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After you share a file, you can stop sharing at any time. You can also control if people you've shared with can change or share your file.
Tip: When updating permissions for an item you're sharing from My Drive, if the person you're sharing with does not already have permissions for the folder that contains that item, you can choose to:
- Update permissions for the folder that contains that item.
- Update permissions only for the item itself.
To make it easier to manage folders and share, most users choose to update the folder that contains the item.
Stop sharing a file
Important:
- If you share a file with people, the owner and anyone with edit access can change sharing permissions and share the file.
- If you don’t want anyone to publicly access your file, stop publishing the file.
- On your computer, find the file or folder in Google Drive
- To find out If a file or folder is shared:
- Right click the file or folder.
- On the right side of file, click More
.
- Click File Information
Details.
- A panel opens and shows who owns and has access to the file.
- If you have permission to make changes, click Manage access.
- Find the file or folder in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
- Open or select the file or folder.
- Click Share or Share
.
- Find the person you want to stop sharing with.
- To the right of their name, click the Down arrow
- Click Save.
When you change an item's general access to Restricted, only people with access can open the file.
- Find the file or folder in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
- Open or select the file or folder.
- Click Share
.
- Under “General access”, click the Down arrow
.
- Select Restricted.
- Click Done.
If you delete a shared file that you own:
- People that can view, comment, or edit can make a copy of the file until you permanently delete it.
- To permanently delete the file, click the file in your trash, and click Delete forever
. Learn more about deleting files.
If you delete a shared file that you don’t own:
- The file will be removed from your Drive , but other collaborators can still access it.
- To get the file back, open a link to the file
File
Limit how your files are shared
Prevent people from downloading, printing, or copying your filePeople with edit access to your files can:
- Share the file with others.
- Add or remove people from the file.
- Change access permissions to the file.
- Copy, print, or download the file.
Important: You can't apply this setting to a folder, but you can apply it to individual files in the folder.
To prevent viewers and commenters from printing, copying, or downloading your file:
- Find the file or folder in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
- Select one or more files you want to limit.
- Click Share or Share
- At the top, click Settings
.
- Uncheck Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy.
Important: You can limit how people share, print, download, and copy within Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, but you can't stop how others share the file content in other ways.
If you’re sharing a file, the owner and anyone with editor access can change the permissions and share the file. To prevent others from sharing your file:
- Open the file in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
- Click Share or Share
- At the top, click Settings
- Uncheck Editors can change permissions and share.
Important: If you prevent sharing of a folder, it only applies to the folder. To prevent sharing the files inside, you have to change this setting for the files inside.
More options with Google Accounts through work or school
Give someone permissions to a file for a limited timeSet an expiration date for a file
- Open a file in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
- Click Share
find the user you'd like to give temporary permissions to.
- If you haven't shared the file with that person yet, add the user's email and click Send or Share. At the top right of the document, click Share again.
- Next to the person's name, click the Down arrow
- Next to "Access expires," click a date to set as the expiration date. Choose a date within one year of the current date.
- Click Save.
Change share settings for Google Forms
Google Forms often have different sharing options than other kinds of files.