Manage Google Drive

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Manage Google Drive settings.
  
• Enable Google Drive for Desktop.
  
• Explained shared drives.
  

Explore Google Drive

Manage Google Drive Share Settings

​​You receive the following email from Sam Morse.

Hello Awesome Admin,

I have been thinking about how I want our people to share documents inside and outside the company. I want everyone to be able to share documents with our clients and partners, but not be able to publish openly on the web.

I also want to build a strong collaboration culture, so inside the company I want everyone to be able to have permission to see each other’s documents but only if they have the link first. Can you make this happen?

Regards,

Sam Morse, CEO

The answer is, “Yes”!

1. If you are not already signed in, sign in to your domain as the administrator at admin.google.com.
   
2. Navigate to Drive and Docs. Click the Apps icon | Google Workspace icon | Drive and Docs service.
   
3. Click Sharing settings. The current settings display for your organization.
   
   Before you change any settings, read Set Drive users’ sharing permissions to understand what each setting indicates and the impacts of changing them. Review Share and work with others to get the user’s perspective.
   
   
4. Sam wants users to be able to share outside the organization but doesn’t want users to publish anything to the web. To achieve this, click Sharing options to edit the settings.
   
5. Set the 'Sharing outside of yourdomain' field to ON. Files owned by users in your organization can be shared externally. This setting applies to shared drives as well (more on shared drives later).
   
6. Deselect the checkbox for 'When sharing outside of yourdomain is allowed, users in yourdomain can make files and published web content visible to anyone with the link’.
   
7. Then, click SAVE.
   
8. Sam also wants users to collaborate internally through sharing links. So scroll down the Drive and Docs service settings page and click General access default.
   
9. The default setting for this option is Restricted. To change the file visibility so that anyone in the company can access a document once they have the link, select The primary target audience can access the item if they have the link.
   
   This option is recommended for two reasons:
   –Allows for easy sharing, but offers protection from outside the organization, because users must sign in to open the shared documents.
   –Documents with this visibility won’t normally be found in search results.
   
   
10. Click Save.
    

Transfer Ownership

There are three user types in Google Drive: owner, editor, and viewer. Documents can have many editors and viewers, but only one owner at a time.

By default, the creator of a document is also the owner, but document ownership can be transferred to another user. After the transfer, the original owner retains editing privileges for the documents unless that user is deleted or their edit permissions are removed.

You receive the following email from Sam Morse.

Hello Awesome Admin,

My executive assistant, Ellie, is responsible for maintaining many of my important documents. Is there a way that I can make her the owner so that she has total control over them, while still allowing me to make changes?

Regards,

Sam Morse, CEO

No problem, Sam!

1. Sign in as the admin if you haven’t already. Then, navigate to the Drive and Docs service as you did previously.
   
2. Click Transfer ownership.
   
3. Enter samantha.morse into the From user field, and ellie.gray into the To user field.
   
4. Click Transfer Files, then click OK. You will receive a notification once the transfer is complete.
   
5. Open your inbox and verify that you have received a confirmation email.
   

There are a few more options for transferring files depending on the use case: You get the option to transfer ownership when deleting a user from the admin console. It’s also possible to transfer ownership of documents using the Drive API.

Restore Deleted Files

There comes a time in every administrator’s job where someone will approach you in a panic and desperate to recover lost data. The good news is that Google Workspace has a way for you to restore a user’s data for a certain period of time.

You can restore a user’s deleted Google Drive files for a date range you specify, as long as the files were deleted within the past 25 days. This helps ensure that, if a user accidentally deleted important files, those files are not permanently lost.

In this exercise you will log in as a Google Workspace user, create a file, and then delete it. You will then restore that file as the administrator.

You receive the following email from Timothy.

Hey Awesome Admin,

I don't know how it happened, but a really important finance report ("Super Important Budget") has vanished. It’s gone. Even if I search, I can’t find it, but it was there 3 days ago. It would take months of work to re-create it. I emptied the trash yesterday; it must have been in there somehow. Can you please help?

Thanks,

Timothy Lee, Finance Manager

Sorry this happened, Timothy. We can definitely help!

Permanently Delete a File

Let’s re-create Timothy’s scenario. Sign in as Timothy, create his sheet, and then delete it forever.

1. Sign in to Google Workspace as Timothy Lee at drive.google.com.
   
2. Create a Google sheet named Super Important Budget. Close the sheet. This takes you to your My Drive.
   
3. Drag the sheet to the Bin on the left; or right-click the sheet and click Remove.
   
4. Open the Bin. You should see the sheet you just deleted. Now click the Empty bin link. Alternatively, right-click the sheet and click Delete forever.
   

Recover the Deleted File

Oh no, Timothy! Let’s recover the document now.

1. Sign out of Google Workspace, and sign back in to your domain as the administrator at admin.google.com.
   
2. Click the Users icon.
   
3. Locate Timothy Lee in the list and hover over his name, then click More | Restore Data.
   
4. A dialog box will now be presented where you can enter a from and to date range. Complete the date values and ensure that Application is set to Drive.
   
5. Then, click Restore.
   
6. Verify the file has been restored
   
   1. Sign into Drive as Timothy. You should see the Super Important Budget file in Timothy’s My Drive.
      

Enable Docs Offline

Through offline access users are able to view and edit Google documents, spreadsheets, and presentations even when they don't have an internet connection. As the administrator, it’s important for you to know the options and limitations of Drive offline access.

You receive the following email from Sam.

Hello Awesome Admin,

I'm traveling next week but need to prepare for a meeting. I've been told that I can have offline access to my documents in Drive even when I'm on the plane. I mostly want to view and edit presentations and spreadsheets.

Can you look into it for me? I'll have my Windows laptop with Firefox with me. How do I set it up?

Thanks,

Sam Morse, CEO

Sure, Sam.

1. Sign in as the admin if you haven’t already. Then, navigate to the Drive and Docs service as you did above.
   
2. Click Features and Applications.
   
3. Click Offline to edit the offline settings.
   
4. Ensure that Allow users to enable offline access (recommended) is selected.
   
5. Click Save if you made changes in the previous step.
   

Sam can now enable offline access to Docs. Review Work on Google Docs, Sheets, & Slides offline and then answer the following questions.

• Can Sam use Firefox to access her docs offline?
  
• What app does Sam need to install?
  
• What steps will Sam have to take to have offline access for her trip?
  
• How can Sam view the docs once offline?
  
• Can Sam edit the docs she wants to use on the flight?
  

1. You should now advise Sam of the steps she needs to take to complete the offline configuration. An example email is below.
   

Hey Sam,

I've looked into offline access for you. You must download and install the Chrome browser and the Google Docs Offline Chrome extension on your laptop. Instructions can be found here to set up offline access—Work on Google Docs, Sheets, & Slides offline. It should only take a minute.

Once you’ve enabled offline access to view your files when traveling, open Chrome and visit drive.google.com. The offline version of your Drive will load. Then you can then view and edit your presentations and spreadsheets without an internet connection.

Additionally, if you want offline access on other devices, you need to set this up on each device individually.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Awesome Admin

Stream or Sync Files

There are two ways to access Drive files and keep them in sync on all your devices.

Google Drive for desktop (formerly Drive File Stream) which is best for most organizations. This application lets you stream My Drive and shared drive files directly from the cloud. You can also make Drive files available for offline access.

Enable the use of Google Drive for desktop and allow users to install the software themselves.

1. Sign in as the admin if you haven’t already. Then, navigate to the Drive and Docs service as you did above.
   
2. Click Features and Applications.
   
3. Click Google Drive for desktop to edit the settings.
   
4. Check the Allow Google Drive for desktop in your organization, and the Show Google Drive for desktop download link boxes. The second box allows users to install Google Drive for desktop from the Settings menu in Drive.
   
5. Click Save if you made changes above.
   
6. Go to drive.google.com and click the Settings menu (the gear icon). Verify that there is a Get Drive for desktop option. If you made changes in Step 5 you may need to wait some time for the link to appear.
   

Create a Shared Drive

Shared drives are shared spaces where teams can easily store, search, and access their files anywhere, from any device. Unlike files in My Drive, files in a shared drive belong to the team instead of an individual. Even if members leave, the files stay exactly where they are so your team can continue to share information and get work done.

In this exercise you check that shared drive creation is enabled for your organization and you will modify settings to ensure data remains confidential only to members of each drive.

You receive the following email from Sam Morse.

Hello Awesome Admin,

As you know we have quite a few ongoing projects and have people join and leave those projects regularly. I would like for us to be able to store project documents in a shared space so users do not need to keep these files in their personal Drive and share them with others manually.

Can you please confirm that all users can create shared drives as they require them. I would also like to ensure that shared drive files cannot be accessed by external users and nonmembers of the shared drive but allow the shared drive owner discretion on that point.

Can you make this happen?

Regards,

Sam Morse, CEO

Let’s start by setting the shared drive policies.

1. If you are not already signed in, sign in to your domain as the administrator at admin.google.com.
   
2. Navigate to the Drive and Docs service. Click the Apps icon | Google Workspace icon | Drive and Docs service.
   
3. Click Sharing settings.
   
4. Click Shared drive creation and configure the settings as follows:
   
   1. Prevent users in yourdomain from creating new shared drives. Unchecked.
      
   2. Prevent full-access members from modifying shared drive settings. Unchecked.
      
   3. Prevent people outside yourdomain from accessing files in the shared drive. Checked.
      
   4. Prevent nonmembers of the shared drive from accessing files in the shared drive. Checked.
      
   5. Prevent commenters and viewers from downloading, copying, and printing files in the shared drive. Unchecked
      
5. Click Save.
   

Now, create a shared drive.

1. Sign out and sign back in to Google Workspace as Timothy Lee at drive.google.com.
   
2. Click Shared drives on the left, and click Create a shared drive.
   
3. Enter a drive name, for example, Project X and click Create.
   
4. Click the Manage members link and add Sam Morse as a Content Manager, then click Send to send here a notification that she has been added to the shared drive.
   
5. Click the shared drive title to reveal a dropdown menu.
   
6. Then, select Shared drive settings. Note that you can modify the external and nonmember settings. This is because the policy above allows full-access members to modify shared drive settings.
   
7. (Optional) Sign back in as the administrator and return to the Sharing options card. From here disable sharing outside of the domain. Then sign back in as Timothy Lee and check the shared drive settings again. You should see that sharing outside of the domain is now disabled and cannot be changed. This is because the Sharing options override and apply to shared drives.
   

From the admin console, you can see and manage all shared drives in your organization. You can:

• Manage members.
  
• Manage shared drive settings. Note that you can also override the policy that allows full-access members to manage shared drive settings from here at the individual shared drive level.
  
• Restore a drive or data to a team drive.
  

Resources

• Google Workspace Admin Help: Manage external sharing for your organization
  
• Google Workspace Admin Help: Restore a deleted user’s Drive files
  
• Google Workspace Admin Help: Transfer Drive files to a new owner
  
• Google Workspace Admin Help: Find or recover a file
  
• Google Workspace Admin Help: Restore a Google Workspace user’s Gmail and Drive data
  
• Google Doc Editors Help: Work on Google Docs, Sheets, & Slides offline
  
• Google Drive Help: Use Google Drive for desktop
  
• Google Drive Help: Use Google Drive for desktop at home, work or school
  
• Google Workplace Admin Help: Set up Drive for desktop for your organization
  
• Google Workspace Admin Help: Manage shared drives