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What Google Workspace Shared Drives are, how they differ from My Drive, and why they're the best way to store files that belong to your whole team.

A shared drive is a space in Google Drive that belongs to your organization — not to any single person. Google's own description: "Files in shared drives are owned by your organization, rather than an individual. They persist even if the person who created the file leaves your organization." That's the whole point of them.

Quick summary

Shared drives are team-owned storage areas in Google Drive. Files in one belong to the organization, not an individual, so they don't leave with the person who made them. Shared drives are included in every Business plan, Business Starter included — what Starter doesn't get is the advanced sharing controls an admin can set on top.

My Drive vs. Shared Drive

	My Drive	Shared drive
Owned by	The individual user	The organization
What happens if the user leaves	Files may be lost unless manually transferred	Files stay right where they are
Best for	Personal working documents	Team files, client folders, shared resources
Who can add files	The person who owns My Drive	Any member with Contributor access or higher
Who can manage access	The file owner	Managers of the drive, and your Workspace admin

We recommend using shared drives for any files that more than one person needs, or that your business needs to keep long-term. Google suggests the same split: team content in shared drives, and genuinely personal documents — one-to-one notes, performance reviews — in My Drive.

Creating a Shared Drive

Admin or Manager role required

Shared drives are created in Drive, not in the Admin console.

Open Google Drive at drive.google.com.

In the left sidebar, click Shared drives.

At the top left, click New.

Give the drive a name — for example, "Marketing Team" or "Client Projects." Click Create.

Add members. Double-click the new drive to open it, click Manage members at the top, then add people by email address or add a Google group. New members come in as Content managers unless you pick a different role, and you need Manager access yourself to add anyone.

Shared Drive roles

Role	What they can do
Manager	Everything below, plus add and remove members, change roles, move files out of the drive, permanently delete files, set limited access on folders, and delete the drive
Content manager	Add, edit and move files, and move files and folders to the trash. This is the default for new members
Contributor	Add and edit files, but can't move them to the trash
Commenter	View and comment only
Viewer	View only

If you're worried about people deleting things, Google's advice is to give them Contributor, Commenter or Viewer access — those three can't delete files.

Adding files to a Shared Drive

Files added to a shared drive belong to the drive — not to the person who uploaded them. You can:

Upload files by dragging them into the drive
Create new Docs, Sheets, or Slides directly inside the drive
Move files from My Drive to a shared drive by right-clicking → Organize → Move

Moving a file to a shared drive hands ownership to the organization

When you move a file from My Drive into a shared drive, your organization becomes the owner of it instead of you. Moving it back out again is possible, but only someone with Manager access to the shared drive can do it. Moving a folder in needs Manager access too. And be careful with files you've shared externally: if the shared drive doesn't allow external sharing, those people lose access when the file moves in.

Organizing a Shared Drive

You can create folders inside a shared drive, just like a regular Drive. Click + New → Folder while inside the shared drive.

Good practice: set up a consistent folder structure for your team from the start. Examples:

Client name → Project → Year
Department → Category → Date

Who can create Shared Drives?

On Business and Enterprise editions, all users can create shared drives by default. Your Workspace admin can change that in the Admin console under Apps → Google Workspace → Drive and Docs → Sharing settings, where there's a "Shared drive creation" section.

Common questions

Which Workspace plans include Shared Drives?

All of the Business plans, including Business Starter. Google's supported-editions line for shared drives names "Business Starter (except as noted), Business Standard, and Business Plus", along with the Enterprise, Education, Essentials and Nonprofits editions. The "except as noted" part matters: Business Starter doesn't get the admin controls for default sharing permissions on new shared drives, or for limiting sharing with external users, visitors and non-members.

Can external people (outside our organization) access a Shared Drive?

Yes, if your sharing settings allow it. You can add an external person as a member as long as their email address is attached to a Google Account. Anything they create or upload in your shared drive is owned by your organization, not them.

Can I set different permissions for different folders within a Shared Drive?

Yes, up to a point. By default everyone who is a member sees everything, but someone with Manager access can turn a folder into a limited-access folder, so only the people added directly to it can open it. Other members still see the folder's name but can't get inside. (A Content manager can do this too if your admin has allowed content managers to share folders.) Members can also share an individual file or folder with someone who isn't a member at all. What you can't do is give someone less access to something inside a folder than they already have to the folder itself.

What happens to the Shared Drive if no managers remain?

Nothing is lost. Your Workspace admin can manage shared drives from the Admin console under Apps → Google Workspace → Drive and Docs → Manage shared drives, including adding members and setting their access level, so a new Manager can always be appointed.

Need a hand?

If you're stuck, email support@chykalophia.com and we'll help. Include your website address and a screenshot if you can.

Shared drives explained