Share files from Google Drive

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

When you share from Google Drive, you can control whether people can edit, comment on, or only open the file. When you share content from Google Drive, the Google Drive program policies apply.

1. On your computer, go to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Vids.
2. Double-click or right-click the file you want to share.
3. Click Share .
4. Enter a recipient.
5. Click Send .

1. On a computer, go to drive.google.com.
2. On your keyboard, hold Shift and select two or more files.
3. At the top left, click Share .

Learn how to add files to a folder and share the entire folder.

Google Forms have different sharing options than other kinds of files.

• Learn how to share forms for people to fill out.
• Learn how to share and work with other people on forms.

In Google Vids, you can save your video to Google Drive as an MP4, then share from Google Drive. To share a video as an MP4:

1. On your computer, go to Google Vids.
2. Open the file you want to share.
3. Click Share .
4. Next to “Share,” click Quick sharing actions Export to Drive .

Share with a Google Group

Learn more about how others view, comment, or edit files.

Share with meeting attendees

You can share files with meeting attendees if you are a file owner or editor:

1. On your computer, go to Google Drive.

2. Select the file you want to share.
3. Enter the meeting name you want to share with.
4. Decide how people can use your file. Select one:
   • Viewer
   • Commenter
   • Editor
5. Choose whether the file is attached to the meeting invite.
6. When you share your file, each email address gets an email.
   • Optional: Add a message to your notification email.
   • If you don't want to notify people, uncheck the box.
7. Click Send or Share.

You can send an email directly from the Sharing dialog of a file to:

• Inform collaborators about significant revisions to the file.
• Discuss an open question that may be too long for the document's comment thread.

You can send the email to all the collaborators or just a group of them, like:

• Editors
• Commenters
• Viewers
• Guests
• Members

To send an email from the Sharing dialog of a file:

1. On your computer, go to Google Drive.
2. Next to the file you want to send an email about, click More actions Share Share .
   • You can also go to the Sharing dialog in the file itself:
     1. Open the file.
     2. At the top right, click Share.
3. In the Sharing dialog, next to “People with access,” click Email people on this file .
4. In the “Email collaborators” screen, select the groups you want to send the email to.
5. In the “Message” field, add your message.
6. Click Send.

Tip: You can’t add new collaborators in the “Email collaborators” screen.

The expiration date feature is only available for eligible work or school accounts.

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Important: Google Vids doesn’t have a publish option. Instead, you can download the file to your computer as an MP4. Learn to create, view, or download a file.

• If you need multiple people to open a file: publish the file, then create a link to share it with people who have access. 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 organization, or a group of people in your organization. Be careful when publishing private or sensitive info.
  • Important: If you have an account through work or school, your administrator can limit who can access 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 to share information with many people. You can embed documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the site, which a large amount of users can access. 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.

• 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 over 100 people open the responses, publish the spreadsheet to the web, then create a link to share it with those who have access. Learn how to publish a file.

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 people with access 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, access-only document to share with a large number of people.

When you share a file with someone, you can choose their access level:

• Viewer: User can access a file, but can’t edit, comment, suggest, or share it.
• Commenter: User can comment and make suggestions on a file, but can’t edit or share it.
• Editor: User can edit, comment, accept or reject suggestions, and share a file.

Permission	Owner	Editor	Commenter	Viewer
View the file
Download, print, or copy the file
Comment on the file
Edit the file
Share and change permissions for other users
Approve or reject access requests
Update advanced sharing settings for the file
Delete the file

Tips:

• To give viewers and commenters the option to download, print, and copy a file, owners can access advanced settings on their device and click Share Settings .
• To give editors the option to change permissions and share a file, owners can access advanced settings on their device and click Share Settings .
• Editors can’t change permissions for owners.
• The roles above apply to files in My Drive. For information on Shared Drives and permissions, visit:
  • Get started with shared drives
  • How file access works in shared drives

You can allow broad access to your file. These options depend on if your Google Account is through work, school, or Gmail.

• 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 with access can open the file.

Through advanced sharing settings, owners can prevent:

• Editors from changing permissions or sharing files.
• Viewers and commenters from downloading, printing, or copying files.