Use your Switch edu-ID: the same email address and password you use for your edu-ID account.

1. Open https://drive.switch.ch.
2. Enter your edu-ID email address and password.
3. Enter your 2FA code.

The Sync Client and the mobile apps also use your edu-ID. If you use 3rd-party tools (like Zotero or rclone for example), you need an App Passcode instead.

The institutional login (AAI) works well in the browser, but not in the desktop and mobile apps. To keep one login that works everywhere, Switch Drive uses the Switch edu-ID. It also works for WebDAV and for all other Switch services.

Go to https://eduid.ch/reset-password and enter your email address.

• You have an account: you receive an email with the next steps.
• You have no account: you see an error message. Click Create Account to make one.

1. Go to https://eduid.ch and click Help, or go directly to https://eduid.ch/reset-password.
2. Enter your email address.
3. Open the email. It can take a few minutes, so also check your spam folder.
4. Click the link in the email, or enter the code shown.
5. Choose a strong password. Save it in a password manager (for example Bitwarden or iCloud Keychain).
6. Click Continue. You can now sign in with your new password.

If you can't enter your multi-factor authentication (MFA) code, you need to switch it off in your edu-ID.

1. Go to https://eduid.ch/mfa-recovery.
2. Choose how to recover: by SMS to your mobile phone or with your recovery code.

Neither works? Email eduid-support@switch.ch and ask for an MFA reset. Attach a scan of your passport or identity card.

Your account was switched off. Possible reasons:

• You haven't signed in for more than a year.
• You no longer belong to a participating institution.
• A technical problem occurred.

What to do: contact your local Switch Drive administrator or drive-support@switch.ch and ask them to reactivate your account.

Switch Drive is only for members of participating institutions. If you recently changed your institution, add your new institution to your edu-ID. You can check your affiliations at https://eduid.ch.

This happens when you haven't used Switch Drive for more than one year.

• Your files are still there. Shares you received are still valid.
• Email drive-support@switch.ch and ask for reactivation. You usually get a quick answer.
• Afterwards, check that all your files are there. You need to share your own files again. Use the chance to review who really still needs access.

Act quickly: if you do nothing for 3 months after the message, your account and all its data are permanently deleted.

How to avoid it: sign in at least once a year, in the browser or with the Sync Client.

Switch Drive uses the contact email address from your edu-ID. It is used for notifications and to identify you when others search for you.

1. Sign in at https://eduid.ch and open your profile.
2. Click Manage e-mail addresses.
3. Click Add e-mail address and follow the steps.
4. Click the envelope icon next to the new address to make it your contact address.

You can see the address currently used in your personal settings in Switch Drive.

Switch Drive uses the contact email address from your edu-ID. If you see an error right after changing it, write to drive-support@switch.ch.

You only have one Switch Drive account. The institution matters only when you register. Changing it later has no effect on your account or your files.

You only need to change your institution in one case: you want a project folder or an extension of the quota and the Switch Drive administrator at your institution can’t find your account.

How to change your institution

1. Check that the desired institution is listed in your edu-ID.
2. Check that the institution subscribes to Switch Drive.
3. Email drive-support@switch.ch and tell us which institution you want to switch to.

It depends on where you go next. Switch Drive is only for members of participating institutions, so in the end you lose access if you don’t join another one.

Before you leave

1. Decline shares that belong to your institution or to other people. In the browser, open Shared with you, click the three dots (…) next to each item and choose Decline share.
2. Hand over important work files. Transfer ownership to a successor at your institution.
3. Remove local copies of files that aren’t yours from all your devices, including phones.

Then, depending on your situation

• You continue at another participating institution:
  • Add the new institution and a new email address to your Switch edu-ID as early as possible, because you will lose your old email.
  • You can then keep using Switch Drive without limits.
  • If you have several institutions, you can ask drive-support@switch.ch to change which one is shown.
• You don’t continue at another institution:
  • Copy your own files to another storage or a backup disk before you leave.
  • Sign out, remove the Switch Drive app from all your devices and don’t sign in again.

What happens next

• Once your affiliation ends, the administrator of your former institution can block your account at any time, without warning. You then see “User disabled” when you sign in.
• An account that is unused for 1 year is blocked automatically, and all its shares are removed.
• After a further 3 months, the account is deleted. The exception is when somebody asks for access to the data. Then Switch and the administrator check whether access can be given.

To close your account, empty it and then stop using it. An account that is not used is deactivated automatically, and deleted a few months later.

1. Sign in a final time at https://drive.switch.ch.
2. Open Shared with you and decline all shares you received.
3. Open Shared with others and remove all the shares you gave to others. Tell the people affected first, so they can keep a copy.
4. Open All files, select everything and click the delete icon. The files go to Deleted files.
5. Optional, to delete right away: open Deleted files, select everything and click the delete icon. Your account is then completely empty. This can’t be undone.
6. Sign out on all devices and uninstall the Sync Client and the mobile apps. Don’t sign in again.

Good to know

• After 1 year without sign-in, your account is deactivated automatically. It is deleted 3 months later.
• You can come back as long as you can still sign in. Without a valid affiliation, you may be blocked.
• Deleted files can be restored for 14 days. After that they are permanently gone. If you do step 5, they are gone immediately.