Defensible eDiscovery Collection for Gmail & Google Workspace (Google Vault & Takeout)

Introduction

In modern litigation and investigations, law firm eDiscovery teams must defensibly collect email and cloud data while preserving its integrity. This guide provides a comprehensive, step-by-step manual for collecting Gmail and other Google Workspace data using Google Vault (for enterprise eDiscovery) and Google Takeout (for user-driven exports). It is written for legal and technical audiences, emphasizing best practices such as maintaining chain of custody, preserving metadata, ensuring data integrity, and obtaining proper user consent. We include detailed workflows, screenshots (where available), official documentation links, and key insights from Google's own tutorials (e.g., YouTube videos on installing Vault, using holds, and search/export). Scope: The guide covers configuring Google Vault (holds, retention, search, export of Gmail and Drive data in PST/MBOX), using Google Takeout for Gmail/Drive, and strategies to troubleshoot large or partial exports. Throughout, we highlight how to preserve evidence in a defensible manner, with attention to audit trails and legal compliance.

Google Vault vs. Google Takeout: An Overview

Before diving into procedures, it's important to understand when to use Google Vault versus Google Takeout and how they differ:

Table: Comparison of Google Vault and Google Takeout for eDiscovery purposes. The above table highlights that Google Vault is an enterprise eDiscovery tool with features like legal holds, audit logs, and targeted search/export capabilities, whereas Google Takeout is a user-driven data export tool lacking many of those defensibility features. In practice, Vault is preferred for organizational eDiscovery collections due to its ability to preserve data in place and document the collection process, while Takeout might be used in scenarios where Vault is not available or for individual personal account exports (with appropriate consent).

Workflow 1: Collecting Data Using Google Vault

Prerequisites: Ensure the account performing the collection has Google Vault access (Vault privileges assigned and a Vault license for the relevant user) and that the data to be collected is within Google Workspace. Confirm that any necessary legal hold is in place (we will implement holds in the steps below). The user whose data is being collected should be under hold or otherwise instructed not to delete anything until collection is complete. Also, verify you can log in to Google Vault with an authorized account. Log in to Google Vault: Vault has its own interface separate from standard Google apps. Navigate to vault.google.com and sign in with an account that has Vault privileges (or from the Google Admin console, under Apps > Google Workspace, you can find a shortcut to Vault). You should see the Google Vault dashboard where you can manage Matters, Retention, Holds, Searches, and Exports. Verify that you can see the Vault interface – if not, double-check that the account has the necessary privileges and a Vault license. Using Google Vault for eDiscovery: Step-by-Step – Now assume we have a specific case for which we need to collect data. We will create a Vault matter, place a hold on data, then perform a search and export the data. We will cover Gmail first (emails) and note differences for Google Drive files.

Step 1: Create a Matter for the Case

A "Matter" in Google Vault is like a case folder – it organizes holds, searches, and exports related to a particular investigation or lawsuit (Arora, 2022). All Vault actions must take place within a matter. In the Vault interface, click Matters in the left menu (if not already on the Matters screen). Then click Create (there will be a button labeled Create matter). Provide a name for the matter that identifies the case (e.g. "Doe v. Acme Corp – Email Collection") and an optional description (such as case number, scope, etc.). Click Create to finalize. You will be taken into the new matter's screen.

Tip: Use consistent naming conventions for matters to easily track them. Matters are only visible to Vault users who either have "View All Matters" rights or who you explicitly share the matter with. If needed, share the matter with other Vault users on your team (using the Share option in the matter) so they can assist in the eDiscovery process.

Verify Matter Creation: Once inside the matter, you should see tabs for Retention, Holds, Search, Exports, and Audit. At this stage, no holds or searches exist yet. All actions we do next (hold, search, export) will be contained under this matter. (The YouTube video "Installing Vault" emphasizes initial setup – having proper access – which corresponds to our prerequisites, and creating matters to organize your eDiscovery work.)

Step 2: Implement Legal Holds (Preserve Data)

Before searching or exporting, apply a hold on relevant data to ensure it isn't deleted. A hold in Vault is a preservation order for specific users' data; it overrides any retention rules and user deletions (Arora, 2022). Holds are usually applied to user accounts (custodians) involved in the case, and you can specify which service (Gmail, Drive, etc.) and scope (all data vs. a filtered subset) to preserve. In your matter, go to the Holds tab and click Create Hold. Give the hold a name (e.g. "Hold – John Doe Gmail"). Select the service to hold – for email choose Gmail, for files choose Drive (you will create separate holds for each service as needed). Add Accounts: You will be prompted to specify which accounts or organizational unit to apply the hold to. You can enter individual user email addresses (e.g. jdoe@company.com) for each custodian whose data needs preservation. Add all relevant custodians (users) who are subjects of the legal hold. (If there are many users to preserve, you have the option to hold an entire organizational unit or group. Be cautious with broad holds – holding an OU will preserve all accounts in that OU. Only use broad holds if you intend to preserve all data for all users in that unit.) In our example, we add the specific employees' email addresses to place their mail under hold. Set the Scope of the hold. For Gmail, you can choose to hold All data (which preserves all messages for those accounts) or specify a query to hold only certain data (e.g. emails matching certain terms or date range). If you have a clear scope (such as a date range or keyword filter provided by the legal team), you can use the Terms or Conditions field to narrow the hold. Otherwise, for broad preservation, select All data for that service. (Remember, a hold on "All data" ensures nothing is deleted from those accounts for that service, which is the safest approach initially.) Finalize the hold creation. Once applied, the hold will indefinitely preserve the specified data until you remove it. Verify Hold: After creating the hold, Vault will show it under the Holds tab for the matter. Confirm that the hold status is active and that it lists the correct accounts and services. At this point, the custodians' data is preserved in place – even if a user tries to delete emails or files, Vault will retain a copy due to the hold. (If the organization has existing retention policies, note that holds take precedence over retention rules. A retention policy might auto-delete data after X days, but anything on hold will be kept regardless of those rules. This ensures that relevant data cannot be purged while the hold is in effect.)

Step 3: Search for Data in Vault

With the hold in place, the next step is to search for the data we need to collect. Using Vault's search, we will identify the responsive content (emails or files) to export. In your matter, navigate to the Search tab. Choose the Service you want to search (e.g. Gmail for emails or Drive for files). If we are collecting emails first, select Gmail. Set Search Criteria: You can search across all held data or specify criteria. At minimum, enter a date range or keywords if provided by the legal team to limit to relevant emails. You can use search operators and terms just like in Gmail (e.g. from:alice@example.com AND has:attachment to find messages sent by Alice that have attachments). Vault supports advanced search operators for Gmail (like from:, to:, keywords, etc.) and for Drive (filename keywords, owners, file types, etc.). Use logical operators AND/OR for complex queries to make sure you capture exactly what is needed. If the legal team provided specific keywords or date limits, input those in the search Terms field. If not, and you need to collect broadly, you might search without additional terms to retrieve all items (bearing in mind this could be a large volume). Select the scope of accounts to search. You have a few options:

All accounts in the organization: (Only available if your role has permission and if searching all accounts is needed. Use this with caution for targeted collections.)

Specific accounts or organizational unit: By default, if you are in a matter that has holds, you might simply search within the accounts on hold. You can specify particular accounts in the search if needed (e.g. the specific custodians involved).

Held data vs. All data: Vault allows you to choose Held data (to search only within content under hold for the matter) or All data for the service. Typically, if you set up holds, selecting Held data is prudent so you only retrieve data from those custodians under hold. If you did not apply a hold (not recommended), you could search All data for specified accounts, but then you risk data deletion during collection.

Set any additional parameters: for Gmail, you can check Include results from Trash or Drafts if relevant (generally, Vault searches default to include all mail except empty drafts, but if options are available, select as needed). For Drive, you can specify whether to include files in Shared drives or Drive trash if those options appear. Once your search criteria are set, click Search. Vault will execute the query and display the results count. If your query returns too many results (thousands of emails, for example), consider refining the search terms to narrow the scope if possible (unless a broad collection is intended).

Tip: Vault provides an estimate of the number of items and total size of data returned by the search. Review these to ensure they are in line with expectations. If the results seem unrelated or overly broad, refine your terms and search again. Use the "Save query" feature to save your search parameters if you may need to run the search again or tweak it later. This helps maintain consistency and saves time if you need to re-run similar searches.

When satisfied with the search results, you can proceed to export. Ensure that the results indeed cover the necessary time frame and content for the case.

Step 4: Export Data from Vault

After performing the search, use Vault's export function to export the data results for processing or review. In the search results screen, click Export. Vault will present export options specific to the service:

For Gmail (emails): Choose the export format. Vault offers PST or MBOX for email exports. PST is a Microsoft Outlook data file, suitable if the review or production will be done in Outlook or another tool that accepts PST. MBOX is a standard mailbox format, useful for many eDiscovery tools or if using an email client like Mozilla Thunderbird to review. Select the format based on your needs. (Tip: MBOX exports generally process faster and with fewer issues than PST in Vault (Google, 2025). If you encounter problems exporting as PST (e.g. long processing times or errors), try MBOX and convert later if necessary.)

For Drive (files): Vault will export files in their native format by default. Google Docs/Sheets/Slides are exported as Word/Excel/PowerPoint equivalents (or PDF) depending on Vault's options at time of export, along with metadata. You typically do not have to choose a format for Drive in Vault – it will include original files and a metadata manifest. Ensure the option to include metadata is checked (Vault includes metadata by default).

Export scope: If you have more than one query in your matter, ensure you are exporting the correct search (Vault will tie the export to the query you just ran). Name the export meaningfully (Vault might auto-generate a name based on matter and date, but you can edit it).

Deadlines and size considerations: Note that Vault exports have some limits. If an export is extremely large (multiple gigabytes), Vault will split the export into multiple files automatically (Everlaw, 2025; George, 2022). For example, an email export over 10 GB will be split into multiple PST or MBOX files. This is normal. Vault also generates an Export Results report and an MD5 checksum for each file for verification (Gungor, 2019).

Once options are set, confirm to start the export. Vault will begin preparing the export in the background. You can navigate to the Exports tab in the matter to see the status. The export will initially show as In Progress. It may take some time (minutes to hours) depending on the size of the data. Vault provides a progress indicator or at least notes when the export is processing and when it's complete. Verify Export Completion: Refresh the Exports tab until the export status shows Completed. Vault will list the files available for download. Typically, for a Gmail export, you will see a ZIP file containing an MBOX or PST and metadata files (such as metadata.csv or result-counts.csv). For a Drive export, you will see one or more ZIP files containing the actual files and a metadata.xml/csv with file details. Vault also provides an Export audit report (CSV) which summarizes the export (Everlaw, 2025). Download all components of the export. Click on each export file to download, or use the provided download links. If there are multiple parts (e.g., ExportName_0.zip, ExportName_1.zip, etc.), download all parts. Also download the metadata files and export report if provided. It's good practice to verify the integrity of each downloaded file by checking it against the provided MD5 hash. Vault's export will often include a manifest or the Vault interface will show an MD5 checksum for each file (Gungor, 2019). After downloading, use a checksum tool to compute each file's MD5 and compare it to Vault's reported value. This ensures the files were not corrupted in transit and exactly match what was on Google's servers.

Step 5: Repeat as Needed (Other Services or Additional Searches)

If your case requires collecting data from multiple services (e.g., both Gmail and Drive), repeat the search and export process for each service:

To collect Google Drive data for the same custodians, you would perform a Drive search within the same matter. In Vault, switch the search Service to Drive, enter any search terms or date filters (or search all Drive data for those users if needed), and then export the Drive data. The process is analogous to email export, but the output will be different (actual files and metadata rather than emails). Ensure you also have a hold on Drive content (you can create a separate hold in Step 2 for Drive for those users).

If you need to collect Google Chat, Google Groups, or other content supported by Vault, you would similarly adjust the service and perform searches/exports for each.

All these exports can be done under the same matter, keeping the case's data together. Ensure that each export is clearly named and documented. If the matter is expansive or if searches need to be refined (for example, after reviewing initial results you need to run a narrower query to get additional specific emails), you can perform additional searches in the matter and export those results as well.

Step 6: Troubleshooting Vault Exports

Vault is generally reliable for exporting data, but challenges can arise, especially with very large datasets or long time spans. Here are some troubleshooting tips if you encounter issues:

Stuck Exports or Timeouts: If an export seems stuck (e.g., not completing and no progress update for a very long time, or it errors out), consider breaking the query into smaller chunks. For instance, split a large date range into multiple year-by-year searches, or split custodians into groups and export separately. This "smaller chunk" approach often bypasses the issue (as suggested by community forums on Reddit (YadavRohan, 2020)). You can then combine the results later if needed.

Export Fails at 95%: A known scenario is an export that fails near completion (e.g., the progress stays at 95%). If this happens, try some of the following: use Chrome incognito or a different browser (in case of session issues), try using the MBOX format if PST was failing (MBOX exports involve less processing since Vault isn't converting to PST, thus may succeed where PST fails) (YadavRohan, 2020). Also, ensure you're not hitting any local network download issues.

Partial Export with Errors: Vault may complete an export but report that some items failed to export (and provide an error list). If the export had errors, you can attempt to export only the missing items. Vault's documentation suggests retrying the export for just those error items (Yateem Oxygen, n.d.). For example, you can create a new search query targeting the specific message IDs or file IDs that failed, and export those separately. In the Vault export results, there is often an error report (CSV or XML) listing item identifiers that did not export; use that to guide a follow-up search.

Large Attachments or Files: If certain large email attachments or Drive files are consistently failing, it could be a size or format issue. Check if Vault has any noted limitations for those file types. You might need to retrieve those items via an alternative method (for instance, download a large file directly from Drive if Vault cannot export it, though such cases are rare).

Verify Permissions and Scope: If your search returns no results when you expect data, double-check that the user accounts actually have data in the service during the date range, that they had Vault licenses at the time (if required), and that you used the correct search terms. It's possible the data is outside the scope (e.g., in a different user's account or not in Gmail if it was a chat message, etc.).

After completing all necessary exports in Vault, you should have one or more export packages (ZIP files containing PST/MBOX emails or Drive files and metadata). The data is now collected in a defensible manner with Vault logs and metadata.

Workflow 2: Collecting Data Using Google Takeout

Google Takeout is an alternative method to export an individual user's data. It is typically used when Vault is not available (for example, if you need to collect from a personal Gmail account or Google Workspace account without Vault) or when a user consents to providing a copy of their data. Important: Takeout does not preserve data in place or prevent deletions, so it should be used with caution in eDiscovery. Always ensure you have the user's explicit consent or legal authorization to use Takeout for eDiscovery purposes, and instruct the user not to delete any data during the process (Onna, n.d.). In this workflow, we assume we need to collect data from a Google account using Google Takeout. The user (custodian) will perform or assist with the Takeout, or an admin will access the user's account to run Takeout (with proper permissions). This process is less ideal than Vault because it involves the user and has fewer audit safeguards, but it can be acceptable if done carefully and documented thoroughly (Onna, 2023).

Step 1: Access Google Takeout

Google Takeout is accessed via the web. Go to takeout.google.com (Google's "Download your data" page). Log in with the Google account that you need to export data from. This must be done with the user's credentials or with admin access to that account. Once logged in, you will see the Google Takeout interface titled "Download your data," which lists all Google services with data available for export, each with a checkbox (James, 2020). Make sure you are signed in as the correct user whose data needs to be collected. If you are an admin and have the ability to log in to the user's account or impersonate the user (with consent), do so in a private browsing session to avoid any account mix-ups.

Step 2: Select Data to Include

The Takeout page allows you to select which Google products (services) to include in the export. By default, All services may be selected. First, click Deselect all at the top, since you typically do not need every type of data (James, 2020). Then scroll through the list and check the boxes for the specific data types you need (for example, Gmail and Drive). For Gmail, find Mail in the list and check it. For Google Drive, find Drive and check it. Ensure these are the only services selected, unless you also need others (e.g., Calendar, Contacts, etc., depending on the scope of your collection). Selecting only the necessary services will streamline the export and reduce the amount of extraneous data. Each service may have a small dropdown or options link to refine what to include. For example, for Mail (Gmail), you might see an option to "All Mail data included" – by default, Takeout will include all mail. If you click this, it allows you to Include all messages or only messages with certain labels. Typically, leave it as all mail unless you have instructions to limit by label (which is rare in eDiscovery, but possible if, say, a user applied a specific label to relevant emails). Takeout cannot filter by date or keyword for mail; it only can include/exclude mail by existing Gmail labels (Gungor, 2019). For Drive, the default is to include all files in My Drive. If you only need specific folders from Drive, you can click the option (like All Drive data included) and select specific folders. In most cases, you will export the entire Drive content for the user to avoid missing anything relevant, unless the scope clearly excludes some files. Some services have a gear icon or "Multiple formats" option (particularly Google Drive) to choose the format for the exported data. Click Multiple formats under Google Drive if available. Here, you can specify how Google Docs/Sheets/Slides are converted. It's often best to choose formats that are easily accessible: for example, Microsoft Office formats (Docs -> .docx, Sheets -> .xlsx, Slides -> .pptx) for those file types (University of Delaware, n.d.). This ensures that the content can be opened outside Google. By default, Google Takeout will handle this conversion if you don't change anything, but it's good to be aware of the setting. Non-Google files (PDFs, images, etc. in Drive) will be exported in their original format regardless. Once you have selected Gmail, Drive, and any other required services (and configured their options as needed), scroll to the bottom of the list.

Step 3: Configure Export Settings

Click Next step to proceed after selecting the data to include. Takeout will then ask you to configure export settings:

Delivery method: You can choose how you want to receive the export. Options include: Send download link via email (default), Add to Drive, Add to Dropbox, Add to OneDrive, or Add to Box. For eDiscovery purposes, it's common to send a download link via email (James, 2020), which the account owner or admin can then use to download the data and save to a secure location. Choose Send download link via email unless there is a reason to directly transfer to cloud storage. (Transferring to the user's Drive or another cloud might scatter the data; keeping it as a direct download link provides more control over handling.)

Frequency: By default, "Export once" is selected. This means Takeout will do a one-time export. The other option is to schedule exports every 2 months for a year. In an eDiscovery scenario, you typically only want a one-time export (James, 2020). Ensure Export once is selected.

File type & size: Choose the archive format – .zip or .tgz. ZIP is generally recommended as it can be opened on most systems without special software. Tgz (tarball) might be used in Linux environments but it's not necessary unless you have a specific need. Select .zip (James, 2020). Next, choose the archive size limit. The default might be 2 GB. This setting is the size at which Takeout will split the archive into multiple files. You can increase it (options are 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 10 GB, 50 GB). If you expect the total data to be very large (e.g., tens of GBs), you might choose a larger size like 10 GB or 50 GB to minimize the number of separate files. However, keep in mind that very large ZIP files can be cumbersome to download and extract. A commonly used setting is 10 GB per file, but use your judgment. (If left at 2 GB default and the user has 5 GB of data, you would receive 3 zip files: two 2 GB files and one ~1 GB file (James, 2020). If set to 10 GB, that same data would come as one file.) For our purposes, you can set a higher size like 10 GB to reduce the number of parts, but it's fine to leave the default if uncertain – Takeout will simply create multiple files if needed.

Review your selections, then click Create export. Google Takeout will start preparing the archive. The screen will show "Google is creating a copy of your files" or similar progress message (James, 2020). You can leave this page, as Google will do this on the server side. Note the statement that it may take hours or days – the time depends on how much data and Google's current load. In many cases, email arrives within an hour or two for moderate amounts of data. For very large accounts, it truly can take a day or more.

Step 4: Wait for Google to Prepare the Archive

At this stage, patience is required. Google Takeout will assemble all the selected data into one or multiple archive files. The user (whose account is being exported) will receive email notifications from Google during this process: one email when the export is initiated, and another when the export is ready (Gungor, 2019). These notifications go to the Gmail inbox of the account. This is a security feature to alert the user that their data is being exported. Since in our scenario we are doing this intentionally (with user consent or as the user), these emails are expected. They serve as part of the record that a Takeout export was performed. Be aware that these notifications could potentially tip off a custodian if they were not already aware of the collection, which is why Takeout is not ideal in covert collection situations. In our case, assume the user is aware. Monitor the email for the notification that the export is complete. Alternatively, if you stayed on the Takeout page, it may eventually show a download link itself. More practically, you will get an email to the account's address saying "Your Google data is ready to download." The time to completion can vary. If it's a small account (a few GB or less), it could be done in under an hour. Larger accounts (dozens of GB) might take many hours or more than a day. Google does not provide a detailed progress bar, so you must wait for the email.

Step 5: Download the Data Archive

When you receive the completion email from Google Takeout (or if you refresh the Takeout page and see a Download button), it's time to download the data. If using the email, click the provided link "Download your data archive." It will prompt you to log in to Google (to verify identity again). Use the same account credentials as before. Google will list the archives ready for download. There may be multiple files (e.g., username@gmail.com-takeout.zip and perhaps additional numbered files if the data was split). Download all the files to a secure location on your computer or an external drive. Ensure you have enough space to accommodate them (for example, if it's a 15 GB archive split into 2 files, make sure you have at least 15 GB free, ideally more for extraction). The download link will expire after about one week for security (James, 2020), so do not delay too long. If it expires, you would have to run the export again. As you download, keep track of each file and verify that the file sizes match what was indicated. For instance, if Google said it created two 10 GB files and one 5 GB file, ensure you got all of them fully downloaded. Partial downloads can occur if a connection drops, so verify the file sizes. Once downloaded, you have the raw exported data. It will be packaged typically as ZIP files.

Step 6: Verify and Preserve the Data

It's important to verify that the Takeout data is complete and uncorrupted:

Integrity check: If possible, verify checksums. Unlike Vault, Google Takeout does not provide hash values for verification, so you might compute your own (e.g., generate an MD5 or SHA-256 hash of each downloaded file and record it for chain-of-custody purposes).

Archive contents: Move the Takeout archives to a secure location. You may want to make a working copy to extract. When you extract the ZIP, you should see folders for each service (e.g., a "Mail" folder containing an MBOX file, and a "Drive" folder with your Drive files in their respective folders). Mail: The Gmail data will be in an MBOX file inside Takeout/Mail/ (by default named something like All mail including Spam and Trash.mbox). Drive: The Drive data will appear in Takeout/Drive/ with the same folder structure as the user's My Drive.

Review scope: Ensure that the data covers the expected scope. For example, open the MBOX in a viewer to spot-check that emails fall within the date range needed and that it's not missing recent emails. For Drive, verify important folders are present.

From a defensibility standpoint, note that Google Takeout does not have an official audit log. However, we do have the emails that Google sent to the user (which you should preserve as evidence of the export) and the Takeout process itself can be documented. Make sure to document the Takeout procedure in detail: when it was done, by whom, that the user consented, and the exact files obtained. This documentation will help establish chain of custody, even though Google's platform didn't automatically log it for you as Vault would.

Step 7: Troubleshooting & Special Considerations for Takeout

If the Takeout process encounters issues (for example, the archive fails to generate or downloads error out):

Retry errors: In some cases, Google Takeout might skip some items due to errors (this is more common with Google Photos or very large files). The Takeout interface and emails typically won't specify item-level failures, so it's harder to know. You can compare what's in the account to what's in the archive to see if anything obvious is missing. Google's support suggests that if an export had errors, one could attempt to re-run for the missing data (Yateem Oxygen, 2024). For example, you can perform separate Takeouts for mail and for drive (University of Delaware, n.d.). First go through selecting only Gmail, export that. Then do another with only Drive. This reduces complexity and sometimes avoids timeouts (some admins report better success by breaking it up). Another strategy is to do it in segments (though Takeout itself doesn't allow date segmented export for mail, you could apply a temporary label to a subset of emails and export just those by selecting that label in Takeout – this requires access to the mailbox and labeling, which is advanced and rarely done, but possible).

Large account timeouts: If the account is huge and Takeout repeatedly fails or never finishes, consider splitting the data. One strategy is to perform separate Takeouts for mail and for drive (University of Delaware, 2023). For example, first go through selecting only Gmail, export that. Then do another with only Drive. This reduces complexity and sometimes avoids timeouts (some admins report better success by breaking it up). Another strategy is to do it in segments (though Takeout itself doesn't allow date segmented export for mail, you could apply a temporary label to a subset of emails and export just those by selecting that label in Takeout – this requires access to the mailbox and labeling, which is advanced and rarely done, but possible).

Network issues: Ensure a stable internet connection for downloading the archives. The archives can be very large, and a drop could corrupt a download. If a download fails, Google will usually allow it to be resumed, but if not, you can re-initiate it from the link (as long as within the validity period).

Security: Treat the downloaded Takeout data as sensitive. It is effectively an unencrypted export of the user's entire data. Anyone with these files could read all the user's email or documents. Store them securely and limit access. If possible, encrypt the data at rest (e.g., store on an encrypted drive or archive).

By following the above steps, Google Takeout can be used to collect Gmail and Drive data. However, remember the limitations: there is no preservation on Google's side (the user could delete data before or after the export without Vault's protection), and the chain of custody relies on our own documentation and trust in Google's export process. Always get written confirmation from the user that this is an authentic export of their account data, to avoid any later disputes.

Conclusion and Next Steps

We have outlined two primary workflows for defensible collection of Google Workspace data: one using Google Vault and one using Google Takeout. In most corporate eDiscovery scenarios, Google Vault is the preferred method due to its ability to silently preserve data, robust search capabilities, and built-in audit trails and metadata which strengthen the defensibility of the process. Vault allows administrators to collect data without alerting users and provides verification (hashes, logs) that can be crucial in legal proceedings (Vardhan, 2019). Google Takeout, on the other hand, serves as a useful alternative when Vault is not available – for instance, collecting data from a former employee's personal Gmail (with consent) or from a Google account outside the organization. When using Takeout, additional precautions must be taken to preserve integrity and chain of custody: immediate communication with the user, careful documentation, and hashing of data after download.

After Collection – Next Steps

Once data is collected via either method, the eDiscovery team should securely transfer the data to whatever platform is used for review (law firm review platform, forensic workstation, etc.) and maintain it in a manner that preserves its integrity. For Vault exports, this means keeping the original ZIP files and utilizing the metadata and hash information to verify contents upon ingestion into a review tool. For Takeout, it means preserving the original archives and the record of how they were obtained. In both cases, maintain an inventory of the collected data, including matter names, search parameters or Takeout settings, file names, and hash values of exports.

It's also important to document every action in a collection log. Note who performed each step, when it was done, and any issues encountered and remedied. This log, combined with Vault's audit logs or the Takeout notification emails, becomes part of the evidence that the collection was done properly.

Finally, ensure that data is stored securely and only accessible to authorized individuals. For Vault exports, remember that they are still subject to the organization's data handling policies – treat them as confidential. For Takeout exports, realize the data is effectively outside Google's cloud and must be protected accordingly.

By adhering to the procedures and best practices outlined in this manual – from applying legal holds and using targeted searches in Vault, to carefully executing a Google Takeout with user consent – the eDiscovery team will have a well-documented and defensible process for collecting Gmail and Google Drive data. Every step, from identification to preservation, collection, and verification, contributes to a strong chain of custody that can withstand scrutiny in court or regulatory review. Always stay updated with Google's latest tools and updates (Google is continually improving Vault's capabilities, as seen with features like exporting linked Drive files from Gmail (Google Workspace Updates Team, 2023)), and adjust your workflows accordingly to maintain defensibility.

References

Arora, G. (2022, May 18). A guide to the uses of Google Vault. Goldy Arora. https://www.goldyarora.com/blog/google-vault-usage

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