Overview
Google Shared Drives are set up so you can share files with your team. We recommend you use a Shared Drive for files your teammates need to access regularly. The files are owned by the team, not an individual. This means the files remain in the shared drive even if a team member leaves. They are designed for collaborative work, so anyone with access to the shared drive can work on the file. The benefit of a shared drive is that you can easily change ownership and adjust viewer permissions when someone leaves or joins a team.
Keep in mind that there are safeguards in place -- in the event someone makes a change to the file and you need an earlier version, you can access previous versions by checking File Information Activity. You can set permissions for the Shared Drive to permit or prevent people from accessing the content. You can use Drive shortcuts to point to files or folders from shared drives to a person's personal Drive (or the other way around).
You can read more about Shared Drives here.
How To
Create a shared drive
1. In your browser, go to drive.google.com
2. In the top left, click Shared drives.
3. Click New.
4. Enter a name for the shared drive.
5. Click Create.
Note: Within the drive you can add folders to keep your drive organized. Click New > New Folder in the top left.
Add people to access your shared drive
If you create the shared drive, you are the Manager of the drive by default. As the Manager, you can set permissions to indicate who can access the Shared Drive.
1. Open the Shared Drive.
2. Click on the Name of the Shared Drive.
3. Click Manage members.
3. In the Add people and groups field, start typing the names of people or groups you want to access the folder. Select them from the list that appears.
Note: A Group is anyone who is part of an email distribution group.
4. You can set up specific access permissions for each person or group.
- Viewer - no editing permissions; good for people who only need to see specific information and you don't want them to change anything in the file
- Commenter - can make comments on a file; good to collect feedback and then you can incorporate into the file, if you like
- Contributor - add and edit files; good to collect input from people, but with assurance they can't delete files
- Content Manager - can edit, delete, move and share the files; most common option when you want to share with the team
- Manager - same as Content Manager but with the ability to manage permissions of others who access the file; good to have two managers in the event one leaves the team
- Refer to this site for more details on access.
Note: The Manager can change a member's access to a shared drive.
Move files in a shared drive
- If you have Contributor, Content manager, or Manager access to a shared drive, you can move into a shared drive the files you own. When you move a file you created into a shared drive, the shared drive becomes the owner of a file. You are still listed as the creator of the file in the item details.
- To move a file or folder, drag it from the current drive to the shared drive. Note: You can only move files you own; the owner must always be the person to move any file. When you share files with someone outside of a shared drive, they can find the files under Shared with me in their own Drive.
Access a previous version of a file
If someone makes edits to a document, but you need an earlier version of the document without those edits, you can access the earlier version.
1. In the drive, highlight the file you want to access.
2. Click the More actions dots on the far right.
3. Click File information.
4. Click Activity.
5. Scroll through the Activity Details until you find the earlier version you want. Note the date and activity are listed with each version.
6. Click on the name of the document, and that version will open.
Important Notes
- If you aren't ready to delete a shared drive, but you aren't actively using it, you can hide it. Hiding a drive removes it from your view.
- To delete a shared drive: the drive must be empty and only the Manager can delete it.
- Contributors, Content managers, and Managers can share files; only the Manager can share a folder.
- Only the Manager of a shared file can share folders (and its contents) within. Content managers and contributors can share individual files but not folders.
The Help Desk
Need more help? Contact us!
- Enter a Service Request here on this page by choosing the best option to route your request to the right expert.
- Call the Help Desk at 717-358-6789.
- Stop by and see us at Martin Science Library.