8 min read

Admin's guide to managing doc transfers

Admin best practices to keep docs alive after someone leaves your company.

Some features mentioned are only available on the Enterprise plan.

Avoid disruptions when changes occur

As an Org admin or workspace content admin, your responsibility is to ensure that when doc owners leave the organization, their docs get quickly transferred to a new Maker. This is important because when a maker is deactivated, after 7 days the docs will become read-only and inoperable for everyone at your company until they are transferred to a new owner.

What 's covered:

Options for handling transfers
Considerations that impact transferring docs.
Steps to transfer docs

What you'll use:

Org admin settings (Enterprise only)
SCIM (Enterprise only)
Workspace admin settings

What you need to know

When a user is deactivated or de-provisioned through SCIM, their docs become read-only after 7 days. A read-only doc can still be viewed, but it can no longer be edited, which may disrupt your team's workflows if the doc is actively used. To help prevent this, admins can allow Doc Makers who already have edit access to a doc owned by a deactivated user to either claim ownership themselves or request ownership for admin approval. Any public doc (including docs in public folders) or any doc that has been shared with at least one other person can be transferred to a new owner. Private docs that were never shared cannot be transferred and will be deleted instead. If you're on an Enterprise plan and need to transfer these private docs rather than delete them, please contact Support. Keep in mind that the new owner must be, or will become, a Doc Maker. Refresh yourself on our best practices for managing makers

1. Who is responsible for handling doc transfers?

If the current doc owner is still with the company, we recommend they transfer the docs themselves, as they will be most knowledgeable as to who the doc should be transferred to. Doc owners should follow these steps to prepare the doc for transfer and execute the transfer. If the current doc owner has already left, org admins or workspace content admins need to transfer docs. You can transfer docs one by one or do a bulk transfer following the steps mentioned below. Send the New doc owner checklist to the new doc owner(s). This checklist will guide them through becoming familiar with the doc, and reconfiguring any potentially broken integrations and/or automations.

2. Doc transfer options for admins

When choosing who to transfer docs to, admins have two options: transferring the docs in bulk, or transferring the docs one by one. Each option has pros and cons. Let's dive in.

Transfer in bulk

This is the option most admins opt for. If transferring in bulk, we typically recommend transferring to a team lead or manager who can then find the appropriate permanent owner for the doc (if it’s not them). Learn more doc transfers.

Pros:

Quickest method.
A team lead or manager is likely to be familiar with the doc and it’s processes, and so they should be able to determine the appropriate long-term doc owner.

Cons:

There may be docs with sensitive information that shouldn’t be made visible to the team lead or manager.
If the team lead or manager is not familiar with Superhuman Docs, there may be a learning curve for them to properly own the doc.

Transfer one by one

If no single point of contact makes sense to own all of the docs or some docs shouldn’t be transferred, you can transfer docs one by one as the admin. With this method, you will decide on the appropriate new owner(s) by looking at member roles/activity or reviewing doc ownership requests via the org admin settings. This is a good option if you are familiar with the team or process that the doc is about. If not, we recommend option one. Learn more about transferring docs.

Pros:

More discrepancy in what docs and information get transferred, and to whom. This is important if there is sensitive information within the docs.

Cons:

Can take a longer time to go through every doc, leaving docs in a read-only state for longer.
If you aren’t familiar with the individual or team, you may be uncertain as to who the best owner is.

Doc Tip

If you (the admin) are a Doc Maker, you can first make yourself the doc owner to prevent the docs from being read-only. Then, you can take your time in making the appropriate transfer.

3. Managing doc transfer requests

If a user departs without transferring their docs, you can allow Doc Makers on their team to either self-claim ownership or request to become the doc owner. As an admin, you have the ability to approve or deny these requests. Learn more here.

Now what?

Here are some other relevant resources for admins who are learning about their role or just trying to learn more about docs. Check 'em out!

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