Want advanced Google Workspace features for your business?
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.
How to share folders
Share with specific peopleLike files, you can choose to only share with specific people that have a Google Account. If you have a work or school account, you can also share files or folders with a group. Learn how to create a group in Google Groups.
- On your Android device, open the Google Drive app.
- Select the folder you want to share.
- Select Share
.
- Enter the email address you want to share with.
- To decide what role people will have with your folder, select Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.
- If you use an eligible work or school account, tap on the user's role to add an expiration date.
- Tip: Expiration dates for folders are available for Viewer and Commenter roles in My Drive.
- 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.
- Tap Send
.
.
.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.
- Update permissions only for the item itself.
To make it easier to manage folders and share, most users choose to update the folder that contains the item.
Share with a Google Group
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 that the group has.
To share a folder with your Google Group:
- Create a Google Group.
- Add members to your group.
- Share the folder with your group.
Tip: Before a folder appears in the “Shared with me” folder, you must open that folder from an invitation or a link.
Decide if your folder will be generally available, or restricted to only the people with access. If you allow access to anyone with the link, anyone can open the folder.
- On your Android device, open the Google Driveapp.
- Next to the folder's name, tap More
.
- Tap Manage access.
- Under "General access," tap Change.
- Choose who can access the file.
- Decide what access level people will have with your folder by selecting an option.
- Select whether or not people can find the folder in search results.
- Tap Back.
.Change sharing permissions of shared folders
Edit, comment, or view shared filesWhen you share a folder, the files and subfolders inside will have the same status as the folder you share:
- 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.
If you want to change how specific files are shared, you can do so after you’ve shared the folder.
To make someone else the owner of a folder, go to drive.google.com on a computer.
When someone deletes a file from a shared folder, everyone except the owner of the file will lose access.
