4 Ways to Share Files and Folders From Google Drive (2024)

Google Drive is an amazing cloud storage and backup service. You can not only save files and folders in it but also use Google Drive to share files as well. In this post, we will learn how to share files or folders from Google Drive.

Thankfully, you can share access to Google Drive files with non-Gmail and Gmail accounts. You can even share files from Google Drive to WhatsApp, Facebook, etc. Let’s begin.

1. By Sending an Email

One of the easiest ways to share files or folders from Google Drive is by emailing. All you need to do is enter the email addresses, and recipients will receive an email with the shared files or folders.

Follow these steps to share a Google Drive folderor file on a PC or mobile:

On Computer

Step 1: Open the Google Drive website and right-click on the file or folder you want to share.

Step 2: Select Share, followed by Share.

Step 3: A pop-up window will show up. Enter the email addresses of the people you want to share the selected Google Drive file or folder with.

You can enter both Gmail and non-Gmail email accounts.

Step 4: On the next screen, customize the sharing permission. By default, the users have editing permissions, which you can change by clicking on the Editor box and selecting Viewer or Commenter.

Step 5: You can also add a custom message for the email and click on Send.

Tip: Know how sharing works on Google Drive.

On Mobile

Step 1: Open the Google Drive app on your Android or iPhone.

Step 2: Tap on the three-dot icon next to or under the file or folder and select Share from the menu.

Step 3: Add the email addresses with whom you want to share the file and change the permission by tapping on Editor.

Tip: You can add a personal message.

Step 4: Finally, tap on the Send icon at the top to share the Google Drive file or folder with the selected users via email.

Tip: Know how to download files from Google Drive on iPhone

2. By Sharing Link

The above method lets you share Google Drive files through email. What if you want to send it using any other app? Thankfully, you can do it by sharing a unique Google Drive link.

All you need to do is create the link, copy it, and send it in any app of your choice, like WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Outlook, etc.

This method can be used in the following two situations:

• You have to share the link of the Google Drive file or folder in apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, etc.
• The user you shared access to your Google Drive file or folder accidentally deleted the invitation email. Now, you can either re-send the mail as shown in the above method or copy the link and send it by email or any other app.

On PC

Step 1: The first few steps are the same as the above method, i.e., right-click on the file or folder. Select Share, followed by Share.

Step 2: Here you get two different ways of sharing the link. By default, the Restricted option is selected, for which first, you need to add the email addresses of the people to whom you want to send the link, as shown above.

Step 3: If you have already done so, click on the Copy link button and paste it into an app you choose.

Step 4: Alternatively, to share it with anyone, click on the Restricted text and select ‘Anyone with the link’.

Step 5: Next, click on the Viewer/Editor box and select the permission you want users to have.

Step 6: Finally, click on the Copy link button and share it with your friends, family, or co-workers.

Step 7: Click on Done to close the window.

Tip: Know what happens when you share a Google Drive link.

On Mobile

Step 1: In the Google Drive mobile app, tap on the three-dot icon next to the file or folder and select Share from the menu.

Step 2: Tap on the Not Shared (or any other) icon at the bottom under Manage Access.

Step 3: Now, if you want to send the link to the users to whom you have shared the files via email, tap on the Link icon at the top to copy the link to your clipboard.

Step 4: Alternatively, tap on Change under Restricted, followed by Restricted.

Step 5: Select Anyone with the link.

Step 6: Tap on Viewer to manage the permission of the file. Finally, tap on the Link icon at the top to copy the link, which you can share with anyone.

A few things to note:

• If you share a folder in Google Drive, users can only see the files in the folder and no other files in your Google Drive account.
• Anyone with the link can view the shared files or those in the shared folder. So, make sure you don’t share any private information.
• People who aren’t signed in using a Google account will show as anonymous animals.
• When a folder is shared, other people can also add files to that folder.

Sharing multiple files or folders from Google Drive is easy. First, select the files, and then the methods to share those files are the same as above. Let’s learn how to select and share multiple Google Drive files on a PC:

Step 1: Select one of the files or folders. Then, hold the Ctrl key and click the files you want to select.

Tip: If you want to select multiple files in succession, select the first file, hold the Shift key, and click on the last file to select.

Step 2: Release the Shift or Ctrl key. The selected items will show as highlighted. Right-click on any selected item and choose Share, followed by Share.

Step 3: Then, you can share the multiple files via email or copy their individual links. You can manage their access permissions individually.

Note: You can’t share multiple files from an Android or iPhone. You will need to add the files to a folder and then share that folder.

Whenever you open any file stored in Google Drive, be it the native Google Drive files like Google Docs, Google Sheets, Forms, and Slides, or any image or video, you will find a big Share button at the top. Click on it to open the Share pop-up, from where you can send it in an email or copy its link.

In the case of Google Forms, open the Form and click on the three-dot icon, followed by Add collaborators if you want others to make changes to your Google Form.

Note: When you share a Google Doc, Sheets, or Slides, people can make changes to the document if you have set the permission to Editor.

Google doesn’t offer a native option to share the contents of the entire Google Drive. However, there are following workarounds:

• You must select all the files and folders in your Google Drive and download the content to your PC. Then, upload the content to another Drive account. However, as evident, this may take a lot of time, depending on your file size. Furthermore, the files in the new account will be added as new files so that they won’t have any past history like comments, history, collaborators, etc.
• If you have a Google Workspace account, you can also use Shared drives.

Tip: Know how to transfer Google Drive to another account. Also, learn how to remove shared files from Google Drive.

Those were some easy methods to share files and folders from Google Drive on mobile and PC. Before you go, know how to free up storage on Google Drive.