How to Enable or Disable Moving Files and Folders to Shared Drives as a Google Workspace Admin

Quick and easy-to-follow guide for Google Workspace administrators

What happens when you move files from My Drive to shared drives

When you move files from My Drive to shared drives, they retain their sharing settings.
Files keep their sharing settings even when you change a shared drive’s restriction settings.

Example of how moving files to shared drives works

Here’s how this works. For example, let’s say you:

Share a file with someone outside your Google Workspace
Move the file to a shared drive
Configure the shared drive’s settings to prevent anyone outside your Google Workspace from accessing files
Your file will still include the external person in its sharing settings, but they won’t be able to access it anymore. However, if you update the shared drive’s settings in the future and allow people outside your Google Workspace to access files, the sharing will work once again.

How to allow or prevent users from moving files to shared drives step-by-step with images

You can follow these steps to prevent Google Workspace users from moving files from My Drive to shared drives.

Step 1

In the Admin console at https://admin.google.com, click the Apps icon.

Step 2

Select Google Workspace.

Step 3

Click Drive and Docs. Make sure not to check the box to the left; just click the name.

Step 4

Select Migration Settings.

Step 5

Check the box to allow Google Workspace users to move files from My Drive to shared drives.

Users can even move another user’s files as long as they have permission to edit them and the owner is a member of the shared drive.

Click SAVE.

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What Are Shared Drives: Introduction to Get Started

Learn what Shared Drives are and what you can do with them.

Manage Organization-Wide Shared Drive Settings

Configure the default restriction settings for all shared drives.

Restore Deleted Shared Drive Data

Restore deleted Shared Drive files and folders.

Allow or Disable Moving Google Drive Items to Shared Drives

Control if users can move files and folders to shared drives.

Manage a Specific Shared Drive’s Settings

Control the individual settings for each separate shared drive.

See a List of All Shared Drives

View a list of the currently existing Shared Drives in your account.

Grant People Member Access to a Shared Drive

Allow people to access a Shared Drive.

Remove Shared Drive Members

Prevent someone from accessing a shared drive.

View and Update Shared Drive Members’ Access Permissions

View a Shared Drive’s members and manage their access level.

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