Google Drive is not just a cloud storage service, it also includes a suite of online productivity applications: Google Docs (word processing), Google Sheets (spreadsheets), and Google Slides (presentations). These applications allow you to collaborate with colleagues on a document, spreadsheet, or presentation in real-time or asynchronously. Additionally, these apps can natively import, export, and edit Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word documents.
Free Access with Google Account
With a Google account, you have free access to these applications and 15 GB of free storage on Google Drive. If you need more storage, Google One plans start at $2 per month.
For professional use, Google offers several tiers of Google Workspace plans that include more storage, as well as collaboration, security, and administration tools for businesses. These plans start at $6 per user per month. There is also a Google Workspace Essentials plan for organizations that do not need hosted email.
Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides function similarly in both the free and paid plans, but some additional features are added to the Workspace plans. Unless stated otherwise, this guide covers sharing and collaboration with your documents under a personal and free Google account. Most steps are the same with a Google Workspace account, but note that your administrator may have disabled or limited certain features.
The majority of this article focuses on sharing and collaboration via My Drive, the drive controlled by individual users, whether they are using Google Drive with a personal Google account or a Workspace account. A section at the end addresses shared drives, which are only available as part of Google Workspace accounts.
How to Share Your Document
There are several ways to start sharing a file on Google Drive and its associated applications:
- On the Google Drive homepage (also known as My Drive), click to highlight the document, presentation, or spreadsheet you want to share, then click on the Share icon (a silhouette of a person) in the top-right toolbar. (For simplicity, we will use the term “document” to refer to spreadsheets and presentations from now on.)
- On your My Drive page, right-click on the document you want to share and select “Share” from the menu that appears.
- To share a document you have open in Docs, Sheets, or Slides, click the large “Share” button in the top-right corner.
Any of these actions will open the “Share with people and groups” pane, which allows you to precisely control who can see your document and what they can do with it.
Private Sharing: Only Specific People Can Access Your Document
In most cases, professional users will want to share files privately, meaning they limit access to specific individuals or groups. In the “Add people and groups” field of the Share pane, enter the names or email addresses of the people you want to collaborate with on the document. As you type, Google will suggest matches from your contacts; click on a name or group to add them. You can also include a brief message for the recipients.
By default, each person you add is assigned the Editor status for your document. You can change this by clicking on “Editor” and selecting “Viewer” or “Commenter” instead. Here’s how the three permissions break down:
- A Viewer can browse and read your document but cannot edit it or share it with others.
- A Commenter can view the document and add comments and suggestions but cannot edit it or share it.
- An Editor can view, comment, and edit the document (modify text, add images, etc.) and share it with others.
[Important Note:] Whatever option you choose in the Share pane applies to all the people you are currently inviting to the document. If you want to give different people different levels of permission, you will need to invite them individually or in separate batches, assigning different access rights each time.
You can further refine these access settings. Click on the gear icon in the top-right of the Share pane to disable the following options:
- Uncheck “Editors can change permissions and share” if you do not want people with editing privileges to be able to share the document with others or change the Viewer, Commenter, or Editor status of other people.
- Uncheck “Viewers and Commenters can see the download, print, and copy options” if you do not want people with viewing or commenting access to be able to download, print, or copy your document.
[Note:] If a person you share your document with privately has a Google account (such as a Gmail account), they can immediately work on it as a Commenter or Editor as long as they are signed into their account. Otherwise, they will need to sign up for a free Google account.
You can change a person’s access to the document at any time. Open the Share pane, click the button to the right of their name with their access title (Viewer, Commenter, or Editor), and select a different access title from the menu that appears. To revoke a person’s access to the document, click Remove in the menu. After making a selection, click Save.
Set an Expiration Date for a Privately Shared Document
As part of a Google Workspace plan, a person who has been granted Viewer or Commenter access to your document can have their access revoked on a specified date. If they have been designated an Editor, they will be demoted to Commenter status on a specified date.
Open the Share pane. Click the button to the right of a collaborator’s name that displays their access title (Viewer, Commenter, or Editor) and select “Grant temporary access” from the menu that appears. Then, next to “Access expires…”, click on the current date and modify the number of days you want this person to have access to your document.
Public Sharing: Anyone Can Access Your Document
In some cases, you may want to share a document publicly, allowing anyone to view, edit, or comment on it. In the Share pane, go to the “Get link” area and click “Change to anyone with the link.” A link to your document will be generated, which you can copy and paste. Anyone who clicks on this link (whether you or someone else sent it to them) will be able to view your document.
By default, the permission for public links is set to “Viewer.” To allow anyone with the link to comment on or edit your document, click on “Viewer” to the right and select “Commenter” or “Editor.”
[Note:] Keep in mind that anyone with the public link to your document can access it, whether they received the link directly from you, from someone else, or found it in another way. This is why it’s important to use public links with caution, especially when assigning Commenter or Editor rights to a link.
Unlike privately shared documents, people collaborating on publicly shared documents do not need a Google account. If they are not signed into a Google account when accessing the document, they will appear as an anonymous contributor.
You can disable the public link to your document at any time by reopening the Share pane and clicking “Change” in the “Get link” area. Then, click “Anyone with the link” and select “Restricted.”
Sharing a Document from the Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides Mobile Apps
On the homepage of any Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides mobile app, tap the three dots to the right of the document’s filename. In the pane that appears, tap “Share.” This will open the share screen.
To open the share screen when you have a document open in the Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides mobile app, tap the share icon (a silhouette of a person) in the top-right corner.
On the share screen, enter the names or email addresses of the people you want to invite to collaborate on your document. As you type, Google will suggest matches from your contacts; tap on a name or group to add them. You can also include a brief message. If you want to change the recipients’ access rights from Editor, tap the Editor dropdown list and choose Viewer or Commenter.
At the bottom of the share screen, tap anywhere under “Who has access.” This will open a screen listing the people who have access to your document and their access type (Viewer, Commenter, Editor). To change their access type or remove their access entirely, tap their name.
To share your document publicly, tap “Only people added can open this link” at the bottom of the “Who has access” screen. On the unfurled pane, tap to select Viewer, Commenter, or Editor. The text in the “Link” area on the main screen will change to indicate: “Anyone on the internet with this link can comment” (or “can view” or “can edit,” depending on your selection). Tap the link and select “Copy link” to save the link to your phone’s clipboard, which you can paste into an email or message.
Status of Your Shared Documents
On the Google Drive homepage, your documents shared with others are marked with an icon depicting two silhouette heads to the right of the document’s name.
[Note:] If you have set the page to “Grid view,” this icon will not appear with the thumbnail or filename of a shared document.
Finding the documents others have shared with you is even easier. On the left side of the Google Drive homepage, click “Shared with me” to see a list of documents that others are sharing with you.
The homepages of the mobile apps also use silhouette head icons to indicate documents you have shared.
To see the list of documents others are sharing with you in the Google Drive app, tap the silhouette head icon at the bottom of the screen. In the Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides apps, tap the three-lined icon in the top-left corner. In the pane that appears, tap “Shared with me.”
Now that you know how to effectively collaborate using Google Drive, you can effortlessly work with your colleagues on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Enhance your productivity, streamline teamwork, and make the most of Google’s powerful online productivity suite. For more tips and tricks on using Google Drive and other digital tools, visit Crawlan.com.
Remember, sharing is caring! Spread the knowledge and empower others in your professional and personal circles to collaborate seamlessly with Google Drive. Happy collaborating!
