To effectively manage data and prevent accidental file deletion from former students, faculty and staff, the Google Service Team will begin labeling files in danger of deletion.

You will begin to notice a prominent ‘To be deleted’ label at the top of any Google native files (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.) beside their titles.  This is a notice that the file is owned by a former student, faculty, or staff and the file will be deleted soon if no action is taken.

Clicking on the label will provide additional information as well as a link to direct them to this web article.

To be deleted– Invalid Owner

This label refers to former faculty, staff and alumni students.

To open this Drive search in a new window and see your results, click To Be Deleted: Invalid Owner. 

To save the file, any user can take one of two steps:

1. For most files, especially those intended for many users, move the file into a shared drive.
2. If you only need access to the file, make a copy (File > Make a Copy).

To be deleted– Abandoned Shared Drive

This label refers to a shared drive with no valid manager and/or members.

To open this Drive search in a new window and see your results, click To Be Deleted: Abandoned Shared Drives.

To ensure this shared drive and contents within do not get deleted:

• Add an active manager
  • Submit the shared drive’s name and full URL  (see below for examples of both) to the Help Desk

To be deleted- No Valid Manager

This label refers to a shared drive without an active faculty or staff member as a Manager.  

To open this Drive search in a new window and see your results, click To Be Deleted: No Valid Manager.

To ensure this shared drive and contents within do not get deleted:

• Add an active manager
  • Submit the shared drive’s name and full URL (see below for examples of both) to the Help Desk

Search for Labels

(above: shared drive with name: In danger Shared Drive)

(above: URL from the shared drive)

To search for all the labeled files you have access to at once, you can use the search at drive.google.com:

1. Click the advanced search toggle at drive.google.com
2. In the Labels field, choose one of the three To Be Deleted labels
   
3. Click Search
4. Any files with the label will appear and you can move them or make copies as needed.

If you need assistance, contact your Local IT or the NC State Help Desk at 919.515.HELP (4357) or visit the NC State IT Service Portal.