Google Drive Cleanup and Deletion Efforts

Monday, October 26, 2026, at 1:55 pm

Between October 26th, 2026 and July 30th, 2027, Google Drive files owned by former faculty, staff, affiliates and withdrawn students will be labeled “Pending deletion” so you can more easily locate and preserve important items.

A backlog of Google Drive storage

Since MHC moved to Google Workspace in 2010, very few MHC Google accounts have ever been deleted. As a result, a large portion of MHC’s Google storage is sitting in suspended accounts of former employees and alums. Deleting these unused accounts will free up much needed storage space for current students, faculty, and staff.

Before the accounts are deleted, LITS wants to make sure that current faculty and staff have a chance to locate and save any important files shared with them by these accounts.

Due to the current backlog of suspended accounts, this will be a big lift to start. Then, the process of reviewing and saving files will become a regular practice that faculty and staff need to engage in when people leave.

Read on for more information about how LITS is working to ensure your continued access to important operational files owned by former employees’ accounts – while still getting these accounts in line with existing policies – and how you can help!

Help LITS clean up!

LITS is labeling files in the affected accounts as "Pending Deletion" so you can more easily find and move the ones that should be preserved. For the batch of files labeled during this clean up effort, you'll have until July 30th, 2027 to save things on your own, and then the files will become inaccessible to everyone. See the timeline below.

October 26, 2026	Files owned by already suspended accounts of former faculty, staff, affiliates and withdrawn students will be labeled "Pending Deletion" so you can more easily find and move any shared files that should be preserved.
On a weekly basis until January 2027	Accounts of newly departed employees and other accounts found out of compliance with existing account life-cycle policies will be suspended and manually labeled.
Starting in January 2027	On an employee’s departure, files will be automatically labeled “Pending Deletion.”
May 31, 2027	Files owned by alums class of ‘26 and earlier will be labeled “Pending Deletion”.
Starting on July 30, 2027	Files that have been labeled for at least 60 days will become inaccessible to collaborators, but remain recoverable in emergencies for an additional period of time.
November 27, 2027	Files owned by alums class of ‘26 and earlier will be deleted from Google.
July 30, 2028	Other labeled files that have been inaccessible for at least 365 days will be deleted and no longer recoverable.

LITS highly encourages you to read our instructions article thoroughly as the answers to many questions are provided.

If after reviewing it you have follow up questions or you need support, please open a Google Drive support ticket. If you'd like to meet with someone, please share that in your ticket description so we can include that as part of the ticket follow up.

LITS is also planning to host a series of work-along style sessions over the course of the clean up period for people who want some hands-on support getting started. Stay tuned for more details.

To prevent similar backlog issues in the future, LITS will automate the labeling and deletion process starting in January 2027.

While the clean up efforts remain ongoing, files will not become inaccessible prior to the July 30th, 2027 date.

	Google account suspended and Files are labeled "Pending Deletion"	Google files become inaccessible to collaborators	Google account and files deleted
Continuing faculty, visiting faculty, and faculty affiliates	30 days after end date	60 days after label is applied	365 days after end date
Continuing staff, temporary staff, contractors and other contingent workers	Immediately after end date	60 days after label is applied	365 days after end date
Alums class of '26 and prior	May 31st, 2027	July 30th, 2027	November 27th, 2027
Alums class of '27 and forward	1 year after degree conferral date	60 days after label is applied	18 months after degree conferral date (180 days after account is suspended and label is applied)
Withdrawn students (students who withdraw after attending)	60 days after withdrawal is processed by the Registrar's Office	60 days after label is applied	240 days after withdrawal date
Deferred/Melted students (students with withdraw prior to attending)	14 days after withdrawal date is processed by Registrar's Office	60 days after account is suspended and label is applied	240 days after withdrawal date
Alum Association Board Members, Alum Association Committee Chairs, and Trustees	Immediately after volunteer term ends (unless it's still within a year of the alum's graduation)	60 days after account is suspended and label is applied	365 days after volunteer term end date

Going forward, files owned by former employees’ Google accounts will continue to be labeled “Pending deletion” following their departure.

Starting in January, an automatic notice of this will be sent to the employee’s supervisor. If someone you work with leaves, you will have 60 days after their departure (or until July 30th, 2027, whichever is later) to identify and move important shared Google Drive documents owned by their Google account.

Even better - start using Google shared drives now for collaborative projects to minimize disruption due to turnover.

LITS recommends using Google shared drives to lessen the impact of your departure on Google Drive file access. Shared drives allow files to be created and shared without tying them to an individual owner, so they can persist as people come and go.

For any files or folders that are not moved to a shared drive or transferred to a different owner prior to your departure, your collaborators will have 60 days (or until July 30th, 2027, whichever is later) to move them to a shared drive or copy them before they will become inaccessible.

Google Drive Cleanup and Deletion Efforts

A backlog of Google Drive storage

Help LITS clean up!

What's the timeline for the cleanup process?

How can I take action to preserve important files?

How can I or my department get help with this process?

What will this process look like in the future, once current clean up efforts are concluded?

What should I do in the future if an employee I’ve worked with leaves the College?

How do I ensure that Google Drive files I create will remain available to my collaborators if I leave the College?

What if I have more questions?