data
• Cancel a continuous export

Before you begin

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Step 1: Export your users' data

You must be signed in as a super administrator for this task.

1. Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.

   If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.

2. Go to Menu Data > Data import & export > Data Export.
3. Click Set up new export.
4. In the Name box, enter a name for your export.
5. In the Scope box, select which users' data to export.
   
   To export all of your organization's data, including data that's available only to admins, select Export all user data and skip the next step. See Export all your organization's data for more information.
   
   To  export the data for selected users, select Export data for specific users and choose whether to identify users by organizational unit, group, or individual user names.
    
6. Identify the organizational units, groups, or user names to export.
   Click in the Add box > make your selection > click Done.
   
   When you select an organizational unit, only the direct members of the selected organizational unit are exported— not the sub organizational units. For example, a Finance organizational unit has two sub organizational units, Europe and Asia. If you select the Finance organizational unit, only the direct users under Finance are exported. The Europe and Asia organizational units are not exported.
    
7. (Optional) Set up continuous export.
   In the Continuous export box, select the check box.
   
   Note: Only organizations with the Assured Controls add-on see the Continuous export box.
8. In the Destination box, choose where to save the exported data.
   The Data Export tool can export the user data to a Google-provided Cloud Storage bucket or a Cloud Storage bucket that you own; see Destination for the exported data for more information.
   
   To use a temporary Google-provided Cloud Storage bucket, select Google-provided Cloud bucket and choose the locale for the bucket (United States, Europe, or No preference).
   Note: The temporary Google-provided Cloud Storage bucket is not available for continuous exports.
   
   To choose your own Cloud Storage bucket, select Your bucket and enter the name of the bucket you created.
9. 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 is automatically canceled. No data is exported and other super admins receive an email notification that the export was unsuccessful.

Step 2: View and download exported data

From the Data export table, you can open a detailed view that allows you to:  

• Review the scope of the export
• Check on the status of the export
• View the archive 
• Run a remediation if there is an export failure

1. Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.

   If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.

2. Go to Menu Data > Data import & export > Data Export.
3. In the Data export table, click the name of the export.
   The detail view opens.
4. Under Scope, you can see which group or organizational unit was exported.
5. Under Status, you can see if the export ran properly or if there were any problems: 
   • Failed—No data was exported
   • Errors—Some data is missing from the archive
   • Complete—All data was exported
6. To view the archive, click ActionsView Archive.
7. To run a remediation, click ActionsRemediate.
   Note: Remediation (retrying export errors) is not available for continuous exports. The Data Export tool will retry the export during the next scheduled run.

When you're ready to view and download exported data:

1. To run a remediation, click the root folder in the Cloud Storage bucket. 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]" \
     .

2. Click the zip file to download the user's data.
3. Unzip the file to review the user's data by product.

Edit a continuous export

The Data Export tool labels archives created with automated continuous exports with a Continuous tag. To stop or pause future exports, select Turn off continuous export from the Actions drop-down for that archive. The label changes to Turned off. When you are ready to resume the continuous exports, select Turn on continuous export.

To change which data is included in future exports or provide a different destination, select Edit export from the Actions drop-down. Make the desired changes on the Edit export page then click Update export. Future exports will use the new settings. 

Related topics

• Export all your organization's data
• Options to preserve former employee data