Team Practices Group/Google Drive Management

Overview
This page is intended to give an overview of the sharing options for google docs and folders. Google docs have some advantages (compared to drop box and etherpads) as well as some user experience issues.

Note: Google constantly tests new features on google drive users. TPG has attempted to document the most common user interactions to date. However some users may see variations on these features. The best ways to get results from google docs are: patience, and careful observation of dialogs and menus.

How to share documents
A document can be shared in several ways:
 * 1) While in the list of documents in google drive, right click on the document name and click "Share"
 * 2) While inside the document, click File > Share
 * 3) While inside the document, click the large blue Share button in the upper right corner.

Each of the paths above lead to a common share dialog. The simplified UI allows the user to add collaborators to the document and select their level of access.

Clicking on the Advanced link opens more options. This is the main way to observe who is allowed to access the document and what level of interaction they have.

Click on "Get Shareable Link" gives you a link that is guaranteed to work in emails, chat or other communication. It has some sharing options that may be too broad for some purposes. See the next section for advanced sharing issues.

How to keep a document restricted
Google wants to make sharing documents easy. However there are times when google's suggested or default actions accidentally open up a document that needs to stay restricted. Here are some tips to maintain access to your documents.

Tip #1
If you really want to keep a document protected, you must check the main sharing dialog from time to time. You must also monitor the editors. Anyone who has edit privileges can accidentally open up the document to a wider audience. Sometimes you only need certain people to have view or comment access. Consider reviewing these levels of access from time to time.

Tip #2
The "Get sharable Link" options can be very confusing. The default option is to open up view access to anyone with the link. There are more options in the drop down menu but most people overlook them.

Tip #3
When pasting a document link into a gmail email, you may be presented with more sharing options. Recent testing has shown multiple messages and sharing options here. They have not been very consistent or easily reproducible. However, this user flow can be as confusing and as detrimental as the "Get Shareable Link" feature. If you really want to avoid over-sharing your document, "cancel" our of any sharing prompts in email.