You can share the files and folders that you store in Google Drive with anyone.
Step 1: Find the file that you want to share
Share a single file
- On a computer, go to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets or Slides.
- Click the file that you want to share.
- Click Share or Share
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.- On a computer, go to drive.google.com.
- On your keyboard, hold Shift and select two or more files.
- At the top right, click Share
Learn how to add files to a folder and share the entire folder.
Google Forms have different sharing options to other kinds of files.
Step 2: Choose whom to share with & how they can use your file
Share with specific people
- Under 'People', enter the email address that you want to share with.
- Note: If you share with an email address that isn’t a Google Account, they’ll only be able to view the file.
- To choose what someone can do with your file, click the Down arrow
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- If you don’t want to send an email to people, click Advanced and untick the Notify people box. If you notify people, each email address you enter will be included in the email.
- Click Send.
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You can send other people a link to your file so anyone on the Internet with the link can use it. When you share a link to a file, your name will be visible as the owner of the file.
- At the top-right, click Get shareable link.
- Next to 'Anyone with the link', click the Down arrow
- Copy and paste the link in an email or any place that you want to share it.
If you want anyone on the Internet to search for, find and open your file, you can publicly share a file. When you publicly share a file, your name will be visible as the owner of the file.
- Click Get shareable link.
- Next to 'Anyone with the link', click the Down arrow
- Click More
On – Public on the web.
- Click Save.
- Choose the level of access that you want people to have. Learn more about how others can view, comment or edit files.
- Click Done.
On – Public on the web.People who aren't signed in to a Google Account show up as anonymous animals in your file. Learn more about anonymous animals.
Share & collaborate on a file with many people
At any time, a Google Docs, Sheets or Slides file can only be edited on up to 100 open tabs or devices. If there are more than 100 instances of the file open, only the owner and some users with editing permissions can edit the file.
To share and collaborate on a file with a very wide audience:
Publish the file
- If you need many people to view a file at once, publish it and create a link to share to viewers. You can give edit access to people who need to edit or comment on the file. Learn how to publish a file.
- Depending on your account’s settings, publishing a file makes it visible to everyone on the web, everyone in your organisation, or a group of people in your organisation. Be careful when publishing private or sensitive info.
- Important: If you have an account through work or school, your administrator can limit who can view a published file. If you're an administrator, learn how to control who can publish documents to the web.
- To remove a file from the web, you must stop publishing it. Learn how to stop publishing a file.
- To stop sharing a file with collaborators, learn how to change sharing permissions.
Create a Google Site
- Create a Google Site to share information with many people. You can embed documents, spreadsheets and presentations on the site, which can be viewed by a large amount of users. Learn how to embed documents on a site.
- If you anticipate high traffic to your site, first publish your document in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides, then embed the published URL into Google Sites. Learn how to publish a file.
Collect feedback with Google Forms
- If you need to gather a lot of information, create a Google Form. Responses will be recorded in a Google Sheet. Give edit access only to people who need to work with the responses. To let more than 100 people view the responses, publish the spreadsheet to the web and create a link to share with viewers. Learn how to publish a file.
Fix problems with documents shared with many people
If your document is shared with many people and it’s crashing or not updating quickly, try these troubleshooting tips:
- Instead of allowing people to comment on a document or spreadsheet, create a Google Form to collect feedback. Learn how to create a Google Form.
- If you’re making a copy of a document, don’t include resolved comments and suggestions. Learn how to make a copy.
- Delete older information or move data into a new document.
- Ask viewers to close the document when they aren’t using it.
- Include only the most important information in a published document. Shorter documents load faster.
- Reduce the amount of people with edit access to a document.
- If collecting information from multiple documents, create a new, view-only document to share with a large number of people.
Limit how a file is shared
Choose whether people can view, comment or editWhen you share a file with someone, you can choose what they can do with it.
- Viewer: People can view, but can’t change or share the file with others.
- Commenter: People can make comments and suggestions, but can’t change or share the file with others.
- Editor: People can make changes, accept or reject suggestions, and share the file with others.
When you share a link to a file, you control how widely the file is shared. These options depend on whether you have a work, school or Gmail Google Account.
- Public: Anyone can search on Google and get access to your file, without signing in to their Google Account.
- Anyone with the link: Anyone who has the link can use your file, without signing in to their Google Account.
- Restricted: Only people you share the file with will be able to use it.