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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 permissions on a folder, the files and subfolders inside are updated with the new sharing permissions. This ensures permission management is simple and access is consistent.
- Permissions from a parent folder are inherited by all the files and folders within it. Files added to a folder later will also inherit these permissions.
- If a file or subfolder needs more restrictive permissions than its parent folder, you should create a limited access folder. Learn how to limit access to folders.
Choose who to share with
- 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.”
- Tip: To turn off suggested recipients, go to your Drive Settings
- 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.
Tips:
- When you update permissions for an item in My Drive, you may be prompted to manage permissions for the folder it's in. This happens if you try to give someone less access to the item than they inherit from the parent folder.
- This ensures consistent access across the entire folder.
Share with a Google Group
In Google Drive, you can share folders with Google Groups instead of specific people. When you:
- Add a member to a group: That person gains permission to access the files and folders the group has.
- Remove a member from a group: That person loses permission to access the files and folders the group has.
To share a folder with your Google Group:
- Create a Google Group.
- Add members to your group.
- Share the folder with your group.
Tip: Before a folder appears in your “Shared with me” folder, you must open that folder from an invitation or a link.
Share with a Chat space
In Google Drive, to share folders with a Chat space, you can add the folder you want to share directly to that Chat space or share a link to the Google Drive folder.
To share a folder with a Chat space in Google Chat:
- On your computer, go to Google Chat.
- Select the Chat space you want to share the folder with.
- At the bottom left, click Integration menu
Drive
.
- Select the folder you want to share with a Chat space.
- Click Insert.
To share a folder from a link in the Google Drive:
- On your computer, go to Google Drive.
- Right-click on the folder you want to share with a Chat space.
- Click Get link
- Go to Google Chat.
- Select the Chat space you want to share the folder with.
- In the message field, paste the link you copied.
Tips:
- When you send a folder to a Chat space, a prompt to grant access appears.
- If you grant access to that Chat space, people who join the space later also gain access to the shared folders.
- When people leave a Chat space, they lose access to the folders in that Chat space if they don’t have sharing access:
- As an individual
- As a member of another group
- To grant folder access, you must have edit access on the folder you want to share.
You can decide if your folder is generally available or restricted to only the people with access. If you allow access to anyone with the link, your folder won't restrict who can access it.
- On your computer, go to Google Drive.
- Click the folder you want to share.
- Click Share
- Under "General access," click the Down arrow
.
- Choose who can access the folder.
- Tip: If you use your Google account for work or school, you can choose to only share files and folders with a specific audience, like your department. When you hover over the group name, you can find a description of each audience.
- To decide what role people will have with your folder, select Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.
Reduce or remove folder permissions
When you reduce or remove someone's permission to a folder, that change applies to all files and subfolders inside it.
However, if someone was given greater access to a specific file within that folder (for example, they are an Editor on a file inside a folder where they are only a Viewer), they will keep their higher level of access for that specific file.
If a file or subfolder needs more restrictive permissions than its parent folder, you should create a limited access folder. Learn how to limit access to folders and tips to unshare your Drive files.
Limit sharing for a file in a folder you don't own
A file inside a shared folder has the same or higher sharing permissions as the folder itself. If you are not the owner of the main folder, you may not be able to change these settings.
To control who can see your file, you have a couple of options:
- You can move the file to a new or different folder. When you move the file to a folder that you own, you can then control its sharing settings.
- You can use a folder with limited access. Learn how to limit access to folders.
By moving the file, you can make sure that only the people you want to see the file will have access to it.
Reduce permissions for a specific file in a shared folder
When you share a folder, every file inside is shared with the same level of access (for example, Viewer or Editor). You can’t give someone less access to a specific file than they have to the folder it's in.
If you try to reduce or remove a person’s access to a single file, you will be prompted to change the permissions for the entire parent folder instead.
Change sharing permissions of shared folders
When you share a folder, the files and subfolders 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:
- Editor: People can open, edit, delete, or move any files within the folder. People can also add files to the folder.
- Commenter: People can make comments and suggestions for files in the folder, but can’t change or share items in the folder with others.
- Viewer: People can see the folder and they can open all files within the folder.
Certain roles can also create folders with limited access within a shared folder. This helps you control who can access specific subfolders or files. Learn how to limit access to folders.
After you share the folder, you can change how the files inside are shared.
When you transfer ownership of a folder, the files inside keep their original owner. To change the owners of more than one folder:
- On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
- Select the folder that you want to change owners.
- To select multiple folders, hold Shift and click the folders you want.
- At the top right, click Share
- To the right of the person’s name, click the Down arrow
- Click Transfer ownership.
- Click Yes.
After you make someone else the owner of a folder, you can edit the folder until the new owner decides to change your access.
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
.