Shared drives

Google Workspace Logo

What is a Shared Drive?

Shared Drives are special folders in Google Drive that you can use to store and collaborate on files within a department/unit/team. Unlike in My Drive, Shared Drive files are owned by the department instead of individuals. If members leave, the files stay in the Shared Drive so your group can keep sharing content and information without interruption. Additionally, Shared Drives exist outside the Life Cycle limits of individual Google accounts and have more granular permissions and roles.

Steps to create and manage Google Shared Drives

Video Tutorials

Info: Overview of Shared Drives

Info: Find your Shared Drive Usage

Info: My Drive vs. Shared drives vs. Shared with me

How-to: Create a Shared Drive and manage Members

How-to: Moving content into a Shared drive

Get Help

Learning about the Google Cost Reduction Project
Learn about Google Workspace for Education
Search the Knowledge Base
Request support
bConnected@berkeley.edu
510.664.9000

Shared Drives Login

Google Drive Logo

Once you are a member of a Shared Drive you can access from the Drive interface. 

At a Glance

Key benefits:

  • Files are owned by the department/unit/team instead of individuals so that if a member leaves the Shared drive or the organization, the files remain in the Shared drive. 

  • All members of a Shared drive have access to all content in the drive

  • If you are using a Google Group to manage the membership or partial membership of a Shared drive, you can easily control access to the Shared drive by adding or removing the individual from the Google Group. 

  • You can use Google for Desktop to access your Shared drives. 

  • A Shared drive has five levels of permissions or roles for the members:
    • Viewer, Commenter, Contributor (Add and edit files), Content manager (Add, edit, move, delete and share content), and Manager (Manage content, people, and settings). For a more detailed look at permissions and roles, visit Google Shared drive permissions and roles

Known limitations:

  • Requires a temporary special permission for moving Folders from My Drive into a Shared drive. You can request this permission by completing this form

    • You will need to understand the security risks and potential permission changes on files.

    • You will need to be aware of potential content move failures or restrictions. See Google’s help document, Move your organization's content to shared drives for more information. 

  • Cannot use the file upload feature in a Google form owned by the Shared drive because folks completing the form are not members of the Shared drive.