Description
Here’s what people can do with folders after you share it with them:
- Can organize, add, & edit: If they're signed into a Google account, people can open, edit, delete, or move any files within the folder. People can also add files to the folder.
- Can view only: People can see the folder and they can open all files within the folder.
More about folder sharing:
- When you share or change permission on a folder, the files and subfolders inside are updated with the new sharing settings. Files added to a folder at a later date inherit folder permissions, in addition to any permissions directly added to the files.
- You can also create folders with limited access and control who can access specific folders or subfolders. Learn how to limit access to folders.
- If you share or unshare folders with a lot of files or subfolders, it might take time before all permissions change. If you change a lot of edit or view permissions at once, it might take time before you see the changes.
Tip: In the meantime, to provide folder access for new collaborators, use the Sharing URL of a file nested deeply inside the folder.
- Storage is counted against the person who uploaded the file, not the owner of the folder.
- When you manage large folder structures, child and parent folder permissions can be different. You can override inherited permissions of child folders to be different than the parent folder. You can also remove parent permissions from a child folder.
Procedures
Add a member in a shared drive
- Go to Google Drive.
- Select the folder you want to share.
- Select Share
.
- Enter the email address or Google Group you want to share with. If you use a work or school account, you can share with suggested recipients.
- Tip: To turn off suggested recipients, go to your Drive Settings
. Uncheck “Show suggested recipients in the sharing dialog.”
- To decide what role people will have with your folder, select Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.
- If you use an eligible work or school account, click Add expiration to add an expiration date.
- Tip: Expiration dates for folders are available for Viewer and Commenter roles in My Drive.
- Choose to notify people.
- If you want to notify people that you shared an item with them, check the box next to "Notify people." If you notify people, each email address you enter is included in the email. If you don't want to notify people, uncheck the box.
- Select Send or Share.
Change member permissions in a shared drive/folder
When you share a folder, the files and sub folders inside are updated with the new sharing settings. Depending on how you shared the folder, the people you shared with will have access to the files inside:
- Viewer: Can only view files.
- Commenter: Can view and leave comments.
- Contributor: Can add new files and edit their own files.
- Content Manager: Can add, edit, move, and delete all files.
- Manager: Can manage members, change permissions, and delete the shared drive
Certain roles can also create folders with limited access within a shared folder. This helps you control who can access specific sub folders or files. Learn how to limit access to folders.
After you share the folder, you can change how the files inside are shared.
Change the owner in Google Shared Drive
Important: You can transfer ownership of a file to someone you previously shared the file with. Learn more about sharing files from Google Drive.
- On your computer, open Google Drive.
- Find the file you want to transfer then right-click.
- Click Share > click Share
.
- Next to the recipient's name, click the Down arrow
Transfer ownership.
After you make someone else the owner of a folder, you can edit the folder until the new owner decides to change your access.
Retrieve a deleted file from a Shared Drive
When someone deletes a file from a shared folder, only the owner can access it.
To retrieve a deleted file back from a shared folder:
- On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
- At the top, click Search Drive.
- Type in the name of the file.
- Right-click the file.
- Click Add to my Drive
.
Check activity and file versions
Important: Version history for Google Docs, Sheets and Slides is different to history for .pdf files, images and other files stored in Drive. Learn how to access the history of changes for Google files.
Access past activity
- On your computer, go to drive.google.com
- At the left click My drive.
- In the upper-right corner, click Info Info.
- Select an option. To access:
- Recent changes, select an option:
- Click Activity.
- Scroll down the right side.
- The activity of a specific file or folder, click the file or folder.
View collaboration activity
- On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
- On the left, click Activity.
- (Optional) Take action on a pending request:
- Manage access: To review pending access requests, open the sharing dialogue of the file. If pending access requests don't exist for that file, this option won't appear.
- Open comment: Comments notifications appear if you're either:
- Subscribed to notifications.
- Participating in the specific comment thread.
- Mentioned in a comment within that file.
- Review: Open a request for review and approval of a file.
Save and restore recent versions
Only the most recent versions of past documents will be saved, unless you click Keep forever.
Find out when a file was added to Drive
To check when a specific file was added to Drive, you can:
- On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
- Right-click your selected file.
- Click File information and then click Details.
- To locate the date on which the file was created, scroll through the side panel.
Version history for Google Docs, Sheets and Slides is different from file versions in Google Drive. Learn how to access the history of changes for Google files.
If you have any further questions, email servicedesk@qatar.tamu.edu or call us at (974) 4423-0009.