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Share Google Drive files with whoever you want

Alex Balaniuc

In this guide we’ll explain to you how you can share files from your Google Drive account with anyone you want.

Google Drive is another helpful tool developed by Google and launched in 2012. Drive is a very easy to use file storing service, you can store all kinds of files on Drive’s servers, like images, audio and documents in different formats. The service has also a synchronization feature that keeps your files up to date on every device of yours, plus you can share files and folders from your Drive account with friends, colleagues and other people. To do so, you’ll have to know your friend’s email address.

When you share content from Google Drive, you can control whether people can edit, comment on, or only view the file. In each case, know that everytime you share something, these program policies apply.

You can share your Drive files from pretty much every device, meaning from Computer, Android and iPhone and iPad. For this article, we chose to illustrate to you how Drive’s file sharing works for computer.

1) Find the file you want to share

For a single file:

For multiple files:

  • on your computer, go to drive.google.com
  • hold Shift and select two or more files
  • at the top right, click the Share icon

If you need help to add files to a folder, click here, or learn how to share the entire folder here.

Send & share Google Forms:

You might not know that Google Forms have different sharing options than other kinds of files. Here‘s how you can learn to share forms for people to fill out, while here‘s how you can learn to share and work with other people on forms.

2) Choose who to share with & how they can use your file

Share with specific people:

  • select the file you want to share
  • click Share or the Share icon 
  • under “Add people and groups,” enter the email address you want to share with

  • to change what people can do to your doc, on the right, click the Down arrow > Viewer, Commenter, or Editor
  • choose to notify people:
    • if you want to notify people that you shared a doc with them, check the box next to Notify people. If you notify people, each email address you enter will be included in the email
    • if you don’t want to notify people, uncheck the box
  • click Share or Send.

Share a link to the file

You can send other people a link to your file so anyone with the link can use it. When you do so, your name will be visible as the owner of the file:

Share a file publicly

People who aren’t signed in to a Google Account will show up as anonymous animals in your file.

Limit how a file is shared

As the file owner, you can set limitations on how your file is being shared around.

Choose if people can view, comment or edit

When 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

Change who your link is shared with

If you share a link to a file, you also control how widely the file is shared. 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 you share the file with will be able to use it
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