Understand when a Google Shared Drive is best for supporting your work.
Overview
Need to share folders of files with a department or other permanent group in Google Drive? Shared Drives may be your best bet. Shared Drives allow folders to be created and shared without tying them to an individual owner, so they can persist as people come and go.
What are Shared Drives and why use them?
Google Shared Drives are a way of creating shared folders that allow a group of people (or Shared Drive “members”) to collaborate. They are different from regular Google Drive folders because they don't have one owner but rather are owned by the Mount Holyoke College domain itself.
If any members of a Shared Drive folder graduate or leave the College, the Shared Drive folder still exists and remains available to the remaining members. This assures that a folder or file in a Shared Drive will persist over time.
LITS has created a set of guidelines to consider when using Shared Drives. You might want to create a new Shared Drive folder instead of a regular Google Drive folder for:
- a shared folder with the primary purpose of allowing for group collaboration between multiple users,
- a shared folder that is likely to be in use on a long-term basis, especially if the people using that folder are likely to come and go over time,
- a shared folder that is used for operational purposes that support a business or academic function at the College or
- a shared folder that will not contain personally identifiable information (PII) or other sensitive data.
The more of these conditions apply, the more likely it is that a Shared Drive folder will suit your needs.
Can I move a regular Google Drive folder to Shared Drives?
Yes - though there are limitations that are worth reviewing.
Where can I learn more about how Shared Drives work?
Google maintains a Getting Started with Shared Drives webpage that is useful for getting oriented and starting out with Shared Drives. We recommend you spend some time reviewing the instructions on that page when you first start using Shared Drives.