You can add existing tables to workspaces by clicking on the "+ Add table" button on the tab bar within a workspace, and selecting the "Add existing table" option from the menu.
Important notes:
- When you add an existing table to a workspace, the data you see is the actual table data, not a copy of the table.
- Tables can be a part of multiple workspaces. Workspaces are just a way to group tables together and show them in a tabbed interface.
- You can think of a workspace similar to a Drive folder and each table as a file, except a table can be in multiple different folders; or alternatively you can think of each workspace as a Chrome browser window with each table being a tab in the window, where you can have the same tab open in two separate browser windows.
Does adding a table to a workspace affect who can access my table?
Adding a table to a workspace does not directly change table access. Workspace permissions are separate from table permissions, and simply adding a table to a workspace will not directly change the permissions on a table.
If a user is adding an existing table to a workspace and has access to change the permissions on the table, then they will see a prompt to share the table with workspace collaborators that the table is not already shared with.
This step can be skipped to avoid altering the table permissions. For tables created by a Google Workspace customer (formerly known as G Suite), adding tables into a workspace will never change the domain-level access setting.
What happens if I don't have access to a table in a workspace that I have access to?
When the table is added to the workspace, a tab will start showing up to represent the table:
- If you have Viewer access to the table, you will be able to see the table name and the contents in the table.
- If you don't have at least Viewer access, you will see a tab that explains that you don't have access to the table.
