Google Drive Inventory Add-on

This Drive Inventory add-on provides users an inventory of the contents of their My Drive and Shared Drives for easy review of files that might need to be deleted, moved to a Shared Drive, moved elsewhere, or kept. It shows folders, file types, files, duplicates, size, creation date, and current items owned by the user.

Install and use the add-on

1. To install the add-on visit https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/ncsu_drive_inventory_addon/47548367971
   • The add-on is currently only available to NC State users.
   • If you encounter a 400 malformed error, you are not signed in to your @ncsu.edu Google account.
   • Switch accounts or open a different web browser, sign in to your NC State email account, and then access the link above.
2. Once installed, visit drive.google.com.
   • If required, expand the Drive sidebar by clicking the less than < button in the lower right corner of the screen.
3. Click the Drive Inventory icon represented by a red silhouette of a howling wolf in the Drive sidebar on the right side of the page.
4. Choose from the dropdown menu a drive to run the inventory report on.
   • The menu will show your My Drive and any Google Shared Drives created by or shared with you.
5. Click Start to begin.
   • The inventory add-on will run in the background.
   • Once complete, an email containing a link to the inventory spreadsheet will be sent to your account.
   • You can re-run the inventory at any time.
   • Each inventory spreadsheet is dated and time-stamped.

Review the Spreadsheet

Please review the “Read Me” tab to understand the spreadsheet items as you make decisions on these files and folders. 

• The Folders tab lists all folders in your My Drive/Shared Drive by size to help identify the folders you should focus on first.
• The FileTypes tab shows which file types in your My Drive/Shared Drive consume the most storage if you wish to focus on file types instead of folders.
• The Duplicates tab shows files that are exact copies, so they are consuming at least double the storage necessary.  Review this tab and replace any copies with shortcuts before deleting them.
• The Files tab contains all the files in your My Drive/Shared Drive found by the inventory process.  You can review this tab to find files that are:
  
  • Overshared - Review the SHARING_ACCESS and SHARING_PERMISSION columns for any files that are shared with a larger audience than you intended.  The group listed in SHARING_ACCESS can take the actions listed in SHARING_PERMISSON on the file.  If the item is a folder, then the SHARING_ACCESS and SHARING_PERMISSION settings apply to all items in the folder including other folders and their files.
    
    • PRIVATE - Only people explicitly granted permission can access. Sign-in required.
    • DOMAIN - Anyone with an NCSU account can find and interact with this file
    • DOMAIN_WITH_LINK - Anyone with an NCSU account can interact with this file if they have the link
    • ANYONE_WITH_LINK - Anyone, even users outside of NCSU can interact with this file if they have the link.  No sign-in is required.
    • ANYONE - Anyone on the Internet can find and access this file. No sign-in is required.
  • No longer needed - Review the LAST_UPDATED column to see when the file was last modified.  If it has been several years, it may be appropriate to delete the file.
    
    • Please see NC State's University Record Retention and Disposition Regulation (REG 01.25.12) for additional information and guidance.
  • Inside a folder owned by someone else - Review the FOLDER_OWNER column to see if you have added files to a folder owned by another person.  If you have added a file to a folder owned by another user, you still own that file unless you transfer it to them.  Ensure any files in shared folders should remain there or talk to your collaborators about moving these types of folders to Shared Drives to ensure no one loses access to the files.
    
    • Shared Drives at NC State