I have a Google Drive folder shared to anyone with the link. The problem is that when anyone with the link tries to access it, everything on the page is unresponsive (clicking folders does nothing) until they log in to their Google account. Even though the folder is set to "Anyone with the link can view, no sign in required", it still required the person with the link to log on to any Google account. Is there a way to share a folder in Google Drive that would allow anyone to view the content without signing in?
Here are some steps to reproduce:
- Click this link to view the test folder I've shared
- If you are logged in at the top right, click your name and then "Sign Out"
- Attempt to view the contents of the document or navigate into the folder
Best Answer
The information that you are giving us is the link to the folder - not the link to the individual files within that folder.
That is why "anyone with the link" can get to the folder, but cannot get to items witin it, ie because they do not have the links to the items in the folder.
Arguably this is a silly distinction: if you want "anyone with the link" to see the folder, then surely you're implying that you've given them the file links, too. But this isn't how Drive is working at the moment, according to testing I just did in Chrome.
Right now, if you want me to see the contents of files in your Google Drive folders, then you have to give me the link to theose files, not just to the folders.
(This may be different if you set permissions to Public on the Web - if you want to test this, set up a folder and I'll take a look.)