How to access Drive share settings
Do you want to share your files quickly and easily? Well, in this video I'm going to show you everything you need to know when it comes to sharing your files and folders right here within Google drive.
Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. And the first thing you need to know when it comes to sharing your files or your folders is how to open up the share dialogue.
Now, when you have opened up any Google file, up in the top right hand corner you will see a share button. Here within this Google sheet you can see I have this green share button, and by selecting this, I will open up the share dialogue.
However, this isn't the only place that we can access that share button.
Even if you have other files which are not Google specific, so for example, here I have an image I will still have access to that share option. If I select the more actions I can come down here and select share as well.
But perhaps the easiest way to share your files is from the main menu, because perhaps you don't want to jump in and out of all of your files, or perhaps you'd like to share multiple files at once.
So by selecting any file you will also have these share option here in the top right hand corner. We can also right click on a file. And about the third option down is the share option.
But maybe the fastest of all is if you select any file or folder, and then select the Period Key on your keyboard that will also prompt up the share dialogue. Now our very first step is to select the people
Adding people or groups to share files with
or email addresses in which we would like to share this file with. Remember all of your contacts within Google contacts will appear here but they don't have to, you can enter in any new email addresses as well.
And if you happen to have groups within Google contacts those will also be available to you here as well. So I'm going to enter in this dummy account and add this individual, 'cause I would like to share this document with them.
Next I want to take a look at the dropdown menu directly to the right of the name or names that I've input here.
Now, by default, it's going to select them as an editor but that may not be the right selection for you, as an editor in this case, they will be able to add and edit anything within this Google sheet, but we do have two other options available to us as well.
The first one is as a viewer, this will give them read only access so that they can see the entire sheet but they won't be able to make any changes. The second one down below is of a commenter, which is kind of like a viewer, but they also have the ability to add suggestions, this won't make any changes to your file or to your document, but you'll be able to see any suggestions or any comments which they add. So make sure that you decide what is the most appropriate level that you would like to grant to this user or users.
Notify people and add a message
Now down below, we have a check box which will be selected by default telling us that this will notify these individuals once we hit the send button. With this checkbox selected, we can enter in a message such as, just wanted to share the new file with you.
If you do not want a notification sent out directly from Google drive, you can uncheck this check box. In this case, you have two options available to you. By selecting the blue share button down below they will instantly have access to this file within their Google drive account.
Or if you would like to send them the link via email
or some other form of messaging, you can select copy link. And now I have a link copied to my clipboard and I can paste that into my message and SMS,
Advanced settings for sharing files and folders
or some other messaging format. Now, before we hit share in this case, I want to pay special attention to one more option available to us and that is the settings or gear icon in the top right hand corner. By selecting this option here we have two additional check boxes available to us.
The first one says, "Editors can change permissions and share". With this checkbox selected, anyone who I select or add as an editor here will also be able to share it with other people and change permissions.
If I do not want to give them that level of permission, I can uncheck this checkbox. The second option down below says, "Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print and copy". Keep in mind that this second checkbox does not apply to editors.
Editors will certainly have the ability to download, print and copy, but maybe I just want to give someone a preview of this file, so I'm going to make them a viewer.
If I also want to make sure that they can't make a copy for themselves or they cannot download that file I would leave this checkbox unchecked as well. So depending on the file that you are sharing make sure that you select that gear icon and double check just before you hit share.
Now that I'm ready to share, I'm going to select share. And now you can see that we have a new share icon beside this file type. Just like we look down below, I have a few other files that have that share icon as well.
So even at a glance I can see whom I'm sharing these files or folders with.
Editing share settings in Drive
Now, what if we want to share with additional people the same file or perhaps we want to remove access? Well, we can hit that share button in the variety of ways
or use our shortcut key of the Period Key on our keyboard. And now we will always have full access as to whom we have shared these files with. So here is the individual that I've made as a viewer but perhaps I want them to get more involved with this file.
I can simply come down to the right side and change their ability from viewer to an editor in this case, of course they won't become an editor until I hit the save button down below.
The other thing that we want to pay attention to here is that perhaps I want to remove access to this individual as well. Well, I can do so here by this dropdown and remove access so that they no longer can access this file. The one above here you can see is transfer ownership but it's currently disabled
because I don't have anyone as an editor at the moment. If I save this and make that individual an editor and then reopen this file, I can now come down and transfer ownership to them. In this case, they will have all the abilities that I currently have
and they will be the owner going forward, I will still have access to this file but they will be the owner of this particular file.
Using links to share files and folders
Down below you will also notice that we have another option available to us
as soon as we have shared this file with one or more individuals. And this is giving us the ability to restrict, meaning that this file will only be shared with people who can open the link but we can choose to change that to anyone with the link.
Now, this might be helpful if you're wanting to share something with the world or something publicly, such as perhaps a lead magnet or some other free resource and you don't want to have to add individuals one by one and it's not sensitive information.
In this case I can choose anyone with the link and then I can select copy that link. And now when I go and paste it… Let me open up an incognito window just to show you. They will have direct access to this sheet.
Now keep in mind, they only have view only access, so they can't make any changes to this sheet. I'm trying to hit delete on my keyboard, I'm trying to enter in other numbers, I can't do so because I only have view only access. So another safe and easy way to share files with others in this case, if you want to publicly share that file
How to share entire folders with others
with the rest of the world. Now don't forget all of these share options and settings which we've reviewed also apply to folders within Google drive.
Let me take a quick look at this test folder. I have five different folders within this folder and a variety of different files as well, but perhaps going forward I don't want to have to manage
one by one or file by file who has access. Maybe I have colleagues that I want to give access to everything within this folder, either now or when files are added to any of these folders.
In this case, all I need to do is select the folder I want to share, hit the dropdown menu, and then select share. And we are going to be prompted with the exact same menu that we saw when it came to sharing files.
In this case, I'm going to add another individual here. I'm going to make them an editor in this particular case.
I'm going to hit send and once again, we will see that that share icon is visible here,
and now going forward any new files that I add within these folders will be shared with everyone else who has shared access. So a quick and easy way to share multiple files, multiple folders, both in the present and going forward.
Now to get even easier access to all of your dry files and folders, be sure to use Drive for desktop. To learn how to set up for yourself on your computer, be sure to watch this video next.
Remember being productive does not need to be difficult, in fact, it's very simple.
