Folders with “limited access” can only be opened by people who have been added to the permissions for that folder directly. People with inherited access (access from further up in the folder hierarchy) can see the folder in Drive, but they can’t open it.
To express interest in the beta, eligible clients can use this form. You will receive an email confirmation before the feature becomes available in your selected domain.
To create or edit limited access to a folder:
- On your computer, open drive.google.com.
- Right-click the folder for which you want to set up limited access.
- Click Share
Share
.
- To enable limited access on the folder, turn on Limit access.
- Click Back
. In the sharing dialog, add or remove users to the folder.
Folder setting to enable or disable limited access:
Sharing dialog:
Document list with a folder with limited access for users with no access:
Tips:
- In shared drives, managers can access folders with limited access.
- In My Drive, folder owners have access to their folders with limited access.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this only available in shared drives or is it also available in My Drive?Folders with limited access are available in both shared drives and My Drive.
Folders with limited access are available in all SKUs.
As a reminder, this feature is part of a closed beta. To express interest in the beta, eligible clients can use this form. You will receive an email confirmation before the feature becomes available in your selected domain.
In shared drives, only Managers can enable or disable the feature on a given folder, because only they can remove members. No other member role can do so.
In My Drive, folder owners can turn the feature on or off. If the setting "Editors can change permissions and share" is enabled, editors can also turn the feature on or off.
Anyone who can change folder permissions can change the list of users with access to folders with limited access.
The following roles can change access:
- In shared drives:
- Managers
- Content Managers, if the setting “Allow content managers to share folders” is enabled
- In My Drive:
- Folder owners
- Editors, if the setting “Editors can change permissions and share” is enabled
- Everyone with access to the parent folder can find folders with limited access. This includes shared drive members who are:
- Content Managers
- Contributors
- Commenters
- Viewers
- Only users listed in the folder’s permissions can find the folder’s content and metadata.
Tips:
- In shared drives, managers can access folders with limited access.
- In My Drive, folder owners have access to their folders with limited access.
Important: This feature is only available for folders.
To limit access to a specific file, you can:
- Create a new subfolder with limited access and move the file into the subfolder.
- Keep the file outside the main folder and add a shortcut into the subfolder.
If you move folder hierarchies between shared drives, it preserves folders with limited access. If the target shared drive’s sharing policies restrict users listed in the folder’s permissions, the system treats the folder as unmovable. Those users must join the target shared drive to access the folder.
If you move folder hierarchies from a shared drive to My Drive, it also preserves folders with limited access.
If the user is a:
- Manager, the entire hierarchy goes into the trash.
- Content Manager who's added on the limited access sub-hierarchies, the sub-hierarchies go into the trash.
- Content Manager, but their role has been reduced or access removed on some limited access sub-hierarchies, the sub-hierarchies go into the shared drive's root. All parts of the hierarchy with Content Manager-level permissions go to the trash.
In My Drive, only the item’s owner can delete it. If a user deletes a hierarchy with folders that have limited access and are owned by others, these folders move to the owner’s My Drive.
If you have questions or feedback, reply to the email that confirms your acceptance to the closed beta.