How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

by Akshat Narwal · Published 28/04/2023 · Updated 28/04/2023

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

Shared Google Drive, formerly known as Google Team Drive, is a valuable tool for businesses looking to improve collaboration, file management, and productivity. In this article, we’ll show you how to take advantage of this solution by exploring its key features and tips for best using it in your business.

What is shared Google Drive?

Shared Google Drive is a feature of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) that allows businesses to store, share, and collaborate on files securely. Unlike Google Drive, where files are usually owned by a single user, files stored on a shared drive are owned by the team or organization and can be accessed by all authorized members.

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

Create a shared drive.

Before you can use Shared Drive, you must first create one. Here’s how :

Open Google Drive and click “Shared Drives” in the left menu.
Click the “+” button next to “Shared Drives” to create a new Shared Drive.
Assign a name to your Shared Drive and click “Create.”

You now have a shared drive ready for your team to use.

Add members and set permissions.

Before your team can access the shared Drive, you must add members and set their permissions. Follow these steps:

Click on your newly created Shared Drive to open it.
Click on the “Members” icon at the top right of the screen.
Click “Add Members” and enter the email addresses of the people you want to add.
Set the permission level for each member by choosing from the following options: “Reader,” “Commentator,” “Contributor,” or “Manager.”
Click “Send” to invite the selected members.

Invited members will receive an email notification and can access the shared Drive based on their assigned permissions.

Collaborate on documents

Shared Google Drive facilitates real-time collaboration on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. To work together on a file, follow these steps:

Drag and drop the file into the Shared Drive or create a new file by clicking “New” in the upper left corner.
Could you open the file by clicking on it?
Other members can now open the file and start working on it simultaneously.
Use the comments and suggestions options to communicate with team members and make changes to the document.
Changes to the file are automatically saved, and previous versions can be viewed by clicking “Version History” in the “File” menu.

By allowing multiple users to work on the same file simultaneously, Shared Drive eliminates the need to email file versions and makes team collaboration easier.

Organize and find files.

To optimize the organization of your files in shared Google Drive, it is important to use folders and subfolders to organize your documents. Here are some tips to help you keep your files well organized:

Create folders for each project, department, or document type.
Use subfolders to further organize files according to your specific business needs.
Add descriptions to folders to give team members more context.
Rename files consistently for easy searching and identification.

Shared Drive’s built-in search feature lets you quickly and easily find files by entering specific keywords, filenames, or content. You can also use filters to narrow search results and find the documents you want faster.

Permissions and access permissions

Permissions and access permissions are essential to keep your company’s files secure and private on Shared Drive. They control who can access files and folders and determine what actions team members can perform. Here is an overview of the different permission levels and how to manage them:

Authorization levels

There are five permission levels in Shared Drive:

Reader: Members with this permission level can view, comment on, and upload files without making changes or adding or deleting files.
Commentator: Commentators have the same permissions as readers but can add comments and suggestions to files.
Contributor: Contributors can add, edit, and delete files but cannot manage members or change shared drive permissions.
Content Manager: Managers have full control over the shared drive, including managing members, changing permissions, and deleting files and folders.
Manager: Adding a “Manager” permission level can provide even more precise and secure management of your shared drive. This helps ensure that only appropriate users can change critical settings and oversee overall shared drive usage within your company.

Manage access permissions

To change access permissions to a shared drive, follow these steps:

Open the shared Drive where you want to change permissions.
Click on the “Members” icon at the top right of the screen.
You will see the list of members with their current permissions. To edit a member’s permissions, click the pencil icon next to their name and select the desired permission level from the drop-down menu.
Click “Save” to apply the changes.

You can also set specific permissions for individual files and folders in a shared drive. For that, proceed as follows:

Right-click the file or folder whose permissions you want to change.
Select “Share” from the pop-up menu.
You can add specific people or groups and set their permission levels or click “Edit” next to “Access in your organization” to change access permissions for everyone in your company.
Click “Save” to apply the changes.

By controlling access permissions and permissions in Shared Drive, you can keep your company’s files secure and ensure that only the right people can access, edit, and manage documents and folders.

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

Data security and backups

Data security is a top concern for businesses, and Shared Drive has several features to protect your files and information:

Encryption: Google encrypts data stored in Shared Drive, both in transit and at rest, using industry-standard encryption protocols.
Two-factor authentication: Enable two-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security when signing in to Google Workspace. This ensures that team members provide additional proof of their identity before accessing files.
Version History: Shared Drive automatically retains previous versions of files, making it easy to restore an earlier version in case of accidental modification or deletion. To access the version history, click on “Version History” in a document’s “File” menu.
Backups: Although Google provides security and redundancy for data stored on Shared Drive, it is recommended that you have additional backups in place to protect your files from accidental deletion, corruption, or malicious attacks. You can use third-party services or in-house solutions to make regular data backups.

By effectively managing permissions, access permissions, and data security measures, your business can take full advantage of Shared Drive while protecting sensitive information and ensuring compliance with privacy and data security regulations. Data.

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

Share files from Google Drive.

You can share the files and folders you store in Google Drive with anyone.

WhenWhen you share content from Google Drive, you can control whether users have permission to edit, comment, or view the file. When sharing Google Drive content, the Google Drive program policies apply.

Computer AndroidiPhone and iPad

Step 1: Find the file you want to share

Share a single file.

Go to Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Google Slides on a computer.
Click on the file you want to share.
Click Share.

Share multiple files

Submit and share Google Forms

Step 2: Choose who you want to share the file with and with what permissions

Share files with specific people

Share with a group of people

Add an expiration date

Allow general access to the file

Share files publicly

Share and collaborate on a file with many people.

Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides files can only be edited simultaneously on 100 tabs or devices. If more than 100 instances of a file are open, only the owner and some users with editing permissions can edit it.

To share and collaborate on a file with many people:

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

Publish the file

If you need many people to see a file simultaneously, publish it and create a link to share it with the people you want to see it. You can then permit to edit or comment on it to those who need it. See how to publish a.
Depending on your account settings, when you publish a file, it can be seen by everyone on the web, in your organization, or in your organization. Be careful when posting private or sensitive information.
- Important: If you have a work or school account, your administrator can limit who has permission to see a posted file. If you’re an administrator, learn to control who can post documents to the web.
To remove a file from the web, you must stop publishing it. See how to do it.
To stop sharing a file with collaborators, learn how to change sharing permissions.

Create a website with Google Sites.

Create a website with Google Sites to share information with many people. You can embed documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the site so that many users can see that content. See how to embed documents on a site.
If there will be a lot of traffic to your website, first publish the document to Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, then insert the published URL to Google Sites. See how to publish a.

Collect feedback with Google Forms.

If you need to collect much information, create a Google Form. The responses are recorded in a Google spreadsheet. We recommend that you only allow users who have to work with the responses to edit this document. To make your responses visible to more than 100 people, post your spreadsheet to the web and create a link to share it with the people you want to see. See how to publish a.

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

Troubleshoot documents shared with many people

If you’ve shared a document with many people and it crashes or doesn’t update quickly, try these troubleshooting tips:

Instead of allowing users to comment on a document or spreadsheet, create a Google form to collect feedback. See how to do it.
When you make a copy of a document, do not include resolved comments and suggestions. See how to make a copy.
Delete old information or move data to a new document.
Ask readers to close the document when they are not using it.
In published documents, include only the most important information. Shorter documents load faster.
Reduce the number of users who have permission to edit the document.
If you collect information from multiple documents, make one read-only to share with many people.

Sharing and collaboration

bookmark_borderThis document introduces common data sharing and collaboration scenarios. It includes configuring your project and bucket identity and access management (IAM) policies and your object’s access control lists (ACLs) to implement the scenarios.

Storage and maintenance of private data

In this situation, a market analyst at a company wants to use Cloud Storage to create a backup of sensitive sales projection data and revenue predictions. Only the marketing analyst should be able to access the data. The IT department oversees and manages the company’s Cloud Storage account. His primary administrative responsibilities include creating and sharing buckets so that various departments in the company have access to Cloud Storage.

To meet the confidentiality and privacy needs of the market analyst, the bucket and object permissions must allow IT staff to maintain the bucket in which the spreadsheets are stored. However, they must also ensure they cannot view or download the data stored in the bucket. To achieve this, create a bucket named finance-marketing and grant the following roles for the listed resources to the specified principals :

FunctionResourceMajorDescription

Storage Legacy Bucket Owner The deposit finance-marketing IT staff If you grant IT the Storage Legacy Bucket Owner role for the bucket, they can perform common bucket management tasks, such as deleting objects and changing the IAM policy on the bucket. You will also be able to list the contents of the finance-marketing repository, but you will not be able to view or download it.

Storage Object Creator The deposit finance-marketing market analyst If you give the Market Analyst the Vault Storage Object Creator role, she can upload objects to the Vault. When she does so, she becomes the owner of the uploaded object and can view, update, and delete it.

With these roles, no one except her can view or download the objects the market analyst adds to the bucket. However, she can grant access to other users by changing the ACL of the object. IT staff can still enumerate the bucket’s contents for finance marketing and delete and replace the files stored in the bucket if necessary.

Caution: Because IT staff members have permission to manage the bucket, they can give themselves or others permission to view objects in it. To prevent this, you can view audit logs to track changes to the bucket and project permissions.

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

Implement this situation

Your actions

To implement the situation, you must perform the following actions:

Create a bucket named finance marketing. For step-by-step instructions, see the section on creating a bucket.
Grants each IT staff member the Storage Legacy Bucket Owner role for the bucket. For step-by-step instructions, see Add a Principal to a bucket-level policy.

IT staff actions

To implement the situation, IT staff should take the following actions:

Grant the Market Analyst the Storage Object Builder role for the warehouse. For step-by-step instructions, see Add a Principal to a bucket-level policy.

provider mailbox

In this situation, a construction company works with several architectural design firms to deliver construction plans for various projects. The construction company wants to set up a drop box for supplier firms so they can upload architectural plans at various important project events. In the mailbox, the privacy of the clients of the construction company must be guaranteed, which means that suppliers cannot be allowed to see the works of others. To achieve this, create a separate bucket for each architecture firm and grant the following roles for the listed resources to the specified principals :

Owner overall project Construction company manager If you give the construction company administrator the Owner role at the project level, she will be able to create buckets for each vendor.

Storage Object Viewer overall project Construction company manager The Storage Object Viewer feature allows the administrator of the construction company to download the objects uploaded by the suppliers.

Storage Legacy Bucket Owner Each provider bucket Construction company manager The Storage Legacy Bucket Owner feature allows the construction company administrator to list the contents of each bucket and delete the objects at the end of each major project event.

Storage Object Manager Each provider bucket The provider associated with the bucket Granting each provider the Storage Object Administrator role for their bucket gives them full control over the objects in the bucket, including the ability to upload objects, list them, and control who has access to each one. They cannot change or view metadata, such as functions in the bucket, nor can they list or view other buckets in the project, which maintains privacy between providers.

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

Implement this situation

Your actions

To implement the situation, you must perform the following actions:

Grant the construction company administrator the Project Owner and Storage Object Viewer roles. For step-by-step instructions, see Grant, a single role.

Actions of the administrator of the construction company

To implement the situation, the administrator of the construction company should take the following actions:

Create a different bucket for each provider. For step-by-step instructions, see Create a Bucket.
Because the building administrator has the Owner role, she automatically gains the Storage Legacy Bucket Owner role for each bucket she creates.
Assigns each provider the Storage Object Administrator role for their respective repository. For step-by-step instructions, see Add a Principal to a bucket-level policy.
If a provider wants to use the Google Cloud Console, provide them with a link to your bucket, which is in the following format:
console.cloud.google.com/storage/browser/BUCKET_NAME
Where BUCKET_NAME is the name of the provider repository.

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

provider actions

In order to implement the situation, each provider should take the following actions:

Upload objects to the assigned bucket. The easiest way to achieve this is through the Google Cloud console. Other methods, such as the Google Cloud CLI, require additional configuration beforehand.
Note: Based on the permissions set in this scenario, providers must sign in with one of the emails associated with the bucket assigned to them.

Authenticated Browser Downloads

In this situation, a client wants certain files to be available to certain people through browser downloads. You can do this with Cloud Storage cookie-based authentication. Users must authenticate with a Google Account through Google Workspace, Cloud Identity, or Gmail to download objects. The following authenticated users can download the object:

Users with the permissions READor FULL_CONTROLon the access control list (ACL) of the same object
Users who have permission storage. Objects. Get in the identity and access management (IAM) policy of the bucket or project that contains the object.

All other users receive an error 403 Forbidden (access denied).

To use the feature, grant a user permission to access an object and then give the object a special URL. When the user clicks the URL, Cloud Storage prompts them to sign in to their Google Account (if they haven’t already), and the object is downloaded to their computer.

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

Implement this situation

You can implement cookie-based authentication with the following four general steps:

Create a bucket. For step-by-step instructions, see the section on creating a bucket.
If you create a bucket in a project you own, you automatically get permissions that allow you to upload objects to the bucket and change who can access the bucket.
Note: If you already have a vault you want to use, note that you deliver secure content from the Vault in this situation. We recommend that you ensure that anonymous users do not have project- or bucket-level roles that allow them to access objects.
Upload the object you want to share. For step-by-step instructions, see Upload items.
When you upload an item, you become its owner. This means that you can modify all of your ACLs.
Allows users to access the object. For this, you can use one of these methods:
1. Modifies the bucket’s IAM policy to grant each desired user the Storage Object Viewer role, which applies to all objects in the bucket. For step-by-step instructions, see Add a Principal to a bucket-level policy.
2. Modify the object’s ACLs to grant each desired user permission to READ on each object. For step-by-step instructions, see Set ACLs.
Give users a special URL to the object.
Authenticated browser downloads access Cloud Storage through a specific URL endpoint. Use the following URL:
https://storage.cloud.google.com/BUCKET_NAME/OBJECT_NAME
Where:

BUCKET_NAME is the name of the bucket that contains the desired object. For example, my-bucket.
OBJECT_NAME is the name of the desired object. For example, pets/dog.png.

Since only users with the appropriate ACL or IAM permissions can see it, it doesn’t matter how you make this URL available. You can send it directly to them or post it on a web page.

How to use shared drive on google workspace in 2023

Use a group to control access.

In this situation, you want to make the objects available to specific users, such as users invited to test new software. Also, you want to invite many users but avoid permissavoid settings for each one individually. At the same time, you don’t want to make the objects publicly readable and send links to guest clients to access the objects, as there is a risk of links being sent to non-invited users.

One way to solve this situation is with the use of Google Groups. You can create a group and add only invited users. You can then grant the group access to the objects.

Storage Object Viewer your bucket Google group If you grant the Google Group the Vault Storage Object Viewer role, any customer who is part of the Google Group will be able to view objects in the Vault. No one outside the group has access to the objects.

Note: When you use groups to manage access to your resources, you should be aware of the group policies and limits determining how many members can be in the group. If you need to invite more users than can be added to a group, you can create a service that authenticates users and redirects them to a URL signed by a service account.

Implement this situation

Create a Google Group and add customers. For step-by-step instructions, see Create a Group.
Create a bucket. For step-by-step instructions, see Create a Bucket.
Upload objects to your bucket. For step-by-step instructions, see Upload items.
To the Google Group, grant access to objects.

You can use the IAM role storage.objectViewer to give view access to all objects in your bucket. For step-by-step instructions, see Add a Principal to a bucket-level policy.
If you only want to grant access to some of the objects in the bucket, set the ACL to Reader on those individual objects. For step-by-step instructions, see Set ACLs.