Google-drive – How to make sharing in Google Docs actually work

google-drivesharing

We're using a Google Apps domain where I work, and I have a strong suspection that it's not possible to share anything with other people unless I send them a link.

What I do:

  1. I create a document
  2. I use the "share" button to set sharing to our domain (I check "everyone from XXX domain can access the document". I don't check "people from XXX domain who have the link", as I want it to work even without distributing the links.)

Then, my colleague goes to our Google Docs, and doesn't see the document anywhere in his list. When he types the document's name into the search box, nothing comes up. After I send him the link, he can access it fine.

What do I have to do to make it work the way I want (e.g. for people to see the document even without getting the exact link)?

Best Answer

Sharing to "the organization" does not by default add the document to each person's Drive list. A document will only appear in a Drive list if the user has previously opened the document.

They can and should be able to search for the document title though. Here's the help text around searching for a document:

This organization - Documents created in your organization are searchable and viewable to everyone in your organization. However, documents will only appear in a user’s Drive after they have been accessed by the user, or after the document has been explicitly shared with the user. Users can search for documents available to the entire organization by choosing Search from the search options.

Make sure users are searching in their domain when searching for documents that have been made available to the organization.

Link to full article: http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=60781

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