Best practices for shared drives
Best practices for shared drives
Embedded Files
Get tips for structuring shared drives, adding files, and searching for files
Set up a shared drive
Set up a shared drive
Create shared drives based on who has access
Whatever access level you give to someone for a shared drive is the level they’ll have for all folders in that shared drive. You can change access levels on individual files, but not on folders.
Example
Say everyone on a team needs access to the same resources. Create a shared drive for the team, so they have a central repository for the important collateral they need for their job
Set naming conventions
To avoid naming conflicts in shared drives, agree on organisation-wide naming conventions
Examples
Say a company has divisions in different regions. You could create a shared drive for each region and prefix the shared drive name with the region or an abbreviation of the region.
Indicate status by appending a prefix, such as [Archive] to a project that’s no longer active or [In Progress] to a project that’s active.
To distinguish between shared drives that are shared externally and internally, add the prefix [External] or [Internal].
Create folders for related topics
Classify content into folders. Then, nest folders for related topics
Example
Create a shared drive for Project X. Create a folder for each topic area within the project. This keeps files organised so members of Project X can easily find what they’re looking for
Visually distinguish different shared drives with themes
Quickly distinguish your shared drive from others by adding an image to the shared drive banner.
Add colour and a photo to the top of your shared drive so that you can easily tell which shared drive you’re in.
Add a theme to a shared drive
Add a theme to a shared drive
You need Manager access to add a theme.
In Shared drives, click a shared drive.
At the top next to the shared drive name, click the Down arrow Change theme Pick from Gallery or Create custom theme.
Click the picture of the theme you want, or navigate and click a custom image.
Click > Select.
When to create files in My Drive instead of a shared drive
When to create files in My Drive instead of a shared drive
Create files in My Drive if:
You’re working on personal files.
You want to draft the file privately. You can move it to a shared drive when you’re ready to share or collaborate. Ownership then transfers from you to the team.
Create files in a shared drive if:
You’re working on files that you want to share with a team.
You want to collaborate on files right away.
Find files in a shared drive
Find files in a shared drive
As a shared drive grows, it can be tricky to find specific content. When a team member uploads a file to a shared drive, every member of the shared drive becomes a file owner.
To make your search easier, you can search for a file by its creator or limit your search to a specific folder.
Search by original owner to find a shared drive file:
Open Drive and at the left, click Shared drives.
In the search box, enter creator: and then the email of the person in your organisation who created the file, for example, creator:yourcolleague@organization.com.
(Optional) To refine your search, add other search terms in the search box, or click the Down arrow and add more search operators.
Press Enter.
Limit your search to a specific folder in a shared drive:
Right-click a folder and click Search within folder name.
In the search box, enter your search term and press Enter.
Hide a shared drive
Hide a shared drive
You can hide a shared drive that's part of a completed project or if you want to prioritise other shared drives. If you hide a shared drive, you still have access to it and your permissions don't change. You can unhide the shared drive at any time.
Hide a shared drive:
In Drive, on the left, click Shared drives.
Right-click the shared drive that you no longer want to see, and select Hide shared drive.
Unhide a shared drive:
In Drive, on the left, click Shared drives.
At the top right, click Hidden shared drives.
Right-click the shared drive that you want to show again, and select Unhide shared drive.
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