How to move the data from an employee's computer when they have left the job

Whenever possible, supervisors should talk with the person who is leaving his position to determine what data is important to retain and where it is located. This should include email, contacts, and any mailbox ownership he may have had. 

• Sometimes it will be necessary for supervisors to acquire the data from a previous employee's computer after he/she has left the University. The easiest way to transfer the data is to copy it to external media, such as a blank CD or a flash drive.
  

While the location of the stored documents depends entirely on how the previous computer user organized his files, there are two locations where people generally store their files:

• On a PC, start by looking in the My Documents folder. A shortcut for My Documents can usually be found in the Start menu. Many people also save their documents in folders on their Desktop, so be sure to look there. If you do not find what you are looking for in these two locations, try doing a search of the contents of the entire hard drive for the document type, such as .xls or .doc.

• On a Mac, start by looking in the Documents folder. An alias for the Documents folder can usually be found on the left side bar after double-clicking the hard drive icon. Also, look for folders or documents left on the Desktop. If you do not find what you are looking for in these two locations, try doing a search of the contents of the entire hard drive for the document type, such as .xls or .doc.