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Google Drive - Setting up and Managing a Google Shared Drive

Google Drive - Setting up and Managing a Google Shared Drive

Add members & set permissions

To add members and set permissions you need full access permission

  1. Click Send to send notifications

  2. Click Add if you do not want to send notifications

  3. In the left navigation, click a Shared Drive

  4. At the top, under the Shared Drive name, click +Add Members

  5. Add names, email addresses, or Google Groups

    1. (Optional) To change the permissions from Full Access, next to Full, click on the down arrow and choose a new permission

    2. (Optional) Enter a message

    3. (Optional) If you don't want to send notifications, select Skip sending notifications

  6. Choose an option

Screenshot of Cassy's team interface. A blue arrow points from Add Members to an Add new members pop up window

Change member permissions

To change member permissions, you need full access permission

  1. In the left navigation, click a Shared Drive

  2. At the top, next to the Shared Drive name, click the Down arrow, Manage members

  3. Next to a member's name, click the Down arrow, and select a new permission

  4. Click Done 

Arrow points from Manage members to a Member access window where Edit access is selected for a team member.

Remove members

To remove members, you need full access permission

  1. In the left navigation, click a Shared Drive

  2. At the top, next to the Shared Drive name, click the Down arrow, Manage members

  3. Next to a member's name, click on the Down arrow, and select Remove member

  4. Click Done

    Arrow points from Manage members to the Member access window where Remove member is selected for a user.

Create a new folder 

  1. In the left navigation, click a Shared Drive or existing folder

  2. Click New > Folder

  3. Enter a folder name

  4. Click CREATE

Upload an existing folder from your computer

  1. In the left navigation, click a Shared Drive folder

  2. On your computer, drag an existing folder into a Shared Drive. Or, click New > Folder upload. Navigate to the folder and open it

    Arrow points from the Sales folder to a New menu showing numbered options for Folder 1 and Folder upload 2.

Add and open files

To add files to a Shared Drive, you need at least edit access permission. Any files you add are owned by the team. If you leave the Shared Drive, your files remain.

  1. To create a file, select the file type you want to create, such as Google Docs

  2. To upload a file, select File upload. Navigate to the file and open it.

  3. In the left navigation, click a Shared Drive folder

  4. Drag an existing file to upload it from your computer. Or, click New and choose an option: 

  5. Double-click a file to open it

    The New menu in the Sales folder, showing options for File upload, Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Star Important Files

  1. To flag important files or folders to find them quickly. Just right-click a file or folder and select Add Star

  2. To see all your starred files and folders, in the left sidebar, click Starred

 

A right-click menu on a Google Doc shows the Add star option, which corresponds to the Starred section in the sidebar.

Move Files

  1. To move files between Shared Drives, you must have full access to the original team drive and at least edit access to the destination team drive

  2. If someone else owns the file, you need to ask them to move it

  3. You can move any file you own into a Shared Drive, whether it is from another Drive location, or from your computer, or mobile device

  4. To move files between Shared Drives or from My Drive into a Shared Drive drag the files into the destination Shared Drive folder

    A cursor drags a Google Doc file into a folder in the sidebar menu of the drive interface.

Delete files

You must have full access permission to delete a file

  1. Click the file you want to delete and at the top right, click the trash icon

  2. This deletes the file for everyone

  3. If a file is accidentally deleted, you can restore it

Restore files

You must have edit access permission or higher to restore a file

  1. In the left navigation, click a Team Drive

  2. At the top, next to the Team Drive name, click the Down arrow > View Trash

  3. Click a file and click Restore

    Google Drive interface showing a selected document and the Trash folder highlighted in the sidebar.

Share files with individuals or groups

If you set permissions to View or comment, you can prevent people from downloading, printing, and copying shared files

  1. Click a file to share

  2. Click the share icon

  3. Add names, email addresses, or Google Groups

    1. (Optional) To change the permissions from edit, click the down arrow and choose another permission

    2. (Optional) Add a message

  4. Click Send

    Blue arrow points from the Add member icon to a pop-up window titled Add new members for sharing a document.

Email a link

  1. Click a file to share

  2. Click the share icon

  3. Click Who has Access

  4. Next to Link sharing off, click the down arrow

  5. Next to the URL, click Copy. The link is now on your clipboard

  6. Click Done

  7. Paste the link into an email

    Arrows point to Who has access to, showing link sharing toggled on with options for external access and search.

Share a link

  1. Click a file to share

  2. Click the share icon

  3. Click Who has access

  4. Next to Link Sharing off, click the down arrow

  5. Turn Link Sharing on

  6. Click the down arrow, and choose a permission

  7. (Optional) To allow sharing outside your organization, click Allow external access

  8. (Optional) To make the document searchable in Drive, click Findable in search results

  9. Click Done 

    Arrows point to Who has access to settings, showing Link sharing on, view permissions, and external access options.

Unshare files within your organization

  1. Click a file to unshare

  2. Click the share icon

  3. Click Who has access

  4. Turn Link Sharing off

  5. Click Done

    Arrows point to Who has access to, showing the Link Sharing toggle switched off and the status as Link sharing off.

Unshare files with individuals

If the file you unshare is still shared with an organization or group that includes the person , they can still access the file 

  1. Click on a file to unshare

  2. Click the share icon

  3. Click Who has access

  4. Next to the person, click the down arrow, then select Remove

    Arrows point to Who has access to where a dropdown menu shows Edit selected and a Remove option for a user.