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Primary Admin Recovery

If your school's Primary Admin leaves, loses access to their Google account, or is otherwise unreachable, another admin cannot promote themselves — the Primary Admin designation can only be transferred by the current Primary Admin from within the app.

When that is not possible, contact DocGuy Training support to initiate a forced transfer.

Before you contact support

Check these first, as they may resolve the issue without a support escalation:

Is the Primary Admin still reachable? If they are simply no longer at the school, ask them to sign in and transfer the designation before their account is fully deactivated. See Transfer Primary Admin.

Did they change Google accounts? If the Primary Admin switched to a new email address, their old account is still active but they may not realise they need to sign in with it. Ask them to sign in with the original address to complete the transfer.

Is their Google account suspended rather than deleted? A suspended Google Workspace account can often be re-enabled by the school's Google administrator long enough to complete the transfer.

Requesting a forced transfer

If none of the above options are available, submit a support request to support@docguytraining.com with the subject line Primary Admin Recovery — [Your School Name].

Include the following in your request:

  1. Your school's name and school ID (visible in the app under Settings → General)
  2. The email address of the current (unreachable) Primary Admin
  3. The email address of the user who should receive the Primary Admin designation
  4. A brief description of why the current Primary Admin cannot complete the transfer themselves

Identity verification

Because a forced transfer grants full administrative control of your school's data, DocGuy Training will verify your identity before proceeding. You will be asked to provide one of the following:

  • A signed letter on school letterhead from a principal, superintendent, or equivalent authority confirming the requested change
  • An email from an official school domain (not a personal Gmail address) from a district or school administrator authorising the change

DocGuy Training reserves the right to request additional verification at its discretion.

What happens during the transfer

Once your request is verified, a DocGuy Training support engineer will:

  1. Open a Support Access session for your school. You will see this recorded in Settings → Audit Log with action support_access_started.
  2. Transfer the Primary Admin designation to the user you specified. This is logged as a primary_admin_transferred entry at the Critical level.
  3. Close the Support Access session. This is logged as support_access_ended.

You will receive an email confirmation when the transfer is complete. The new Primary Admin can then sign in and manage the school normally.

After the transfer

Once access is restored:

  • Review Settings → Users to confirm all user roles are correct.
  • Remove the former Primary Admin's account if they are no longer with the school.
  • Check Settings → Audit Log to review any activity that occurred during the period of reduced access.

Prevention

To avoid this situation in the future:

  • Always maintain at least two admin accounts for the school.
  • Transfer the Primary Admin designation to a role-based account (such as a department head or IT administrator) rather than a personal account that may leave with an individual.
  • When a Primary Admin leaves, ensure they transfer the designation before their last day.