Google Drive - Introduction to Shared Drive!
What is the difference from My Drive?
Table of Contents
What kind of service is Shared Drive?
Can anyone use a Shared Drive?
Understanding Shared Drive permissions
Comparison of My Drive and Shared Drive
Major benefits of Shared Drive
Points to not exceed the maximum number of files
Be careful of operational design
Utilize the Shared Drive API
More flexible operation of Shared Drive with “Drive Manager”!
What kind of service is Shared Drive?
The Shared Drive is a storage area where files can be managed on an organizational basis. "Organization" refers to a set (group) of users defined by users such as departments. Previously, Google Drive managed files at the individual permission level, but Shared Drives allow organizations (groups) to manage files. Of course, even if there are no members, the file will remain as it is, so users can continue to share and manage the file.
Can anyone use a Shared Drive?
Shared drives are not available to everyone. Try opening the drive with your personal Google account. There is no "Shared Drive" in the left menu. Then, is it possible to use it by subscribing to Google Workspace (formerly G Suite)? For Google Workspace, a Business Standard or higher contract is required. The structure is as follows.
Understanding Shared Drive permissions
Shared Drive user permissions can be divided into five categories (administrator, content administrator, contributor, viewer (commentable), and viewer). It is recommended to divide these privileges according to the user's affiliation or business scope. Privilege operations are an important factor in maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of data, so care must be taken when granting privileges to users.
List of Shared Drive permissions
Shared Drive permissions are as follows. As shown in the table below, the administrator has the strongest authority, and the lower the permission, the weaker the authority. The content administrator has the strongest authority other than the administrator, and can operate all files. Be careful when granting permissions.
Tasks granted by permissions
The tasks that can be executed for each Shared Drive permission are as follows. The administrator can perform all operations, and the content administrator can operate the file itself, but user management and deletion of the Shared Drive are not authorized. Files on the Shared Drive can be viewed by all authorized users, so do not place sensitive files on the Shared Drive (for sensitive files that should not be viewed by Shared Drive members ).
Comparison between My Drive and Shared Drive
The differences between the two services are summarized in the table below.
Benefits of Shared Drive
The biggest benefit of Shared Drive is that files can be shared throughout the organization. For example in the past Google Drive, if a member left their job, it took time to re-delegate the file permission. But in the case of the Shared Drive, as the file authority is held by the organization, the remaining members can still access the file.
How to avoid exceeding the file limits
Use Google Groups for Members
As shown in the comparison table, files can be shared with up to 600 members. If you want to manage Shared Drives with more members, we recommend that you use Google Groups to manage multiple users as one unit.
Regularly empty the trash bin
Shared Drive trash Items that are in the trash bin are also subject to the Shared Drive capacity limit. Therefore, the trash can should be emptied on a regular basis.
Use by project-to-project basis
By using the Shared Drive on a project-to-project basis, shared members and managed files can be filtered out.
Be careful with operational design
If you make good use of Shared Drives in this way, you will be able to operate files more efficiently. But on the other hand, there are some restrictions. When introducing a Shared Drive, we recommend that you first design the operation after taking these restrictions into account.
More flexible operation of Shared Drives with "Drive Manager"!
Cloud Ace provides "Drive Manager", a tool for solving operational issues of Shared Drives. Drive Manager allows operators to visualize the operational status of Shared Drives and build workflows for Shared Drives.