Sep 15, 2019

Restrict access to specific folders within a Shared Drive

I'm working with a Shared Drive. I'd like to restrict access to specific folders in the Shared Drive to certain members. Preferably, only the ~five people in my organization would be able to view files within the folder -- everyone else could see that the files are there but would not be able to open them. For example, in the screenshot below, I'd like to limit who can open files in "Upper-Level Leadership".

I've tried right-clicking on folders but I can't seem to edit folder-level permissions from there.

Any hints on how I'd be able to do this?

Details

Email Migration and Synchronization (POP/IMAP),A Google Workspace end user,gsuite_np

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All Replies (12)

Sunil - Tech Groupz

Gold Product Expert

Sep 16, 2019

Hi Patrick,

Google currently does not have an option where the user can only list the files but not give access. You would either need to completely remove the access for the users you dont intend to see the files or you should give them view access.

Thanks

Patrick Forscher

Original Poster

Sep 16, 2019

Thanks. How would I remove access completely to people if they are in the organization? And, if there is a way to remove access, can I do it at the folder level (i.e., ensure that any files created in a specific folder are only shared with one or two people in an organization rather than everyone in the organization)?

Sunil - Tech Groupz

Gold Product Expert

Sep 17, 2019

Hi Patrick,

I would suggest you to review this help article which will help you to manage the sharing permissions.

Thanks

Patrick Forscher

Original Poster

Sep 17, 2019

The link to the article seems to be missing.

Sunil - Tech Groupz

Gold Product Expert

Sep 17, 2019

Hi Patrick,

Apologies I forgot to paste the link. Here it is https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2494893

Thanks

Patrick Forscher

Original Poster

Sep 17, 2019

Sorry, but this doesn't seem to answer my original question. I'm working within a Shared Drive. I'd like to limit access to a folder in the Shared Drive to a subset of people in the organization that owns the Shared Drive (the files contain, ex, sensitive files that should only be edited by specific people).

This article appears to talk about regular files outside of the context of a Shared Drive.

Sunil - Tech Groupz

Gold Product Expert

Sep 18, 2019

Hi Patrick,

Shared Drives are nothing but files / folders shared to you by another user/ owner. The permissions can only be set by the owner / editor of the given file / folder. Once the permission is set the restriction would apply.

Thanks

Jonathan Hill 7307

Oct 23, 2019

Shared Drives do not act like individual files and folders. You are giving access to the Drive itself, not the contents. Those contents ALL share the same level of access (view, edit, comment etc) that was given to the user when made a member of the Shared Drive. One workaround would be to create a different shared drive for those sensitive files or restricted users. This, however, opens up the issue of now having to search through multiple drives. A second workaround (not a solution) would be to create the original share drive but only share individual items from the drive with the users instead of adding them as members. This too has its issues, like managing who has access, continuously updating share lists and basically defeats the purpose of a Share Drive. But if it is your only option...

It seems that many on here are confusing sharing a folder or file with someone and an actual Google Shared Drive (formerly Team Drive).

Good luck. This is an issue we have been looking for a resolution to for a while now.

Jen Slavik

Oct 29, 2019

We are needing to do the same thing. I can't imagine there wouldn't be an option to change access at the folder level within a shared drive. Seems to be a reasonable request.

Christine Todd

Nov 6, 2019

Please add access functions at the folder level... We need to keep data in one place but everyone does not need to see everything.

Google user

Nov 11, 2019

I am trying to do the same. Have a main shared folder but within that folder have sub folders that only select people can see. For example under human resources an the main folder but have a sub folder called accounting but only limit access to certain people for this folder alone.

Laks Vanamurthy

Nov 21, 2019

This seems like a basic option. I am surprised its still not there.