Cleaning up "Shared with me"

and "Recent", too, once we are at it!

You have that seemingly messy list called Shared with me accumulating documents and folders. In case you ever wondered where those documents come from, if you can clean it up and if you should clean it up - here are some answers for you.

Minimalism makes sense in Gmail - but in Shared with me?

Shared with me is a view

Most action in Google Drive takes place inside of folders, but some places are different:

Priority
Shared with me
Recent
Starred
Trash

are more like views or filters. They show you matching items where they currently are filed. To have something appear in Starred, you do not need to move it, for example.

The same thing applies to Shared with me, but in reverse.

Google Drive is changing

Google Drive is changing. It used to be a more confusing place, where items could be in several places places at once (or in no place and you would have to search for them). It will more closely resemble a traditional file system, while maintaining cloud-enabled flexibility.

Shortcuts

Google Drive is introducing shortcuts to make it obvious that a file is not yours. Adding a file from Shared with me now creates a shortcut. This should make some behaviours intuitive - such as deleting or renaming a shortcut does not impact the underlying file.

How files get added to "Shared with me"

When someone shares anything with you, it appears under Shared with me, whether you later add it to My Drive or not. Shared with me is a collection of everything people have shared with you by typing in your name. You will not see files that have been made available by "everybody at PwC can ...", because how would Google know what portion of that wealth of information is relevant to you?

Now, some files from Shared with me may already be in your My Drive or Shared Drive. Does it matter if you add something from Shared with me to your Drive?

Yes if you add the files to a folder you are sharing with other people - this is a way of sharing those files onward.
No when you just put them into your own filing system for yourself. For example:
- You like to create folders for each client (perhaps you do that for your email, too)
- You like to create folders for each (of the two years) since you joined
- You have a different system. Things you're working on, reference, archive... Whatever.

You can clear it up - almost completely. But should you?

Coming back to the initial question: You can remove items from Shared with me. Right-click it and there is a "remove" command that will not impact anybody - not even you, because you can still access the file. It's not your file, so you have no control over its sharing permissions.

Of course, finding the file again becomes tricky now. If you had opened it, you will find it under Recent and on the homepage of the editor (Docs, Sheets, Slides). If the person sharing it had send an email or a Chat message, you may be able to get the URL from there. Otherwise you will have to ask somebody.

In summary, removing content from Shared with me has drawbacks and little benefits. I recommend against it.

I would definitely do it when someone shares something embarrassing and I'm about to share my screen!

Did I say almost? Yes - content stored on a Shared Drive cannot be removed for some reason.

There you have it - this wonderful question came in from a reader. We never reflected about Shared with me and Recent, so it was high time we did, in the middle of all the changes happening to Drive. Thank you for reading!

#drivePublished 2020-09-25 by Holger Matthies.Modified 2020-09-25 by Holger Matthies.Written listening to Thylacine - Purmamarca.

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