Share files from Google Drive - Computer (2025)

Important: The roles below apply to files in My Drive.

Tips when sharing a file with someone:

• To give viewers and commenters the option to download, print, and copy a file:
  1. Owners mustaccess advanced settings on their device.
  2. Click Share Settings .
• To give editors the option to change permissions and share a file:
  1. Owners must access advanced settings on their device.
  2. Click Share Settings .
• Editors can’t change permissions for owners.
• For information on Shared Drives and permissions, visit:
  • Get started with shared drives
  • How file access works in shared drives

Tip: If you open a document and there’s a dot next to “Share ," it means you have a share request.

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
• Learn how to share the entire folder
• Learn how to publish and share your form with responders
• Learn how to share your form with collaborators

To share files with a Chat space, you can add the file you want to share to that Chat space.

To add a Drive file to a Chat space:

Option 1:

1. On your computer, go to Google Chat.
2. Select the Chat space you want to share the file with.
3. At the bottom left, click Integration menu Drive .
4. Select the file you want to share with a Chat space.
5. Click Insert.

Option 2:

1. On your computer,go to Google Drive.
2. Right-click on the file you want to share with a Chat space.
3. Click Share Copy link .
4. Go to Google Chat.
5. Select the Chat space you want to share the file with.
6. In the message field, paste the link you copied.

Tips:

• When you send a file to a Chat space, a prompt to grant access appears.
  • If you grant access to that Chat space, people who join the space later also gain access to the shared files.
• When people leave a Chat space, they lose access to the files in that Chat space if they don’t have sharing access:
  • As an individual
  • As a member of another group
• To grant file access, you must have edit access on the file you want to share.

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

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.

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 .

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

• Inform collaborators about major revisions.
• Discuss a question that’s too long for the document's comment thread.

You can send the email to all the collaborators or just a group of them, which includes Editors, Commenters, and Viewers.

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.

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.

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.