If your company is shutting down, act before your account is disabled: identify the records you are allowed to keep, get written instructions from the authorized IT, records, privacy, HR, successor, receiver or other custodian, use the platform’s supported export process, and verify the resulting files. Access to an account, permission to make a copy, and the right to retain that copy are separate questions. Never forward an entire mailbox or bulk-copy a company drive without authorization.
Start with authorization, not downloading
Work email and cloud files can contain employer records, customer information, confidential material, regulated data and official records. A company closure may also involve a buyer, successor, insolvency practitioner, receiver or records custodian. The person who can authorize an export may therefore be different from your former manager.
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Ask for written guidance while the company still has an official contact. Request the name and contact details of the person responsible for IT, records, privacy, HR or the successor organization, and ask exactly what you may export, where it may be stored and how long you may retain it. Written instructions protect you from guessing about ownership or confidentiality.
Separate three questions in your request:
- Can I access it? Your sign-in may stop working immediately when employment ends.
- Can I copy it? An administrator may need to approve or perform the export, even if you can still view the data.
- Can I retain the copy? A copy may remain company property or be subject to a legal hold, privacy obligation, contract or industry rule.
Laws and employment agreements differ by jurisdiction and industry. This is practical continuity guidance, not a determination of ownership or legal rights. If instructions conflict or the company is in insolvency proceedings, ask the authorized custodian or qualified legal and records professional before copying anything.
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What to do as soon as you learn the company is closing
- Find the deadline. Record the announced shutdown date, your last working day, the planned account-disable date and any date for surrendering devices. Treat an unconfirmed date as urgent; administrators can disable access earlier than expected.
- Inventory what you need. Make two lists: personal or employment records you are seeking, and business records the company must preserve. Examples of personal or employment records can include your contract, pay statements, benefits documents, performance reviews and correspondence about your employment, but obtain approval before exporting them. Business records can include customer messages, invoices, project decisions, compliance material and shared-drive content.
- Send a written request. Ask the authorized contact what will be retained, what you may receive, the approved export method, the destination allowed for the copy and the deadline. Ask whether a legal hold, regulatory retention rule or successor process applies.
- Ask the custodian to preserve business data. Request preservation of shared mailboxes, team sites, shared drives, records under retention policies and content needed by customers or a successor. Do not make your personal copy the company’s only preservation measure.
- Prepare secure storage. Ensure an authorized destination has enough capacity for the export. Keep sensitive material out of an unmanaged personal account unless the custodian expressly permits that destination.
Choose the correct preservation route
There are two legitimate routes. A user-initiated export is convenient when the administrator allows it. An administrator or custodian export is required when controls, ownership, retention or the urgency of the closure make self-service inappropriate.
| Route | Authorization and permissions | Likely scope and metadata | Timing and retention | Use it when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| User-initiated export | You have written permission and the service permits downloads for your managed account. | Usually limited to products and items exposed by the export tool; shared ownership, versions and administrative metadata may not follow. | Must finish before sign-in is disabled; an archive can reflect a point in time rather than every later change. | You need specifically approved personal or employment records and the administrator has confirmed the method. |
| Administrator or custodian preservation/export | An authorized administrator, records officer, privacy officer or successor performs or directs the operation. | Can address organizational mailboxes, shared files, retention settings, legal holds and ownership transfers that a user cannot control. | Can continue after your account is disabled if the tenant and licensing support it, but policies and deadlines still govern. | Self-service export is blocked, the data is organizational, or the company needs a defensible business archive. |
Ask which route will preserve file versions, sharing relationships, mailbox folders, attachments and audit or retention information. A downloaded document may be usable while still losing history or ownership context.
Microsoft 365: mailbox and OneDrive offboarding
Microsoft’s administrator offboarding documentation describes separate procedures for a former employee’s mailbox and OneDrive. The relevant steps require appropriate administrative permissions; a normal user should not attempt to bypass tenant controls.
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Microsoft’s guidance describes saving mailbox contents as a PST through an administrator-managed process. Ask the administrator to perform the export or to authorize your exact self-service steps, and specify which folders or messages are permitted. A PST is an archive file that must be stored securely and tested after creation.
Do not automatically forward the mailbox to a personal address. Forwarding can expose other employees’ messages, customer information and regulated material, and it may omit mailbox structure or retention metadata. If you need a small set of employment messages, request those messages through the approved process instead of exporting everything.
For administrator procedures, see Microsoft’s mailbox offboarding guidance and the former-employee overview.
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Preserve OneDrive files and ownership
An administrator can grant another employee access to a former employee’s OneDrive and Outlook data, then move or copy approved documents. Identify whether the files are personal work product, shared organizational records or material belonging to customers. Ask the custodian to preserve shared locations and ownership rather than relying on a copy in your personal storage.
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The detailed procedure is in Microsoft’s OneDrive and Outlook access guidance.
Do not plan around a universal 30-day window
Microsoft’s current administrator documentation says deleted former-employee OneDrive and Outlook content is retained for 30 days by default in the described Microsoft 365 scenario. Licensing, tenant configuration, retention policies, holds and administrator actions can change that result. It is a platform example, not a promise that every company or service will keep your data for 30 days. Obtain the actual deletion and retention dates from the administrator.
Google Workspace: Takeout, Drive and Gmail limits
Use Google Takeout only when the organization permits it
Google Account Help describes Takeout archives for products including Gmail, documents and calendars. A typical authorized workflow is to select the permitted products, choose an archive format and size, select an approved delivery destination, create the archive and download it before access ends. The available products and destinations depend on account and administrator settings.
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Start with Google’s instructions for downloading your data. Google lists cloud destinations such as Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and Box, but do not send company information to any destination unless the custodian has approved it. A local disk controlled by you may be appropriate for an authorized copy if confidentiality and storage requirements allow it.
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Managed-account restrictions are common
Work and school administrators can limit what users may download. Google’s Drive guidance says some managed-account data may be unavailable for user download, and Gmail’s guidance points to administrator-controlled exports for organizational data. If Takeout does not show the needed product, fails, or produces an incomplete scope, ask the administrator or successor to perform the export rather than trying another account or workaround.
Use the product-specific documentation for Google Drive exports and Gmail exports when the custodian directs you to those workflows.
Understand the archive’s point-in-time limits
Google warns that changes made after archive creation begins may not be included. Stop editing the relevant material when practical, note the archive start and completion times, and ask the administrator for a second or authoritative export if records changed during the process. Google also states: “If you download your Google data, it doesn’t delete it from Google’s servers.” Downloading therefore does not transfer ownership, remove the company’s copy or satisfy the company’s retention duty.
What to request from IT or the successor
A precise request is easier to approve than “send me everything.” Include the systems, date range, records and purpose, and ask for a response in writing. This checklist covers the decisions that most often cause loss or accidental disclosure:
- The exact account-disable and deletion dates for email, OneDrive, Drive, shared drives, collaboration sites and other services.
- Whether your account is subject to a legal hold, regulatory retention policy, litigation hold or records schedule.
- Which personal employment records you may receive and whether HR will provide them separately.
- Which business records must remain with the company, successor, receiver or agency.
- Whether an administrator will export the mailbox, preserve shared mailboxes and transfer ownership of shared files.
- Whether file versions, comments, permissions, audit history, labels and attachments will be retained.
- The approved destination, encryption requirement, storage duration and people allowed to access your copy.
- How to report a failed archive, missing file, unreadable PST or incomplete export before the account is deleted.
Verify the export before access ends
An export-complete message is not proof that every needed record is usable. Verify it while an administrator can still rerun the job:
- Keep the original archive unchanged. Record its filename, creation time, size, product scope and destination.
- Open representative files from each important folder, including office documents, PDFs, images, spreadsheets and compressed archives.
- Open the mailbox archive with an approved mail application or have the administrator validate it. Check several date ranges, folders, attachments and search terms.
- Compare a sample of critical files with the source. Look for missing attachments, broken links, truncated exports, lost comments and missing earlier versions.
- Check that the archive is complete enough for its stated purpose. A user export may omit shared content, administrative metadata or later changes.
- Report discrepancies immediately and request a corrected administrator export. Do not silently fill gaps by copying from another person’s account.
Store authorized copies securely and keep them usable
Use a location you control that has sufficient capacity and access protection. Encrypt the storage when appropriate, use a strong unique password, and limit access to people named in the written authorization. Keep the original archive unchanged and, if the custodian permits it, create a second backup in a separate secure location. An external hard drive can be a practical storage option for a large authorized archive, but the device itself must be protected and tracked.
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Maintain a simple record of what you received, when it was exported, who authorized it, where it is stored and when it should be deleted. Follow the company’s retention or disposal instructions. The Federal Trade Commission advises businesses to retain sensitive personal information only as long as needed, limit access and maintain security, retention and disposal policies; that guidance supports careful handling but does not establish an employee’s right to keep employer records. See the FTC’s data-protection guide.
Do not upload confidential company material to a personal email, consumer cloud account or unencrypted device merely because it is convenient. If the authorized destination later becomes inaccessible, ask the custodian for a new approved copy rather than creating an unauthorized duplicate.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Federal records require a separate rule
National Archives and Records Administration guidance applies to federal employees, not automatically to private-sector workers. It states: “Federal employees cannot take records with them when they leave.” Federal employees may be able to take personal materials and certain releasable copies, but must consult agency records staff or counsel before removing anything. The guidance was updated June 10, 2024, and is available in NARA’s Records Management Guidance for Federal Employees.
Private employers can have different rules, but the same practical separation is useful: keep personal employment documents distinct from official records, and obtain a records or legal determination when the boundary is unclear.
Common failure modes and the safe response
The account is disabled before you export
Contact the successor, receiver, HR records contact or administrator immediately and request an administrator-managed export. Do not attempt password recovery, access another person’s account or bypass security controls.
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Takeout or download is blocked
Save the error message and request written confirmation of the permitted method. Managed-account restrictions are an expected control, not an invitation to use a personal account. Ask the administrator to export the organizational data.
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The archive is missing recent changes
Note the archive start time and compare it with the last edits. Google warns that changes during archive creation may be omitted. Request a fresh or authoritative export and ask which timestamp the custodian treats as the record.
OneDrive history disappeared after a copy
Microsoft’s guidance cautions that a move or copy may keep only the latest version. Ask the administrator to restore or preserve version history through retention or records tooling; do not assume the copied file can recreate earlier versions.
You are unsure whether a message or file is personal
Do not copy it yet. Describe the item and its business context to the authorized records, privacy or legal contact, and follow the written decision. Customer, employee, health, financial, security and regulated information deserve particular caution.
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Keep the authorized archive available only for the approved purpose and period. If a successor needs the records, transfer them through the successor’s designated channel and document the handoff. If you discover that your copy contains material outside the authorization, stop sharing it and ask the custodian how to return or securely delete it. Conversely, if an employment or tax authority later requires a record, preserve the original archive and its provenance rather than editing the file.
The safest continuity plan is therefore procedural: written authorization, custodian-led preservation of business records, a supported export for specifically permitted material, verification before deletion and secure, time-limited storage afterward.
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