Share a file or folder (Drive)
Last updated
Last updated
What you'll do: Share individual files or folders from your Drive with other people — while keeping end-to-end encryption intact.
Why it matters: Drive sharing lets you collaborate without handing files to a provider who can read them. Access is password-protected, time-limited, and role-controlled.
Steps
In Drive, right-click the file or folder (macOS Finder context menu → Share) or use the Share action in the app.
Add recipients — up to 5 per share.
Set a password for the share and an expiration date.
Assign a role to each recipient:
Viewer — can open and read.
Editor — can make changes.
Confirm. Recipients receive access and sync the shared content; config and structural changes propagate to them.
List current shares and recipients.
Revoke access, update the expiration, or add/remove recipients at any time.
Renames propagate to all recipients automatically.
Expired shares can be cleared to clean up stale access and storage.
Common mistakes
Sharing from the wrong place. Drive shares individual files/folders; a whole vault is shared differently — see Share a Vault.
No expiration date. Set one so access doesn't linger longer than you intend.
Leaking the share password. Send it over a separate, secure channel — not alongside the link.
Deletion is hardened so removing a file that's actively shared won't corrupt the share.