Transferring your professional photos to your personal account

As part of a departure (retirement, end of contract, or mobility), your professional Google Workspace account will probably be deleted. To avoid losing your photos and videos stored on Google Photos, you must transfer them to a personal Google account (@gmail.com).

This guide explains how to use the "Partner Sharing" feature, the simplest and fastest method to copy your entire library at once.

This guide explains how to use the "Partner Sharing" feature, the simplest method to copy your entire library at once.

📋 Prerequisites

• Access to your professional account (the one containing the photos).
• A personal Google account (or create one for free at accounts.google.com).
• Ensure your personal account has enough storage space to accommodate the photos.

🛠 Step 1: From your professional account (Sending)

This step is used to "invite" your personal account to access your photos.

1. Open photos.google.com on a computer and log in with your professional account.
2. Click the Settings icon (the gear icon in the top right).
3. Look for the Partner Sharing option and click it.
4. Click Get started.
5. Enter the email address of your personal account.
6. In the options, select "All photos".
7. Click Next, then Send invitation.

📥 Step 2: From your personal account (Receiving and Saving)

Warning: This step is the most important. If you only view the photos, they will disappear when your pro account is deleted.

1. Log out or open an incognito window to log in to photos.google.com with your personal account.
2. Click the Sharing tab (in the left menu).
3. You should see an invitation from your professional account. Click on it.
4. Crucial Action: Once in the shared album, click the Save button (often represented by a cloud with a down arrow or "Save to library").
5. Go to the Settings of this personal account, then to "Partner Sharing," and ensure that "Auto-save" is enabled for all photos.

✅ Step 3: Final verification

Before your professional account is deleted, perform this security check:

1. Wait a few hours (or days if you have thousands of photos) for the transfer to complete.
2. Log in to your personal account on another device or browser.
3. Go to the main "Photos" tab: if you see all your professional photos appearing among your personal ones, the transfer is successful.
4. Once you are sure everything is there, you can stop the sharing from the professional account if you wish.

💡 Important tips

• Storage space: Google offers 15 GB for free. If needed, consider a Google One subscription.
• Albums: This method transfers photos but does not automatically recreate albums.
• Videos: They are also transferred using this method.
• Timing: Don't wait until your last day; the process can take some time.