Who’s in the Know? Unveiling the Mystery of Shared Files on Google Drive

Sharing files in Google Drive has always been a rather easy and convenient way to collaborate better. But sometimes, it may become a bit of a hassle to know with whom you shared what documents, and who has access to what.

Mid-December, Google introduced a new filter option that makes it possible to get an overview of folders, subfolders and/or files within the Drive environment that are shared with specific people or groups. This also provides the opportunity to see whether folders and/or files are shared with external parties without providing a specific name of a person or group.

How does it work?
There are a number of scenarios in which the new filter can be used.

Scenario 1 | Finding files that have been shared outside the organization.

• Go to My Drive, Shared Drive, Shared with me or Recent
• Click on the People filter button
• Select External users
• Summary of results is show

Scenario 2 | Finding files shared with a person or group

• Go to My Drive, Shared Drive, Shared with me or Recent
• Click on the People filter button
• Search for a person or group with whom files have been shared
• If necessary, supplement with ‘is owned’, ‘created by’, or ‘shared by’
• Summary of results is shown

Scenario 3 | Finding files you own that have been shared with specific people or groups

• Go to My Drive, Shared Drive, Shared with me or Recent
• Click on the People filter button
• Select yourself and select Owner
• Click on the People filter button
• Find the specific person or group that files were shared with
• Summary of results is shown

With this new filter, it is now much easier to manage your files and it will no longer be a mystery who has access to it.