Am I able to retain access to Google Apps after losing domain ownership?

Question

In a few days, I will be giving up a domain to another business. We use that domain for a lot of things, such as email, drive, calendar, etc. Is it possible to still be able to access the files, emails, whatnot, if the domain itself no longer exists?

Example of sorts. If I own domain1.com, and I sell it to some company, but my email is [email protected], which is a Google Apps activated domain, is it possible to still log in and search old emails with [email protected], even though no one can send / receive emails from @domain1.com accounts anymore?

Answer 1

Short answer

Yes, you can, but you could lose the access at any time.

Extended answer

You could lose the access to your Google Apps account when someone else verify the ownership of the domain in order to recover the administrator password. If someone else is able verify the domain, he/she could change the administrator password, change the Google Apps organisation account settings get control of your information.

By the other hand, if need to recover the administrator password, you could not do it, because it requires to be able to verify the domain ownership.

In order of keep your data, before giving the domain to the other business you could do one or both of the following:

1. Migrate your data out of Google Apps.
2. Change your primary domain.

References

• Verify your domain for Google Apps - Google Apps Administrator Help
• Reset your administrator password - Google Apps Administrator Help