Environment
U-M Google, Drive
Issue
How do folder ownership and permissions work in Google Drive?
Resolution
Shared folders in My Drive
While Google Drive is good for collaboration and maintaining a shared document repository in folders, ownership and permissions settings (including inheritance of these settings between top-level folders and their subfolders/files), work in a very specific way.
- Google Drive has a cascading permissions structure but a non-cascading ownership structure.
- Cascading permissions: When a folder's collaborator permissions are changed, those changes are automatically applied to all content within that folder.
- Caution: Editors can change the permissions of any of the files/folders they have access to within the folder structure. This can cause issues if you expect someone shared at the top-level folder to have access to everything in it.
- An Editor could have revoked or changed their access level on a specific file/folder within the structure.
- Non-cascading ownership: When a folder's owner is changed, ownership does not automatically change for all content within the folder.
- The individual who creates a file/subfolder under the shared folder structure is the owner (not the top-level folder owner). (The same applies if they move a file they created/uploaded from their My Drive into the shared folder structure.)
- Only the owner of a file/folder can transfer ownership of it to someone else.
Shared drives
The difference between a shared drive and a shared folder within My Drive is that all data (files and folders) are owned by a group or team rather than an individual.
- Shared drives have cascading ownership. Everything that is stored in a shared drive is owned by the shared drive instead of an individual.
- This means if someone leaves the university, you will still have access to their data that is stored in the shared drive.
- Shared drives have cascading permissions. Everyone added as a member on the shared drive has at least view access to everything within the drive (and maybe more, depending on their role assigned).
- You can share a file or subfolder with someone instead of giving them access to the entire shared drive.
- The user will only see that file/subfolder in the Shared with me section of their Google Drive. They will not see the shared drive listed on their shared drives page.
- If you share at the subfolder level, the user will have the same permissions/access to everything within that subfolder.
- Caution: Managers, Content Managers, and Contributors can change the permissions of any of the files or folders they have access to within the subfolder structure. This can cause issues if you expect someone shared at the top-level subfolder to have access to everything in it.
Refer to Shared Drives in U-M Google for more information.
Additional Information
Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.