What is the AODocs storage account?

The AODocs storage account is a Google account belonging to your G Suite domain that you assign to AODocs. It's used by AODocs to own your managed files in Google Drive.

When a file is imported into AODocs, the ownership is automatically transferred to this account. In the following example the storage account is named AODocs Owner.


When a file is created in a folder managed by AODocs, the file is initially created with the creator account as its owner, and then it is automatically transferred to the AODocs storage account.

AODocs uses the storage account to build an internal folder structure that is needed to perform certain AODocs functions. In particular, AODocs documents owned by the AODocs storage account are organized in a slightly different way from regular user accounts and some folders may appear “duplicated”. As a result, the AODocs storage account must be dedicated to AODocs and not be used directly by human users.

AODocs super administrators can configure multiple AODocs storage accounts.
Learn more: Manage storage accounts.

It may be necessary to have multiple storage accounts in the following situations:

  • To separate access permissions and avoid a single account having access to all files managed by AODocs.
  • To avoid performance bottlenecks when a large number of files are managed by AODocs. We typically recommend not to exceed 50,000 files per storage account.
    For more information about AODocs performance best practices, contact the AODocs support team.

Storage accounts can be allocated only at the library level: all the files contained in a specific library must be owned by the same storage account. However, multiple libraries can share the same storage account. If several storage accounts have been configured, when you create a new library, AODocs asks you to select a storage account from the list of available accounts.

Note: Google Drive doesn't allow ownership transfer between accounts belonging to different G Suite domains. As a result, when a user who doesn't belong to the AODocs storage account's domain adds a file in AODocs, AODocs must make a copy of the file so the copy is owned by the AODocs storage account. Learn more: Add files and folders as an external user.

AODocs storage accounts don't use AODocs licenses, no matter how many storage accounts are configured on your domain.

- The AODocs storage account should be considered as a technical account.
- In Google Drive, moving files and folders or modifying file permissions directly from the AODocs storage account can disrupt AODocs processes and result in malfunction.
- Under no circumstance should you change a storage account name or email address.
- Changing the password of the storage account or enabling 2 step authentication on it doesn't impact AODocs.

Learn more: Purchase extra Drive storage for your users.

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