Super Secure shared drives

In many aspects, shared drives are an evolution of Google Drive and are the answer to "what would Drive look like if Google could develop it again". Shared drives are a lot less "wild" and much more rigid than Drive. They have been developed with companies in mind, replacing Sharepoint instead of Dropbox.

This is excellent if you need maximum control over what happens with your files. Let's take a look at the recently introduced, little-known access controls and why they make Google Drive the safest platform to store our files.

I have a hard time coming up with a title for this, and you will see why. These settings are very restrictive and should not be taken as the "new normal", or as "the security Drive was missing". That is misunderstanding them. So it's not "secure shared drives". It's also not "paranoid shared drives" because they do have value. It's also not "hardened drives" because this blog is for all ages, although I think this was a code name at some point. Let's call them "super secure" which involves a notion of trade-off. And because everybody likes alliterations.

I think it's the first "lock" image you see on this blog. I held out long enough, come on!

Shared drive settings

Where to find them

Getting there is really easy. Open any shared drive and select "Shared drive settings" from its menu. You must have the "Manager" role to do so, the highest access right.

In case you missed last week's ~~cliffhanger~~ post or need a refresher on shared drives, things will be easier if you read this primer on shared drives before you proceed.

Got it? These are the settings. We will look at all of them in turn.

Why these settings are important

They are important because they determine what goes on in a shared drive. They override everything - exactly what a company needs when it comes to sensitive data. Sure, you trust your users, but you will sleep better if you know they cannot override your settings, right?

These settings are found only in shared drives and have no drive equivalent. Another reason to leave your permanent files in shared drives, not in Drive.

1. Sharing outside your company

"People outside your company can be given access to the files in this shared drive" [default]

If your company prevents you from sharing with outside people, this may sound futile. However, not all outside people are the same. We disable sharing with the world (which is your Google Workspace sharing account). There is a business need to share with selected domains ("whitelisted domains" in Google Workspace parlance). Those are in the "friends" category.

"Only people inside your company can be given access to the files in this shared drive" [super secure setting]

This excludes even the friends category. I guess we were not best friends, after all.

Note: "Sharing outside" means both Shared Drive membership and individual file sharing. If you had outside members or shares before, their access is suspended while this setting is in effect.

My charting abilities make me sad. Every time. If you are willing and able to chart for free outside of business hours, reach out :-)

When would you use this?

Out of three options, this is the least useful for your company because our normal Drive rules already cover much of it. You would activate this protection if your shared drive contains material that must not be shared with out-of-domain accounts in any way. In practice, you can ignore this setting unless you routinely work with whitelisted domains (you will know if you do).

2. Sharing with non-members

Non-members of this shared drive can be given access to files in this shared drive [default]

You will be able to selectively share files (not folders...) with non-members. This also allows enabling link sharing ("everybody with the link may ..."). It makes shared drives behave more like Drive.

Only members of this shared drive can access files in this shared drive [super secure]

This disables the sharing dialogue. You will lose the ability to share selected files with non-members. In other words, in order to share with non-members, you will have to add them to your shared drive.

Note: If files are shared with non-members ("direct shared") or "everybody with the link may" ("link-shared"), both types of access will be suspended while this setting is in effect.

When would you use this?

Activate this when you must be sure absolutely that files are not shared outside of your shared drive, no exceptions. Shared drives with this setting effectively become "radiation proof" and are guaranteed to not "radiate" their content out. This is unique in Drive.

Tip: You may enable this protection temporarily, say while a proposal is in a hot phase.

Do not activate this as "the new normal", as your team may move files in and out of the shared drive. Individual files may be important for outside members, such as reference files. You will answer a lot of questions if you blindly enable this.

You can click through your shared drive and look for the "shared" symbol next to file names to easily find files shared outside of the drive. Having conversations around these files is better than disabling non-member sharing.

3. Download, copy and print

Allow commenters and viewers to download, copy and print files in this shared drive [default]

Note: This option (in the negative: "Prevent...") exists for every individual file. It overrides this general setting.

Prevent commenters and viewers from downloading, copying and printing files in this shared drive [super secure]

Note: This acts as you had checked "Prevent..." in every individual file and cannot be overridden.

When would you use this?

A great use case is a shared drive containing authoritative material, such as our Google Change Management team's. You can still have editors who copy and print, but everybody else (including "everybody with the link may view") will need to refer to the original material and not run off with unauthorized copies.

Don't use this by default, it is too restrictive. The same option exists on the sharing setting for individual files, this is preferable and gives you more flexibility. Even in the "change material", this may be too restrictive as we do want people to create translated copies, for example.

I hope you appreciate shared drives even more, and why they aren't just an annoying copy of Drive. They have a different role to play and they continue to grow apart. I hope you also appreciate that there is a downside to these options - they make work more difficult (that's their purpose). With great power comes ... You know the drill. Enjoy the newest tool in your shed. Thanks for reading!

#drivePublished 2019-10-31 by Holger Matthies.Modified 2020-06-11 by Holger Matthies.Written listening to Nifra - Follow me

Page updated

Report abuse