Google shared drives (formerly Team Drives) are a feature in Google Workspace for Education. They offer shared space in Google Drive where teams can create, store, search, collaborate on, and access all their team-owned files. The difference between a shared drive and My Drive is that all data (files and folders) are owned by a group or team rather than an individual.
Shared drives allow you to:
- Add new team members: Manage team members individually or with MCommunity groups.
- Keep track of your files if a team member leaves: Shared drives are jointly owned by the team, meaning anything added to a shared drive stays there no matter who comes or goes.
- Understand and manage sharing permissions: Team members at the shared drive level see the same files and folders regardless of who adds or reorganizes them. You can manage permissions for editing, commenting on, reorganizing, or deleting files/folders at the shared drive, subfolder, and file level.
Create a Shared Drive
Refer to Shared Drives in U-M Google for more detailed information on creating, sharing, and managing Google shared drives.
Only active faculty, staff, and students are eligible to create shared drives. Sponsored affiliates, temporary staff, alumni, retirees, and Google Shared Accounts cannot create shared drives.
Shared drives have a 15GB storage limit in U-M Google.