Leaving Tulane · Transfer Your Files Before Graduation
AY 2025–2026
A Graduating Student Guide

Leaving
Tulane.
Take your
files with you.

When student account access ends, you may lose files stored in Tulane Box, Microsoft 365 (OneDrive), Adobe Creative Cloud, and Zoom cloud recordings. This guide walks through how to move what matters into accounts that you own — before graduation.

AudienceGraduating Students
Read Time~ 10 Minutes
Last UpdatedAY 2025–2026
01
Section One

Before Your Tulane Account Closes

When your student account access ends, you may lose access to files stored in Tulane-provided cloud services. This includes Tulane Box, Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, Outlook), Adobe Creative Cloud, and Zoom cloud recordings. Tulane recommends moving everything you want to keep before graduation.

Important — Shared access is not the same as ownership. For Box, transfer ownership when possible. For OneDrive, Microsoft does not provide an ownership-transfer button between work/school and personal accounts, so you must create a copy in an account you own. For Adobe, use the official Student File Transfer tool before your access ends.
Heads up — When creating personal Box, Microsoft, or Adobe accounts, do not use your Tulane alumni email address. Use a permanent personal email (Gmail, iCloud, Outlook.com, etc.) so you keep control of these accounts long-term.

Box supports changing the owner of a folder. This is the cleanest way to move Box content to a personal Box account without downloading and re-uploading it.

Before you begin — Create or sign into a personal Box account using a non-Tulane email address. If a folder contains Tulane institutional data, transfer that content to the appropriate Tulane faculty or staff member instead of a personal account.

Open the Box folder you own

Log into Tulane Box and open a top-level folder that you own. For loose files, first create a folder such as Files to Transfer, move the loose files into it, then transfer that folder.

Tulane Box
ShareMore
Studio ProjectsOwner: me
Portfolio FilesOwner: me
Start with folders you own

Add your personal Box account as a collaborator

Click Share or Invite People. Invite your personal email address as a collaborator on the folder.

Share folder

Open Manage People / Collaborators

From the folder, open the collaborators list. This may appear as Manage People, Collaborators, or a people icon depending on the Box view.

Collaborators
tulane.user@tulane.eduOwner
personal.email@example.comEditor
Personal account must be listed here

Change your personal account to Owner

In the permissions dropdown for your personal account, choose Owner and confirm. Box will make the personal account the new owner and downgrade the Tulane account to Editor.

If Box does not allow external ownership transfer, or the folder restricts outside collaborators, contact Tulane IT before your account closes.

Change permissions

Confirm the warning. Tulane account will no longer be the owner.

Okay

Verify from your personal Box account

Sign into your personal Box account and confirm the folder now shows you as the owner. After confirming, remove your Tulane account as a collaborator if you no longer need it attached.

Personal Box
Studio ProjectsOwner: me
Confirm ownership — not just shared access

OneDrive does not provide a true ownership-transfer button from a Tulane work/school account to a personal Microsoft account. The goal is to create a new copy inside your personal OneDrive.

Recommended method — Use the OneDrive sync app with both your Tulane account and personal Microsoft account added. This is more reliable than relying on browser-only sharing, especially between work/school and personal accounts.

Add both accounts to the OneDrive sync app

On your computer, open OneDrive settings and add your personal Microsoft account. You should see both OneDrive - Tulane University and your personal OneDrive in File Explorer or Finder.

File Explorer / Finder
OneDrive - Tulane UniversitySchool
OneDrive - PersonalPersonal
Both accounts visible side by side

Copy files from Tulane OneDrive

Open OneDrive - Tulane University. Select the folders and files you want to keep, then choose Copy. Microsoft recommends copy/paste instead of drag/drop because it is less likely to move files into the wrong place.

OneDrive – Tulane University
CopyPasteShare
Class FilesSchool account
Final PortfolioSchool account
Copy the files — do not just share

Paste into your personal OneDrive

Open your personal OneDrive folder and paste the files there. OneDrive will sync the copied files to your personal Microsoft account.

OneDrive – Personal
CopyPasteNew Folder
Graduation ArchivePersonal account
Paste into a personal-owned location

Confirm the copy online

After syncing finishes, sign into your personal OneDrive on the web and confirm the copied files are visible and open correctly.

Important: Copied files are new files. Sharing links, version history, and some metadata may not carry over.

Personal OneDrive Web
Class FilesOwner: personal account
Final PortfolioOwner: personal account
Open important files to verify

Optional browser method for small sets of files

If the browser shows Copy to for files shared with your personal account, you may be able to copy them into your personal OneDrive from the web. This option may not appear consistently between Tulane work/school accounts and personal Microsoft accounts, so use the sync app method when possible.

OneDrive Web
Copy toDownloadShare
Choose a destination Copy here

Adobe provides an official tool — Student File Transfer — that copies creative assets between your school Adobe account and a personal Adobe account. This is the recommended path for graduating students.

Storage limits — A free personal Adobe account includes 5 GB of cloud storage. If your school account holds more, the transfer tool will warn you and let you pick which files to copy. Larger archives should be backed up locally as well.
Already discontinued — Adobe ended Creative Cloud Synced Files for personal accounts on Feb 1, 2024 and for most enterprise accounts on Oct 1, 2024. What still works for graduating students is Cloud Documents (per-app cloud-saved files), Libraries, Portfolio, and Behance.

Open Adobe Student File Transfer

Go to helpx.adobe.com/enterprise/using/migrate-student-assets.html and start the transfer flow. You will need to sign into both your Tulane Adobe account and a personal Adobe account.

If you do not have a personal Adobe account, the tool will prompt you to create one with a non-Tulane email address.

Adobe — Student File Transfer

Copy files between your school and personal accounts

Choose “Transfer your school files”

Select files to copy

Adobe shows a file picker with thumbnails. Use the filter to view by asset type (Cloud Documents, Photos, Libraries, etc.). Select what you want to keep. The tool warns you if your selection exceeds the destination account’s available storage.

Select your files
All typesCloud DocsLibraries
Thesis Layout.psd120 MB
Studio Final.indd340 MB
Brand Library.cclib40 MB
Watch the storage meter near the top

Confirm and start the transfer

Adobe checks for duplicates and shows a summary. Confirm to begin. Larger transfers run in the background; you will receive an email when they complete.

Confirm transfer
Ready to transfer

3 files · 500 MB total
From: Tulane (school)
To: personal.email@example.com

Start transfer

Visit graduation.adobe.com for ongoing access

Adobe operates a graduation portal at graduation.adobe.com with discounted Creative Cloud individual plans for the first year after graduation. Use this if you want to keep editing — the free personal account does not include the Creative Cloud apps.

graduation.adobe.com

Creative Cloud, after graduation

Continue with a discounted plan for one year after you graduate.

See plans

Back up locally as a safety net

Even after the transfer, keep a local copy. Open each Adobe app, save important files as standard formats (.psd, .ai, .indd, .pdf) to your computer, then copy them to an external drive or your personal cloud storage. Project files referencing fonts or library assets may not render the same in a different account.

Adobe Portfolio sites can be migrated separately at portfolio.adobe.com; Behance profiles also have their own one-time transfer flow.

Save As — Local Drive
External Drive — Graduation ArchiveOwner: me
Personal Cloud (Box / OneDrive / Drive)Owner: me
Two copies, two locations

Tulane’s data management guidance lists Zoom cloud recordings alongside Box and OneDrive as services you lose access to at graduation. If you have studio reviews, defenses, lectures, or interviews you want to keep, download them before your account closes.

Sign into Tulane Zoom on the web

Go to tulane.zoom.us and sign in with your Tulane credentials. Open the Recordings tab.

Tulane Zoom — Recordings
Cloud RecordingsLocal
Studio Final Review — Apr 221.2 GB
Thesis Defense — May 1800 MB

Download each recording

Open a recording and use the Download button to save the video, audio, chat log, and transcript. Repeat for every recording you want to keep.

Recordings can be large. Save to a location with enough space — an external drive or your personal cloud storage works well.

Recording Details
Download (4 files)ShareDelete
Video (MP4)1.1 GB
Audio (M4A)40 MB
Transcript (VTT)120 KB
Chat (TXT)4 KB
06
Section Six

Final Checklist

  • I created personal Box, Microsoft, and Adobe accounts using a permanent personal email (not my Tulane alumni email).
  • I transferred ownership of Box folders to my personal Box account, and confirmed each folder shows me as Owner.
  • I copied OneDrive files into my personal OneDrive using the sync app, and confirmed they synced successfully on the web.
  • I used Adobe Student File Transfer to copy Cloud Documents and Libraries to a personal Adobe account.
  • I downloaded Zoom cloud recordings I want to keep (video, audio, transcript).
  • I saved a local backup of important files to an external drive or personal cloud storage.
  • I confirmed important files open correctly from my personal accounts.
  • I updated shared links or sent new links from my personal accounts where needed.
Remember — Files that remain owned by your Tulane account may be lost when the account is deactivated, even if they were previously shared with another account.