I was Relaxed recently by a colleague who got really pissed off and had to de-stress a bit. It seems that an author had shared a new Google Docs article with them (a usual way to post a freelance article), and when my colleague opened the article, he saw that another unknown person was already reading it – definitely someone who didn’t write the article on our staff.
What happened? The author, who was probably in a hurry to share the document with certain people, made it public for everyone to access. This not only made the article publicly available before it was properly edited and published—something no publication wanted—but also opened it up to all sorts of mischief.
Mischief as another editor accidentally did in June 2021 tweeted a link to an editable document to his followers. (Boundary‘s site was temporarily down and in the meantime posting news on Google Docs seemed like a good idea.) The joy began.
So obviously, let nobody Viewing, commenting on, or editing a Google Doc can cause problems, especially if the link to that document has been forwarded elsewhere. Interestingly, when you first create a Google Doc, the software defaults to it being a private document and only shared if you explicitly request it. (There may be exceptions; if it’s a business account, the administrator may have changed the default to be shared automatically by others in your company.) So you’ll usually need to deliberately make the document fully public.
Here’s how you can share your Google Docs document – with care.
On a desktop system
First, navigate to the document you want to share and click the big Share button in the upper right corner.
You will see a popup titled “Share with people and groups”.
Start typing the name of the person or group in the field just below that. If this person is in your contact list, their name will appear; if not, you can write the full e-mail address. You can write more than one name; however, this means that all you add will be given the same type of access to the document. (We’ll talk about access in a second.)
When you add at least one name, you’ll see a box on the right that says “Editor.” Click this for a drop-down menu that allows you to choose the type of access that people/group can have to your document. These include:
- Viewer: the person can only view the document, but cannot make any changes or add comments
- Commented by: the person can view the document and also add comments
- Editor: the person can make changes to the document and add comments
It’s usually a good idea to choose the most restrictive type that’s practical enough for your use case. For example, if you are writing a document with several documents, you will want to give them editorial status; but the commenter status is better if you don’t want them to make any changes without your consent.
(Expert tip: If the people you’re sharing with changed the document but didn’t tell you what they changed, go to “File” > “Version history” > “See version history”. encoded summary on the right of when the document was edited and by whom; click on the date and the changes are visible to different users. will appear in the document with the associated color.)
You can also adjust the amount of access for editors, commenters, and viewers to your document by selecting the settings icon (gear) in the upper-right corner of the drop-down box. By unchecking the boxes in the Settings popup, you can prevent editors from changing your permissions or sharing the document, and you can prevent editors and commenters from downloading, printing, and copying the document.
After you’ve finished adding the people you want to share with, make sure the “Notify people” box is checked if you want to send them an email informing them about the document; The field below that allows you to write a personal message that will be attached to Google’s canned email.
get link
But wait, there’s more.
Under the “Share with People and Groups” section there is a “Get Link” section that lets you copy the link into your document (for example, if you want to text message one of your allowed partners with the link). The default is called “Restricted”; this means that only the people you share the document with can see it. But you can also use the “Get Link” section to make the link more accessible to more people.
To do this, click “Restricted” and change it to “Anyone with the link”. This means nobody Anyone who has the link – whether it’s sent by you, a friend, or shared on Twitter – can access the document. (But even here, you can set access so people have Viewer, Commenter, or Editor rights.)
on a mobile device
Sharing a document is also possible – albeit a little more difficult – on a mobile device.
- In the document you want to share, tap the three dots in the upper right corner and select “Share and export” > “Share”.
- Type the people or groups you want to share the document with; You can also send a message to them.
- Just below the Name(s), you will see Editor, Commenter, or Viewer; Tap this to change the access restriction.
- Tap the three dots in the upper-right corner of the Share page to find the “Get link” option. Tap on “With access” to change it from “Restricted” to “Anyone with the link” or take it back again. This page also lists everyone you’ve granted access to and the types of access they have.
- You can copy the link from the “Access owner” page to your clipboard by tapping the link icon to the right of “Link settings”.
