FAQs: How to manage users for your Google Workspace account

[Lauren_vdv]

Earlier this year, the Google Workspace Team hosted a series of “Meet the Expert” webinars designed to help Google Workspace admins make the most of their account and set their organization up for success.

This session focused on how to manage users for your Google Workspace account. The experts covered how to:

• Add a user to Google Workspace
• Manage users in the Admin Console
• View and restore a recently deleted user
• Add and update users in bulk
• Download user files to validate updates
• Transfer unmanaged users to Google Workspace

In case you missed it, no worries! We’ve documented all the questions and answers that were covered during the session for easy reference.

If you have any questions that are not addressed here, please comment directly below and our team (or someone from the Community) can help you out. Plus, follow @AskWorkspace on Twitter to receive timely support and quick self-help tips. 

How do I manage a user’s account after they've left the company? What security measures do I need to take to prevent access? And how do I get access to the inbox and/or migrate the inbox to another account?

There are a few primary options:

1. Transfer the user data by following the instructions in the user deletion process
2. Archive the user data with an Archive User (AU) license (add the user to archive and specify how long the data should be retained)
3. Redirect email messages sent to the former employee's email to a different email address using address maps

In any case, keep your organization's data safe by following best practices, like wiping the user's mobile devices, resetting their sign-in cookies, or revoking their security keys. For details, go to Maintain data security after an employee leaves.

The table below provides an overview of options to preserve/manage former employee data. Refer to the links in the data source column for more detailed information and next steps.

Data source/option	Google Takeout	In-app export & import	Data migration service	Google Drive transfer	During user deletion	Data export tool	Export with Google Vault	Archived User License
Who can do it?	User	User or Admin	Admin	Admin	Admin	Admin	Admin	Admin
Email	✅		✅			✅	✅ (1)	✅
Calendar	✅	✅			✅	✅		✅
Chat	✅					✅	✅ (1)	✅
Contacts	✅	✅				✅
Drive folders and files, including Meet recordings	✅	✅		✅	✅	✅	✅ (1)(2)	✅
Groups	✅					✅	✅ (1)	✅
Keep	✅ (1)					✅ (1)		✅
Voice	✅					✅ (1)	✅ (1)	✅ (1)

Notes:

(1) Export only; no import.

(2) Files only; no folders.

(3) When a user leaves your organization, you can delete their account. Super administrators can transfer a user's files and data to a new owner. If you don't transfer the content to another user, the content is deleted.

I have my personal Google account and my Google Business account. How do I link those together and use them both under the Business account?

Use the transfer tool to migrate unmanaged users (the personal Google account) to your Google Business account. If the unmanaged user accepts the invitation (in this case, your personal Google account), then the Admin is able to manage that account and its data. 

More information about how to use the transfer tool to migrate unmanaged users is in this help article here.

I'm unable to add a user and I can’t see the three dots menu or the "add user" button. How do I fix this issue?

There a few possible causes of this and actions you can take accordingly:

1. Internal Google issue: contact Technical Support
2. Browser issue: clear cache and cookies 
3. Use the bulk create users option, which can also be used for a single user
4. Use Admin SDK API to add users 
5. Check if you need to zoom out so the three dots or the buttons show up

How does one effectively create and grant user access to a team-wide "email group" like "support@domain.com" where everyone with access will be able to also tag/filter all support emails accordingly?

To do this, you'll want to create a Google Group. Learn how to create a group, add all the pertinent users to the group, and manage group settings in this help article here. From there, we suggest making your group a Collaborative Inbox, where group members can take and assign conversations and perform other collaborative tasks. Learn more about Collaborative Inboxes here.

How can you have “Middle name” as a field in your user profile?

As an admin, you can store organization-specific information about your users, such as middle name, location, or employee start date, in addition to the standard information, such as employee ID and title, in a user's profile. To store this additional information, you create custom attributes.

When you create a custom attribute, you can specify whether the information is visible to all users in your organization or just to administrators and the individual user.

I'm upgrading from G Suite legacy to a Business Plus account. How will this affect my users?

Upgrading from your G Suite legacy free edition to Google Workspace will only take you a few short steps and is not disruptive to your end users. No changes will be made to your user accounts or data when upgrading to Google Workspace. Additional details and features available with a Business Plus account can be seen here.

How does one set the user signature box globally across the organization?

You can add the same signature or message to everyone's emails in these ways:

1. Give everyone a default signature using a Gmail API 
   Note: If you have a legacy edition you need to upgrade to Google Workspace to get this feature
2. Add a standard footer to the end of outgoing messages

Can admin set up a user template that pre-configures new user settings in order to streamline the onboarding?

Google doesn’t currently have any such feature. You may be able to find a third-party tool to accomplish this in the Google Workspace Marketplace. We recommend using the bulk create option, as doing so allows you to populate multiple users’ information at once.

When migrating an old user account to a new user, and setting the old user email as the new user's alias, the old user's photo appears in the new user's profile. How do I delete this pic?

As your organization's administrator, you can change or remove a user's profile photo at any time. 

Are managers or admins able to search archived users' email accounts? Or do you have to unarchive them to search their email history?

When you archive a user, Google safely maintains the user’s Google Workspace services data and makes it available in Google Vault. The data is protected according to Vault retention rules and holds, and you can search and export it. Learn more about how Vault works here.

Is there a way to eliminate the mandatory password for using email on iPhones?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​​​​​​​As an administrator, you can make changes to users' password requirements. However, for security purposes, it's recommended to always request a password.