To export Google Workspace data, an eligible super admin opens the Admin console, goes to Data export and sets up a full-organization export. Google makes it available no earlier than 48 hours after you start it. Keep the official export instructions open while you work.
Which route to use
| Route | Use it when | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Admin console Data Export | You want everything for the firm | Data for all users and shared drives |
| Google Vault | Your edition includes Vault and you only need specific mailboxes, dates or search terms | The services and accounts you search, as PST or mbox for mail |
| Google Takeout | You are exporting one person's own data | A page where a person signs in to their own Google Account and downloads their data |
Before you start, read How to export your HubSpot CRM data and How to export your QuickBooks Online data.
Who runs it and how long it takes
- Admin console Data Export: a super admin whose account is at least 30 days old (unless the organization is younger) with 2-Step Verification on. Google says the admin account needs Google Cloud turned on to access exported data. Google says the organization must have an active Google Workspace subscription, and that core-service data is excluded from the export if the subscription is canceled or suspended. For organisations with FedRAMP Authorization or more than 1,000 users, Google says to contact support first.
- Vault: a Vault user with Manage Matters, Manage Searches and Manage Exports. Google says that if Vault is included with your edition, all users and admins are automatically assigned a Vault license. Google says Vault is included in Business Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Frontline Standard and Plus, and Education editions; for other editions it says to contact Google Sales about compatible editions.
- Timing: Data export typically takes 72 hours but can take up to 14 days, and cancelling one needs Google support.
Admin console Data Export
- Sign in to the Google Admin console as the super admin.
- Open Menu > Data > Data import & export > Data export.
- Select Set up new export and give it a name.
- Under Scope, choose Export all user data for the entire organization. Filtering by group, organisational unit or up to 100 users exists only on Assured Controls, Assured Controls Plus, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus; on other editions use the full export or a single user. For an organisational unit, only direct members are exported, not child units.
- Select Start export. Google emails every super admin that an export is pending.
- Read the status in the Data export table: Google lists Complete, Errors ("Some data is missing from the archive") and Failed ("No data was exported"). If your export completed with errors, Google says you can run a remediation. When it is complete, open Actions > View Archive and download the ZIPs from the Cloud Storage bucket. Losing super admin rights during an export can cancel it. Google deletes the ZIPs 60 days after the export started.
Google Vault export
- Open vault.google.com as a Vault user.
- Select Matters > Create, name the matter, and select Create.
- In Search, pick the service (Gmail, Drive, Chat), the accounts and the date range you need. Select Count first to see the size.
- Select Export, name it, and choose PST or mbox for mail. Google says special characters in the name of an export can prevent you from downloading it. Google says to have no more than 20 simultaneous exports in progress across your organization. If multi-party approval for Vault exports is turned on, a message tells you that a second admin needs to approve the export request.
- Watch the Exports tab. If a large export is not finished after 24 hours, Vault stops it and you get an Export contains partial results message. You can download what Vault retrieved, along with a CSV file that lists the accounts that weren't exported. To resume, click Continue export and give the export a new name.
- Download within 15 days of the export's start.
What you get
- A zip file per user from Data Export; shared drives are included in the full-organization export.
- From Vault, the export files plus a CSV file that lists the accounts of message owners included in the export, with the number of messages owned by each account.
- Deleted mail and files only where a Vault retention rule or hold kept them before they were purged.
- Accounts created in the 24 hours before the export started are left out.
Review on your computer before you upload
Your Google Workspace export stays on your computer once you download it. Check it against the scope you chose in the Admin console before you do anything else with it.
- Write down the route, the scope, the services and the date range you chose, and keep that note with the files.
- Open the ZIP files and check that each user you expected has a folder. Google says the Data Export gives "a list of user folders that contain a zip file of that user's data".
- For a Vault mail export, open the CSV file that lists the accounts of message owners included in the export. Compare the counts with the Count you ran before the export.
- Check what Google says each route leaves out. Data for user accounts created within 24 hours before the export starts is not in a Data Export, and Data Export leaves out deleted data unless Vault policies retained it.
You, or whoever runs your systems, run the removal tool on your own computer and review flagged items there. You upload only the cleaned package; your original export, review queue and review decisions stay on your computer. We accept the package after checking its manifest, file hashes, completed review and specified personal-data patterns. These checks do not guarantee that all personal data has been removed. See how personal data is removed.
Documents often live outside Google as well. If your team keeps pages in Notion or Confluence, the Notion export guide and the Confluence export guide cover those workspaces.