Google Drive, one of the biggest platforms to share files, is used by almost all Google users. It’s a huge platform with plenty of options to store your data. Google Drive is a cloud storage space where you get 10 GB of free storage by signing up for a Google account. The UI of the web application and mobile application is pretty easy to understand. However, it gets hard to figure out how to share a folder on Google Drive for the very first time.
In this guide, we will be discussing everything about sharing on a cloud platform such as Google Drive. From files or subfolders to edit delete or move files, this guide will help you with everything.
How do you share folders in Google Drive?
To share the folders on Google Drive, there are different ways that you can use them. You can either use the version to Move any file from your desktop to drive, or you can do the whole process manually. So, let’s see how to upload and share –
Uploading Files to Google Drive
You can choose between the web version or the Windows application version. You can also use your smartphone by installing the Drive app on it. To upload a document, you have to sign in with your Google account and follow the steps as mentioned below to add files:
- Open the desktop app or the web version of Google Drive.
- In the drive, you will see all the documents that you have uploaded or opened since now.
- Go to the top left corner, just below the Google Drive logo, and click on it.
- You will get the options for Folder, File Upload, Google Docs, etc.
- Choose Folder to upload an entire folder.
- Browse the folder you want to upload and click on Upload.
- The folder will soon be uploaded to your Google Drive.
Google Drive File Sharing
To share a folder after you have uploaded it to your drive. You have to follow a few simple steps to share it with your fellow team members. Sharing files and folders is pretty unsafe when you share any sensitive or confidential information with someone. You have to be very careful while doing so, and we will discuss the same in the next section. Let’s start with the guide to share the Google Files/Folder:
- Select the folder that you want to share.
- Right-click on the folder from your Google Drive.
- You will see a lot of options and choose the second saying “Share”.
- Once you click on share, a new sub-window will open.
- On the window, select the people and enter their email.
- Choose if you want to just view the file, edit, or add only comments.
- Click on send and your files will be shared with the people mentioned in the box.
Sharing Files via Link
There’s an easier way to share your folders and files on Google Drive and those are links. You can get a link for the file or folder to share the same by following the same steps with a few modifications. It is actually a perfect idea if you don’t know the email of the receiver. But it adds to the risk of leaking a sensitive file or folder. It is not recommended for confidential documents but, if you want to share a file really quickly, sharing via links is way easier. Follow the steps to share files via the link –
- Open the file, and click on share folder or share a single
- On the next screen, select the get link on the screen.
- You will see a link.
- Copy the link and share it with your colleagues to organize and edit the files.
How to choose who to share with?
Choosing people to share your files with depends on the sensitivity of the file or folder. If the document is for your colleagues, make sure you choose the right people to click share the file with. Having a selected list of emails can be helpful for such documents to prevent unnecessary folder access.
How to change the sharing permissions of shared folders?
Changing the permissions on a folder is so easy that you can get permission from a child easily. Before you share files and folders, you have to make sure who are you sharing with. You can easily share the permissions on the sharing tab. It’s really easy to share files or folders with the selected people. Here are the steps that you need to follow to edit the permissions from people you shared it with:
- Get to the sharing screen to Edit delete or move.
- Get the link or put the email of the person you want the file to share.
- On the right, look for the ‘editor’ option to ‘View only’ to change the permission of child folders.
- Click on it and select the option to change the permission to viewer, editor, or commenter.
- Click on done, and then copy the link and choose people who you’ve shared the folder
How to change ownership of a file or folder?
Sometimes, it is required to change the ownership of cloud files. Here are the steps that you need to follow:
- As described before, get to the sharing option and click on it.
- On the sharing menu, look for the person to change the permissions so that people can also add
- On the right-hand side of the name, look for ‘editor’ so that people can open edit delete
- Click on it and a pop-up will appear.
- Change the permissions or owner of the folder.
- Click on done and share a file with your fellow team players.
Tips on sharing files and folders with Google Drive?
- To share it with large groups of people, you can create a Google group of up to 200 people. 100 people can work at the same time, and 100 commentators can work at the same time.
- You can set an expiry date for a file by going to Advanced > Hovering the cursor over the person’s name and clicking "Set Expiration." Select the number of days and click on "done."
- To stop sharing files in the near future, go to File->Share->Advanced->Click down arrow next to that person’s name->Select Remove and Save changes.
Wrap up
Google Drive is considered one of the best cloud storage services on the internet today. Sharing can be hard if you are not a techie. We hope this guide helped you figure out the right way to use Google Drive and change the owner of the folder in your Google Drive.
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