Everybody at our company can...
view, comment or edit. But should they?
Embedded Files
The easiest way to share files is to let everybody do what they want, which concludes our series of Drive sharing. Let's look at when this makes sense (and when not) - and what to do instead, now that you are a sharing black belt.
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How to share with everyone
How to share with everyone
To share with everyone, you will use the same "share with people and groups" dialogue we have been using - but this time, you will use the lower box, titled "get link". There are two steps:
Change who can access from "restricted" to your company
Determine what access level your company 's people have. The default is "viewer". Done!
Note that your company does not include visitors or other guests - we will be amongst ourselves. If you are sharing drive documents with your clients, you need to continue sharing them explicitly.
By the way - you can share folders this way as well. When you do, all the content of the folder get shared, too. But you know that already from folder sharing, right?
When you domain-share, you cannot downgrade individual people. "Everybody can comment" will override the meager "view" privilege you gave someone. But the "edit" privilege you gave your boss will still be valid.
Link sharing
Link sharing
Note that the lower box is not titled "domain-wide sharing", but "get link". Google calls this concept "link sharing": When a file is shared with everybody, all that people need to find it is the link. (Of course, you can copy the link to a file without sharing it.)
Link sharing is just a different way to call what we did above, but it illustrates why this feature exists: Thoughtfully making files available brings to live the grand design of Google Drive, which is not cheap storage, but a domain-wide, decentral intranet.
What changes in Shared Drives?
What changes in Shared Drives?
Good news: Nothing! Content stored in Shared Drives can be shared domain-wide, too. It works exactly like in My Drive.
When to use it, and when not
When to use it, and when not
Don't: Laziness
Don't: Laziness
Do not default to using domain-wide sharing because you cannot be bothered with sharing properly. Especially "everybody with the link can edit" is a red flag.
Remember that content can become confidential later on. Nobody should be worried to edit a Google document because it might be overshared.
Google makes it easy to share with the right people - dropping documents into Chat rooms, attaching it to Gmail and Google Calendar events will automatically prompt you to share with just those people.
Don't: Confidential material
Don't: Confidential material
Drive is certified to hold every level of confidential material because you can share with the highest precision. Do not overshare sensitive material - target your sharing using file and folder sharing.
Do: Sites support
Do: Sites support
Google Sites are normally shared with the entire domain. When they are, make sure any documents embedded are also shared that way, and that it is okay to do so.
Do: Announcements
Do: Announcements
Announcements can absolutely be in Google Docs, for example. You will get view statistics etc. That requires giving everybody view access.
You made it! Drive sharing is a wide topic and there are edge cases that can make for many nerdy posts to come. But the most important thing is: Drive sharing is not scary and it is under your control. The three ways of sharing (file, folder, domain-wide) are easy and work well with each other - here is to sharing conscientiously!
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