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UW-Madison Google Workspace - Unorganized Files
This document will cover what unorganized (orphaned) files are, how to recover them, and how to prevent them.
- What is an unorganized file?
- How do I recover an unorganized file?
- How do I prevent unorganized files?
What is an unorganized file?
An unorganized (orphaned) file is a file that is not visible in a user’s My Drive folder structure.
This typically happens when a folder that contains a user's file is deleted by the folder's owner. Orphaned files can also occur when a person leaves UW-Madison and their UW-Madison Google Workspace account is deleted.
For example, if User A owns a file inside of Shared Folder that is owned by User B, if the Shared Folder is deleted by User B, the file owned by User A becomes unorganized:
How do I recover an unorganized file?
- Log in to the UW-Madison Google Workspace: UW-Madison Google Workspace - Log in
- Search for is:unorganized owner:me in Google Drive
- On the row of the unorganized file, select
> Organize > Move and select a destination where you would like to move the file.
How do I prevent unorganized files?
The easiest way to prevent unorganized files is by moving shared files and folders into a Shared Drive. Files cannot become unorganized in a Shared Drive since the Shared Drive owns all files and folders inside of it.