Prevent people printing, copying, and downloading your shared Google Drive files

The likes of Google Drive make it easy to collaborate on projects, harnessing the power of the cloud to provide people with access to files. While it's handy to be able to work on files with other people, there are times when you want to ensure that the documents you share are not misused.

With this in mind, Google has now added new permission options to shared files. With the added ability to prevent the copying, downloading, and printing of files, it's now safer to share confidential documents. As Google says, it's "perfect for when the file you're sharing contains sensitive information that you don't want shared broadly or leaked".

Protecting documents, spreadsheets, and presentations by making them read-only is a very simple task. Previously, it was only possible to choose between allowing the people you share files with to edit, comment on, or just view the file. Now, click the Advanced link in the bottom corner of the Share dialog and a new option is available: 'Disable options to download, print and copy for commenters and viewers'.

At the moment the feature can only be accessed through the web version of Google Drive. Google has not yet indicated whether it will be coming to mobile apps, but it seems reasonable to assume that it will migrate at some point as Google says it can also be accessed through the API.

Photo credit: Lichtmeister / Shutterstock