Our Balsamiq Cloud Space Owner left the company. How can we reclaim our space?

If you're reading this, you probably have been working in a Space owned by someone else. Most of the time, that someone else is a colleague or Staff Member at your organization.

If that person leaves, it's important to understand that the "ownership" of the Space is not automatically transferred to someone else. In fact, ownership is something that we take seriously, and we do everything possible to ensure we comply with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

As a first step, if there are other Space Users with access to the project(s), you can ask them to download it. Then you can create a new Space and import the project(s). If that doesn't work, please review the information below.

How can we reclaim the Space?

If the Space Owner has already left, but they used a company email address for their Cloud account, you can follow the steps below:

Take over the employee's company email - this is pretty much standard procedure in order to reclaim all the different online accounts. Get your IT team involved if the account has been deactivated and needs to be reactivated.
Head to the Balsamiq Cloud login page and click on "Forgot Password?" to initiate the password reset process.
Enter the employee's email address and click on "Send Me a Reset Password Link"
From the employee's email account, click on the reset password link in the email and set a new password.
Once logged in, head over to Settings > Space Owners and select a different Staff Member to become the new Space Owner from the dropdown menu.
Click on "Transfer Space Ownership" and log out.
Have the new Space Owner log in and remove the departed Staff Member from the Space (click "X" on the Staff page)
If necessary, have the new Space Owner change the credit card information following these instructions.

What if I don't have access to their email? Can Balsamiq make the change for me?

Unfortunately, no. Per our Privacy Policy, we cannot change ownership of Balsamiq Cloud Spaces ourselves. If the person that set up your Space was an external contractor, or if they used a non-company email address, you will need to contact them directly and ask them to please assign the ownership of the Space to one of your company's current Staff Members.

If for some reason they cannot do that, you can instead ask them to download and send you the project files directly, and you can then upload them into a new Cloud Space that is owned by a current Staff Member.

When none of these options work, and you're still paying for a Space that you can't use, please just let us know! We'll be able to help by stopping your automatic monthly payment, and/or refunding recent charges.

At the end of the day, we understand that dealing with this situation can become tedious and stressful. If you've tried all of the tips above and are still in a pinch, please do get in touch with us. We will gladly work with you in hopes of finding a solution together.

How can we prevent this from happening in the future?

Before an employee departs, the best course of action is to ask them to transfer the Space ownership to someone else. That guarantees that someone still at the company can continue managing the Space once they are gone.

Keep in mind that Balsamiq Cloud Spaces can have two (2) Space Owners with equal admin rights. It might be a good strategy to ensure there are always two people assigned as the Admins.