Set up an incremental data export

You must have the Assured Controls or Assured Controls Plus add-on for this feature.

With incremental exports, you can maintain a continuous, up-to-date backup of your organization’s Google Workspace data while using significantly less storage. Instead of creating a new full archive every few days, the system creates an initial copy of your data and then adds only new or changed files during later updates.

Before you begin

To set up an incremental export, you must:

  • Use a Google Workspace or Cloud Identity super administrator account that is at least 30 days old (unless your organization’s account was created less than 30 days ago).
  • Have 2-Step Verification (2SV) turned on for your administrator account. 2SV enforcement is required for the admin who starts the export. For details, go to Check 2-Step Verification settings.
  • Ensure all users to be exported are assigned an Assured Controls or Assured Controls Plus license. For details, go to About Assured Controls and Assured Controls Plus.
  • Authorize Google’s Data Export service account to write to your Google Cloud Storage (GCS) bucket. These bucket permissions must remain active for scheduled background updates to run. For details, go to Export your Workspace data using local data storage.
  • To access exported data, you must have Google Cloud turned on for your admin account. For details, go to Turn Google Cloud on or off for users.

Incrementally export your users' data

  1. In the Google Admin console, go to Menu and then Data and then Data import & export and then Data export.

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

  2. Click Set up new export.
  3. Enter a name for the export and select Incremental.
  4. For Scope, select the users to include.
  5. For Service, Drive and Docs, Gmail, and Google Chat are automatically selected. Other services are not available for incremental exports. If you don’t want to include one of the selected services, uncheck the box.
  6. (Optional) To export data with specific Google Drive labels, click Labels and select the labels.
  7. For Date range & type, select how often to run your Full (complete copy) and Incremental (updates) exports.
  8. For Destination, enter your customer-owned GCS bucket name.
  9. Click Start export.

Monitor & manage exports

  1. In the Google Admin console, go to Menu and then Data and then Data import & export and then Data export.

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

  2. From the list of data exports, click the name of your incremental export to open the detailed view.
  3. In the History table, you can review details and the type of export:
    • Full—A complete copy of all selected data.
    • Incremental—An export that only captures data created or changed since the last export.
    • Remediation—An automated job that fixes any gaps or errors found by the system.
  4. (Optional) To review a previous export to check for successes and errors, find the export and click Actions and then View Status Report to open the Status Report.html file in your storage bucket. The report includes a list of any ineligible items that failed to export, such as corrupted files or unsupported file types.
  5. (Optional) To stop the export, at the top, click Turn off incremental export.