How to Save Data When Leaving Work
You may feel great leaving work, but before you report to that coworker who always annoyed you, lifts his legs and does nothing for two weeks and leaves for sunset, you should think a little about what you want. take with you. No, probably not your awesome widescreen monitor, but what files and data – if any – you are legally allowed to carry out the door.
I don’t know your company’s policy on what you can and cannot do with your work, but if there’s no regulation that prohibits you from taking your projects with you (for example, your company won’t sue your ass if they find out ), then you should.
You will be able to save valuable job examples for future jobs you are applying for, not to mention what you have created at work that might help you in your future job (like your cheat sheet with incredible Excel formulas). And if you ever want to “borrow” old work you’ve done, like a presentation template, or brush up on how you built your marketing campaign, you’ll have this information at the ready.
Again, I cannot stress this enough – check your corporate policy to see what you are allowed to take with you when you leave. If you are working on confidential projects (for example, people at Apple), chances are your former company will be very unhappy with you and may be in lawsuits if they realize that you came out with documents that should remain in the ownership. Please don’t sue.
If your employer uses Google G Suite …
Assuming it’s not prohibited, getting all of your information from your company’s G Suite settings should be easy. Go to Google’s Download your data page and allow copy. I would download whatever you can just in case, but you can also limit your choices as you see fit.
Since it may take a while to create this archive, I recommend not trying on the very last day. Instead, consider creating an archive as part of your “last week”. Or, if you are worried that your company might shut you down or restart you earlier than you expected, after you report it, prepare and upload your archive before doing so.
If you are using Chrome or Firefox …
Assuming that you are one of the many, many people who use any of these popular browsers, I recommend spending some time exporting all of your bookmarks and open tabs before leaving your workplace. You may no longer need your company’s intranet link, but there are certainly plenty of useful work-related (or time-wasting) websites you would like to take with you to your next job.
In Chrome:
- Click the three-dot icon in the upper right corner of your browser.
- Hover over Bookmarks and click Bookmark Manager.
- In the Bookmark Manager, click the three dots icon in the upper right corner and select Export Bookmarks.
- Save your bookmarks .html file anywhere
In Firefox:
- Click the library icon – it looks like a stack of books on a shelf – click Bookmarks, and then click Show All Bookmarks.
- Click Import & Backup and then click Export Bookmarks to HTML.
- Save your bookmarks .html file anywhere
As for your open tabs, I recommend using an extension like OneTab ( Chrome , Firefox ) which will make it easy to combine all your open tabs into one, which you can then export as an easy to transport (and click) .HTML file full of links …
If you are using Microsoft Outlook …
Backing up your email is very easy. Really. It couldn’t be easier. In Outlook version 1910 (what I’m using is included with Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019):
- Click on the file
- Click “Open and Export”.
- Click on Import / Export.
- Select “Export to file” and click “Next”.
- Select Outlook Data File (.pst).
- Save the .PST file anywhere and open it later by importing it back to Outlook on another computer; a standalone mail application such as Thunderbird; or, if you prefer, a third party application that can view its contents).
If you are using Apple Mail …
Launch the app and get ready to export everything in it. The instructions are simple:
- Click the mailbox you want to export (for example, the entire mailbox and all its subfolders).
- Click Mailbox on the menu bar.
- Click on Export Mailbox.
- Select the folder where you want to place the .MBOX files.
- Repeat as needed for any other mailboxes you want to export.
If you are using Slack …
You must be a Slack owner or administrator to export Slack messages directly . (And when you do, you get .JSON files that you probably want to spruce up a bit.) Otherwise, you can use a paid tool like Backupery to Slack to export your conversations.
If you send a lot of messages to colleagues …
If you are talking to colleagues about business on your personal device, you have nothing to worry about. If you have an iPhone or Android provided by the company, then backing up your conversations will range from “simple” to “difficult”.
For Android, I always recommend trying the easy-to-use SMS Backup & Restore app. Transferring messages from your work device to your personal one will be easy . For iOS, you really don’t have a perfect solution. I would try an application like iExplorer or Phoneview and see where it leads .
If you use a bunch of cloud services …
Remember to collect your files before leaving. Buy a flash drive or external drive, plug it into whatever device you’re using, and copy whatever meaningful from the cloud storage – presumably the one associated with your work email or credentials – to a physical drive.
If you have a bunch of files somewhere on a network drive …
The same, but proceed with caution. As mentioned a long time ago, you’ll want to make sure you have permission to make copies of everything you’ve worked on during your time at the company; or at the very least, you want to make sure that whatever you do goes unnoticed. Failure to do so can have serious consequences .
While your employer probably won’t care if you save the PDF of that beautiful brochure you made for this project from your job’s cloud storage to a flash drive, any IT department worthy of their paycheck will likely notice. if you start consuming gigabytes and gigabytes. data – if not more – a few days before you leave the company. They may also not care if your company is big enough, but are you willing to take that risk?
At the very least, make sure you back up any personal data you’ve dumped to a network drive. Also, why did you do it? Do not store personal items on production servers.
While we’re on the subject of things to avoid, make sure you delete all of your personal information and data from your work laptop or desktop, but don’t wipe your device . What you’ve been doing at work is most likely the property of your employer, and while they might just wipe your cars when you leave, you don’t want to deal with a disgruntled lawyer – or what might happen from a lawsuit you lose.