Share folders in Google Drive

               

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Here’s what people can do with folders after you share it with them:

• Can organize, add, & edit: If they're signed into a Google account, people can open, edit, delete, or move any files within the folder. People can also add files to the folder.
• Can view only: People can see the folder and they can open all files within the folder.

More about folder sharing:

• When you share or change permission on a folder, the files and subfolders inside are updated with the new sharing settings. Files added to a folder at a later date will inherit permissions from the folder in addition to any permissions directly added to the files.
• If you share or unshare folders with a lot of files or subfolders, it might take time before all permissions change. If you change a lot of edit or view permissions at once, it might take time before you see the changes.

Tip: In the meantime, to provide folder access for new collaborators, use the Sharing URL of a file nested deeply inside the folder.

• Storage is counted against the person who uploaded the file, not the owner of the folder.
• When you manage large folder structures, child and parent folder permissions can be different. You can override inherited permissions of child folders to be different than the parent folder. You can also remove parent permissions from a child folder.

Choose who to share with

Share with specific people

1. Go to Google Drive.
2. Select the folder you want to share.
3. Select Share .
4. Enter the email address or Google Group you want to share with. If you use a work or school account, you can share with suggested recipients.
   • Tip: To turn off suggested recipients, go to your Drive Settings . Uncheck “Show suggested recipients in the sharing dialog.”
5. To decide what role people will have with your folder, select Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.
6. If you use an eligible work or school account, click Add expiration to add an expiration date.
   • Tip: Expiration dates for folders are available for Viewer and Commenter roles in My Drive.
7. Choose to notify people.
   • If you want to notify people that you shared an item with them, check the box next to "Notify people." If you notify people, each email address you enter is included in the email. If you don't want to notify people, uncheck the box.
8. Select Send or Share.

Tip: When updating permissions for an item you're sharing from My Drive, if the person you're sharing with does not already have permissions for the folder that contains that item, you can choose to:

• Update permissions for the folder that contains that item
• Only update permissions for only the item itself

Most users choose to update the folder that contains that item because to make sharing and folder management easier.

Share with a group of specific people

Share with a Google Group

In Google Drive, you can share folders with Google Groups instead of specific people. When you:

• Add a member to a group: That person gains permission to access the files and folders the group has.
• Remove a member from a group: That person loses permission to access the files and folders the group has.

To share a folder with your Google Group:

1. Create a Google Group.
2. Add members to your group.
3. Share the folder with your group.

Tip: Before a folder appears in your “Shared with me” folder, you must open that folder from an invitation or a link.

Share with a Chat space

In Google Drive, to share folders with a Chat space, you can add the folder you want to share directly to that Chat space or share a link to the Google Drive folder. 

To share a folder with a Chat space in Google Chat:

1. On your computer, go to Google Chat.
2. Select the Chat space you want to share the folder with.
3. At the bottom left, click Integration menu   Drive .
4. Select the folder you want to share with a Chat space.
5. Click Insert.

To share a folder from a link in the Google Drive:

1. On your computer, go to Google Drive.
2. Right-click on the folder you want to share with a Chat space.
3. Click Get link Copy link Done.
4. Go to Google Chat.
5. Select the Chat space you want to share the folder with.
6. In the message field, paste the link you copied.

Tips:

• When you send a folder to a Chat space, a prompt to grant access appears.
  • If you grant access to that Chat space, people who join the space later also gain access to the shared folders.
• When people leave a Chat space, they lose access to the folders in that Chat space if they don’t have sharing access:
  • As an individual
  • As a member of another group
• To grant folder access, you must have edit access on the folder you want to share.

Allow general access to the folder

You can decide if your folder is generally available or restricted to only the people with access. If you allow access to anyone with the link, your folder won't restrict who can access it.

1. On your computer, go to Google Drive.
2. Click the folder you want to share.
3. Click Share .
4. Under "General access," click the Down arrow .
5. Choose who can access the folder.
   • Tip: If you use your Google account for work or school, you can choose to only share files and folders with a specific audience, like your department. When you hover over the group name, you can find a description of each audience.
6. To decide what role people will have with your folder, select Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.

Change sharing permissions of shared folders

Edit, comment, or view shared files

When you share a folder, the files and subfolders inside are updated with the new sharing settings. Depending on how you shared the folder, the people you shared with will have access to the files inside:

• Editor: People can open, edit, delete, or move any files within the folder. People can also add files to the folder.
• Commenter: People can make comments and suggestions for files in the folder, but can’t change or share items in the folder with others.
• Viewer: People can see the folder and they can open all files within the folder.

After you share the folder, you can change how the files inside are shared.

Add an expiration date

Make someone else the owner of a folder

When you transfer ownership of a folder, the files inside keep their original owner. To change the owners of more than one folder:

1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
2. Select the folder that you want to change owners.
   • To select multiple folders, hold Shift and click the folders you want.
3. At the top right, click Share .
4. To the right of the person’s name, click the Down arrow .
5. Click Transfer ownership.
6. Click Yes.

After you make someone else the owner of a folder, you can edit the folder until the new owner decides to change your access.

Files deleted from shared folders

When someone deletes a file from a shared folder, only the owner can access it.

To retrieve a deleted file back from a shared folder:

1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
2. At the top, click Search Drive.
3. Type in the name of the file.
4. Right-click the file.
5. Click Add to my Drive .

Related resources

• Share files from Google Drive
• Stop or change how a file is shared
• Transfer file ownership
• Find files shared with you