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            Tips to share a final document

            Modified on Wed, 9 Jul at 5:25 PM

             What you'll learn


            How to share the final version of a document with colleagues. Also, how to set permissions to prevent changes to a final document.





            1 Before you share the final document

             1.1 Find co-workers

            Decide who you want to share the file with and find co-workers using Cloud Search.

            1. Sign in to Cloud Search at cloudsearch.google.com.
            2. Search for a person by name.
            3. In the result card, click the icons to the right of the person's name to send an email, schedule a meeting, or start a video call.
            4. To get other contact options or more reporting information, click the person's name to open their profile information page. 
            5. In the profile information page, click how you want to contact the person:
              1. To send an email, click Email  or the person's email address.
              2. To set up a meeting, click Schedule .
              3. To chat, click Chat .
              4. To start a video call, click Video call Video camera.
            6. To contact the person's manager or direct reports, click the name of the manager or report to open their profile information page.


            1.2  Decide where to share the document from

            If you’re sharing with a few specific people, you can add it to your own Drive and share it from there.

            If your organization uses shared drives, you can add it to your shared drive and share it with everyone who has access to the shared drive.

            To share the document more widely with your entire organization or to share it publicly, add it to Google Sites.


            Add the document to Drive:

            On your computer, you can upload from drive.google.com or your desktop. You can upload files into private or shared folders.

            1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
            2. At the top left, click New and then File Upload or Folder Upload.
            3. Choose the file or folder you want to upload.

             

            Add the document to a shared drive:

            Any files you add are owned by the team. If you leave the shared drive, your files remain.

            1. On the left, click a shared drive.
            2. Drag an existing file (that you own*) from your computer or from My Drive into a shared drive. Or, at the top of Drive, click Newand choose an option:
              • To create a file, select the file type you want to create, such as Google Docs.
              • To upload a file, click File upload. Navigate to the file and open it.
            3. Double-click a file to open and edit it.

            *If you don't own the file but have Editor access in Drive, you can move it to a shared drive if your administrator has allowed this option.

            Note: To store and access files on your desktop, use Google Drive for desktop. For details, see What can you do with Drive for desktop.

             

            Add the document to Sites:

            1. Go to Google Sites and open the site and page where you want to add the file.
            2. Click Insert and then Docs, Slides, or Sheets to choose a file on your Drive.

            Embed any file from Drive or the contents of a folder stored in Drive. If you make changes to your files in Drive, the same changes automatically show in Sites.


            2  Share the document


            2.1 Share the document from Drive

            Share a file or folder with specific people:

            1. Select the file you want to share.
            2. Click Share or Share Share.
            3. Enter the email address or Google group you want to share with.
            4. To decide what role people will have on your file, select Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.
            5. If your account is eligible, you can add an expiration date for access.
            6. 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 will be included in the email.
              • If you don't want to notify people, uncheck the box.
            7. Click Send or Share.

            Share a link to a file or folder:

            Important: If you use a Google Account through work or school, you might not be able to share publicly. When you share a link to a file, your name and your email will be visible as the owner of that file.

            1. Select the file you want to share.
            2. Click Share or Share Share.
            3. Under “General access,” click the Down arrow Down.
            4. Choose Anyone with the link.
            5. To decide what role people will have, select Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.
            6. Click Copy link.
            7. Click Done.
            8. Paste the link in an email or any place you want to share it.

            Important:

            • When you share a link to a file, your name and email will be visible as the owner of that file.

            2.2 (Optional) Set expiration limits for your document

            1. Open a file in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
            2. Click Share and thenfind the user you'd like to give temporary permissions to.
              • If you haven't shared the file with that person yet, add the user's email and click Send or Share. At the top right of the document, click Share again.
            3. Next to the person's name, click the Down arrow Down and then Add expiration.
            4. Next to "Access expires," click a date to set as the expiration date. Choose a date within one year of the current date.
            5. Click Save.

            2.3 Prevent editors from re-sharing and changing access permissions

            If you’re sharing a file, the owner and anyone with editor access can change the permissions and share the file. To prevent others from sharing your file:

            1. Open the file in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
            2. Click Share or Share Share.
            3. At the top, click Settings Settings.
            4. Uncheck Editors can change permissions and share.

            Important: If you prevent sharing of a folder, it only applies to the folder. To prevent sharing the files inside, you have to change this setting for the files inside.




            2.4 Prevent commenters and viewers from downloading, printing, or copying files

            To prevent viewers and commenters from printing, copying, or downloading your file:

            1. Find the file or folder in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
            2. Select one or more files you want to limit.
            3. Click Share or Share Share.
            4. At the top, click Settings Settings.
            5. Uncheck Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy.

            Important: You can limit how people share, print, download, and copy within Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, but you can't stop how others share the file content in other ways.


            3 After you share the document

            3.1 Mark a document as final and make it view-only

            You can rename a document to mark it as final and then change the permissions on it to view-only. People can view the content but won’t be able to make changes.

            Rename your document in Docs, Sheets, or Slides to mark it final:

            1. Open the file and at the top, click the file name.
            2. Before the file name, enter [Final] or [Archived].
            3. Press Enter.

            Change your document to view-only:

            If you shared the file with specific people or a group:

            1. In Google Drive, right-click the file and select Share .
            2. To the right of the person or group you want to change, click the Down arrow and thenViewer.
            3. Click Save.

            If you shared the file with your organization:

            1. In Drive, right-click the file and select Share .
            2. Under Get link, at the right, click the Down arrow and thenViewer.
            3. Click Done.


            3.2 Stop sharing the document


            From Drive

            Stop sharing a file or folder you own:
            1. Find the file or folder in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
            2. Open or select the file or folder.
            3. Click Share or Share Share.
            4. Find the person you want to stop sharing with.
            5. To the right of their name, click the Down arrow Down and then Remove access.
            6. Click Save.

            7. Remove a link to a file or folder you own:
              1. Find the file or folder in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
              2. Open or select the file or folder.
              3. Click Share Share or Share Share and then Copy link .
              4. Under “General access”,  click the Down arrow Down.
              5. Select Restricted.
              6. Click Done.

              From a shared drive:

              Unshare files with your organization:

              1. Find the file or folder in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
              2. Open or select the file or folder.
              3. Click Share Share or Share Share and then Copy link .
              4. Under “General access”,  click the Down arrow Down.
              5. Select Restricted.
              6. Click Done.

              Unshare files with individuals:

              1. Find the file or folder in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
              2. Open or select the file or folder.
              3. Click Share or Share Share.
              4. Find the person you want to stop sharing with.
              5. To the right of their name, click the Down arrow Down and then Remove access.
              6. Click Save.

              Note: Group settings can override individual settings. So, if you try to unshare a file with a person who belongs to an organization or group with access to the file, this person can still access the file.

              3.3 Handle new access requests

            9. If people don’t have access to your document, they’ll see a “You need permission” message. They can click Request access, and you’ll get an email asking for your approval. If you want to share the document with that person, follow the instructions in Share the document.

              In Google Drive, you can see and manage access requests in Activity.


              3.4 See who's viewed your document
              1. In Docs, Sheets, or Slides, open the file.Note: You will need to have edit access for the file to see the Activity dashboard data.
              2. Click Toolsand thenActivity dashboard.
              3. You can see information about the activity on your file, including:
                • Shared with tab: Shows people you’ve shared the file with. You can also email collaborators.
                • All viewers (organization) tab: Shows people in your organization who have viewed the file.
                • Viewer trend tab: Shows a chart of viewers over time.
              4. (Optional) If you don’t want your view history to appear in Activity dashboard, click Privacy Settings and choose an option:
                • Turn off view history for all files: Under Account setting, turn off Show my view history for all Docs, Sheets and Slides files.
                • Turn off view history for one file: Under Document setting, turn off Show my view history for this document.
              5. Click Save.

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