Cancel Google Workspace or delete Slack? Export data first

Before you cancel Google Workspace or delete Slack

Before you cancel Google Workspace or delete Slack, check what the company's records are worth. AI developers now pay for the operational records of closing and closed companies, such as email and chat archives, support tickets and code (public deals). A free valuation takes six questions about the business and no files.

Cancelling a subscription is usually the step that deletes the records, and the window to export them is shorter than most owners expect. The table shows, for each system, how to export everything, the plan or permission limits and what the vendor's own documentation says happens after you cancel. Each system has its own section below.

The order to do it in: export, check, then cancel

The order matters more than the tool. Work through it system by system, and leave cancellation to the end.

• List every system that holds company records, including the ones only one team uses, and who is an owner or super admin of each.
• Keep at least one owner or admin account until the last export is downloaded and checked. In Slack only the Primary Owner can delete a workspace, and Google's export must be run by a super admin.
• Start the slow exports first. Google's Data Export is available no earlier than 48 hours after you start it and can take up to 14 days; a Notion workspace export can take up to 30 hours.
• Download each export before its link expires (see the table below), and store copies somewhere the company controls.
• Open the files and check them against the system: date ranges, private channels, attachments and comments.
• Note what each export leaves out, such as the files themselves in Slack exports or ticket comments in Zendesk CSV exports, and run the export that includes them.
• Only then cancel, starting with the systems whose exports you have confirmed.

How to cancel Google Workspace without losing data

Google is blunt about it: after you cancel, your users' Google Workspace data will be deleted and can't be restored, so download what you want to keep first (Google). There is a second catch. The Data Export tool exports core services such as Gmail, Drive and Chat only while the organization has an active subscription; that data is excluded once the subscription is cancelled or suspended.

The export copies the same data users can download with Google Takeout, plus admin-only and customer-owned data, such as shared drives, Chat rooms created by users in your organization and, with Vault licenses, deleted data held by Vault. It goes to a Google Cloud Storage bucket. If your organization has more than 1000 users, contact Google Workspace support before you start.

• Check the requirements: a super admin account at least 30 days old (unless the organization's account is newer), 2-Step Verification turned on, and Google Cloud turned on for the admin account so you can open the export.
• In the Admin console, go to Menu > Data > Data import & export > Data export, click Set up new export, name it, choose the whole organization or specific users, and click Start export.
• Wait for the email sent to all super admins. Once started, the export cannot be stopped from the Admin console, and if the admin who started it loses super admin rights, it may be cancelled.
• Download within 60 days of the start date. Large exports arrive in packets over several days, and some packets may be deleted before others.
• Export data from third-party apps that use Google sign-in. Cancelling Workspace does not delete it.
• Cancel under Menu > Billing > Subscriptions (this needs the Billing management privilege): open the subscription, choose Cancel Subscription and confirm. On a monthly Flexible Plan, charges stop immediately; on an Annual/Fixed-Term Plan, you are charged the remaining balance of the contract.
• To delete the organization's Google Account too, first save billing records and user data and cancel all subscriptions. Deleting the account frees the domain within 24 hours.

Source: Google Workspace Admin Help: Cancel Google Workspace

How to export Slack data and delete a Slack workspace

Every Slack plan can export public channels: from your desktop, click Admin, choose Workspace settings, then Security > Import & export data > Export, pick a date range and click Start Export (Slack; Enterprise Org Owners export from Organization settings instead). Private channels and direct messages are harder. On Business+, a Workspace Owner can apply for a self-serve tool that exports all channels and conversations; on Enterprise plans, Org Owners ask Slack Support. On Free and Pro, Slack rejects applications unless the owner shows valid legal process, consent of members or a requirement or right under applicable law (Slack's guide to export tools).

Exports arrive as JSON files in a ZIP, with a folder for every channel and links to files rather than the files themselves (Slack). Download any files you need while the workspace still exists. On the Free plan, exports include file links only from the last 90 days and leave out data more than a year old.

Deleting is permanent. Only the Workspace Primary Owner can delete a workspace, and messages and files cannot be retrieved afterwards (Slack). Cancelling a paid plan is not safe either: on the free version, history is limited to the most recent 90 days, and data more than one year old is deleted (Slack).

• To delete the workspace: click Admin, choose Workspace settings, scroll to Delete Workspace, tick the box to confirm and enter your Slack password.
• To cancel a paid plan instead: Admin > Manage billing > Change plan details > Downgrade to Free, and choose whether it takes effect now or at renewal (Slack). Export first.
• Deactivating your own account does not delete the messages and files you sent, and a Primary Owner cannot deactivate until primary ownership is transferred (Slack).

Source: Slack Help: Export your workspace data

How to export Teams chats and Microsoft 365 data

For compliance, Teams messages are stored in Exchange Online: 1:1 chats in the mailbox of every participant and standard channel messages in the mailbox of the team. Files shared in a 1:1 chat sit in the sharer's OneDrive, and channel files in the team's SharePoint site (Microsoft).

An admin exports them with eDiscovery or the Export APIs. When a Microsoft 365 for business subscription ends, it moves through Expired, Disabled and Deleted, and a monthly subscription cancelled within the cancellation window skips Expired. Once a subscription is deleted, buying a new one does not restore the data (Microsoft). Enterprise and volume licensing terms can differ.

• Microsoft Purview eDiscovery: run a search on a case, then export. Mailbox items download as PST files or individual messages, and SharePoint and OneDrive content as copies of the documents. The eDiscovery user needs a Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 license, and search export packages are deleted 14 days after you create them (Microsoft).
• Teams Export APIs (Microsoft Graph): export 1:1, group, meeting and channel messages for a date range, plus links to meeting recordings and transcripts. Messages from deleted teams and channels, and from deleted users, can be exported for up to 30 days; messages a user deleted, for up to 21 days (Microsoft).
• Teams for personal use has a separate self-serve export through the Microsoft account privacy page. Those steps apply to personal accounts only (Microsoft).

Source: Microsoft Learn: What happens to my data when my Microsoft 365 for business subscription ends?

Salesforce data export before you cancel

Salesforce's built-in tool is the Data Export Service. From Setup, enter Data Export in the Quick Find box and choose Export Now or Schedule Export; tick the options to include images, documents and attachments if you need the files; select Include all data; and start the export. Salesforce emails a link to a zip archive of CSV files, large exports are split into several files, and the zip files are deleted 48 hours after the email is sent (Salesforce Trailhead).

How often you can run it depends on the edition: once every 7 days in Enterprise, Performance and Unlimited, and only every 29 days in Professional and Developer. Data Loader, a client application installed separately, is the alternative for larger or scripted exports.

After the contract ends, customers may request the return of their data within 30 days, and Salesforce provides CSV files with attachments in their native format. After all subscriptions end, data is kept in inactive status for 120 days, then deleted from production within 90 days and from backups within 180 days (Salesforce). Export while you still have access rather than relying on a return request.

Source: Salesforce Trailhead: Export data with the Data Export Service

How to export Zendesk tickets before closing the account

Zendesk data exports are off by default: the account owner must ask Zendesk Customer Support to enable them, giving the Zendesk Support subdomain. The export tools are available on all Suite Growth, Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus plans and on Support Professional and Enterprise, but not on Team plans, where the Zendesk REST API is the route (Zendesk).

• Once exports are on, go to Admin Center > Account > Tools > Reports and choose a format.
• Use the JSON export to keep the conversations. The CSV export leaves out ticket comments, ticket descriptions and deleted tickets. JSON is recommended for accounts with more than 200,000 tickets.
• Zendesk emails a download link that is valid for at least three days. An export can take from a few minutes to a day or more.
• After cancellation, an automated process that permanently deletes the account's data begins 90 days later, and once it starts it cannot be reversed (Zendesk Service Data Deletion Policy).

Source: Zendesk help: Exporting ticket, user, or organization data from your account

How to export Jira and Confluence before you cancel

In Jira Cloud, select Settings, then System, open Backup manager and create a backup for cloud, including attachments if you need them, then download the file. The backup covers work items and field content, comments, boards and sprints, users and groups, and configuration. It does not include automation flows (export those separately), third-party app data or Assets for Jira Service Management. If you include attachments, allow 48 hours between backups (Atlassian).

In Confluence Cloud, open Confluence administration, then Settings > Data management > Backup manager, and create a backup for cloud. The download link is available for 14 days, and only one backup file is stored at a time, so a new backup overwrites the last. Databases cannot be exported, and spaces in the trash are not backed up until you restore them (Atlassian).

After you cancel a paid plan, the site stays reachable for 15 days after the subscription period ends (Free plan subscriptions are deactivated immediately). It is then deactivated, and the data is kept for 60 days on Free, Standard, Premium and Enterprise plans (15 days for trials) before it is permanently deleted. One rule catches owners out: if you unsubscribe from all Jira apps on a site, the Jira data is deleted immediately (Atlassian).

Source: Atlassian Support: Track storage and move data across apps (data retention)

GitHub, HubSpot and Notion exports

Three more systems that often hold years of company records:

• GitHub: back up each repository with a mirror clone (git clone --mirror), fetch Git LFS objects with git lfs fetch --all, and clone wikis the same way. A Git clone holds the files and their revision history; a migration archive generated through the REST API adds selected metadata but leaves out Git LFS objects, discussions and packages (GitHub). Deleting an organization permanently removes its repositories, wikis, issues and pull requests, and GitHub cannot restore them; downgrading to GitHub Free or archiving the organization keeps the content (GitHub).
• HubSpot: on all plans, users with export permissions can export contacts, companies, deals, tickets and other records from each object's view, with their current property values and associations. Activities such as calls and notes are exported separately, through individual contact data exports, activity reports or the engagements API (HubSpot).
• Notion: Settings > Workspace > General > Export all workspace content exports pages as HTML or Markdown and databases as CSV, with uploaded files. Pages the exporter cannot access, such as other members' private pages, are left out. The emailed link expires after 7 days, and the export can take up to 30 hours (Notion).

What you must keep before deleting company systems

Exports are also how a company meets its record-keeping duties once the systems are gone. In the US, keep the records that support each tax return until its period of limitations runs out: 3 years in most cases, and employment tax records at least 4 years after the tax is due or paid, whichever is later. Insurers or creditors may require you to keep records longer than the IRS does (IRS). Preserve anything tied to a dispute or lawsuit until it is resolved.

For the full retention periods and the other steps of a shutdown, follow the closing checklist for where the company is registered: the US, the UK, Canada, Australia or India.

• Name a custodian for the exports and keep a written list of what each file contains and which dates it covers.
• Store exports encrypted and limit who can open them. They hold employee and customer information.
• Check employment and privacy rules before reading or sharing staff messages. Laws and policies may require employers to notify employees of their use of export tools, Slack notes (Slack).

Source: IRS: How long should I keep records?

Before you delete company systems, check what the records are worth

The exports you have just made are the archives AI developers license. Email and chat history, tickets, CRM records and code show how a company actually works, and that is what buyers pay for.

MIT Technology Review reported in October 2026 that AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models, and Fast Company that shuttered startups are selling old Slack chats and emails to AI companies. Origin's deals tracker lists the public prices. Checking the value takes minutes: see what your company's records are worth from six questions, before any system is cancelled.

• Keep the exports and one admin account until you know. An export is a snapshot; a live admin account lets you answer questions about scope, dates and volume.
• Describe what you hold at company level: the systems, the years covered and the approximate volume. The data inventory template gives the columns.
• Plan for privacy. Suppliers scrub personally identifiable information and exclude HR records, according to MIT Technology Review. See how to de-identify company data and selling Slack and email archives.
• If the company is closing, licensing money is company money like any other sale proceeds. See selling company data after closing.

Source: MIT Technology Review: AI labs buying data from dead startups (Oct 2026)

Next step

Make one list of every system, its admin and its export route, start the slow exports today and cancel nothing until each download is checked. If the archives cover years of email, chat, tickets or code, find out what they are worth before they are deleted; no export is needed to get an estimate.

Origin Data Partners is independent and is not affiliated with any AI data buyer. We help owners compare buyers and find the best fit for their records. See what your data is worth.