As of February 18, 2025, Google allows shared drive Managers and My Drive folder owners to limit access to folders for specific individuals. Folders with limited access can only be opened by people who have been added to them directly. People with general access to the shared drive or parent My Drive shared folder can view the restricted folder’s name but cannot open it.
Previously, a version of this feature existed for files and folders in My Drive only. However, this update now applies to shared drives and streamlines the process in My Drive (with an eventual retirement of the “Update item only” sharing option and its related ability to limit access at the file level that existed before).
Key changes and feature information include:
- The “limit access” feature is only available on folders and not files.
- The workaround for files is to create a new subfolder with limited access and move the file into the subfolder.
- Shared drive Managers can always access folders with limited access. You cannot remove a Manager’s access to a shared drive folder.
- Folder owners can always access the folders they’ve limited access to in My Drive. You cannot remove an owner’s access to a folder they own.
- The restricted folder (including its name) is always visible to people with general access to the shared drive or parent shared folder.
- People who don’t have access to the folder can click Request access to send an email to the owner.
- “Editors can change permissions and share” must be checked in the folder’s settings before Editors can manage limited access settings for the My Drive folder they’re shared on.
- “Allow content managers to share folders” must be checked in the shared drive’s settings before Content Managers can manage limited access settings for subfolders they’re shared on in the drive.
- Everyone who inherited access to a subfolder but then had their access limited on it will appear under the new “Access removed” tab in the sharing dialog for the folder owner/shared drive Manager(s) and Editors/Content Managers (if applicable) of the subfolder.
As part of their feature announcement, Google mentioned two changes coming later this year involving the “Editors can change permissions and share” setting and limited access for pre-existing files and folders (utilizing the old “Update item only” option). We will provide additional communications closer to when these changes occur and as we know more from Google.
Refer to the Google Help Center to learn more about limiting access to folders in My Drive and shared drives. Refer to Best Practices for Sharing in Google Drive for other tips on sharing at U-M.