Google Docs makes it incredibly easy to collaborate on documents in real-time. With just a few clicks, you can share your Docs file and work on it together with teammates, clients, or anyone else.
In this article, we’ll cover the 3 main ways to share Google Docs:
- Share with specific people
- Get a shareable link
- Publish to the web
We’ll also look at how to customize permissions so collaborators can edit or just view your document. Let’s get started!
Share Google Docs with Specific People
The easiest way to collaborate on a Doc is to share it directly with specific people.
Here are the steps:
- Open the Google Doc you want to share
- Click the Share button in the top right corner
- In the “Share with others” box, enter the email addresses of people you want to share with As you type email addresses, suggested contacts will appear from your organization or contacts list.
- For each person, use the dropdown menu to choose whether they can:
- Edit – Make changes and edits to the doc
- Comment – Add comments but not edit the text
- View – View the doc but not make changes
- Add a message (optional)
- Click Send
The people you shared with will get an email letting them know you’ve shared the document.
Now they can open the Google Doc and collaborate on it with you!
Get a Shareable Link to Your Google Doc
Instead of sharing your Doc with specific people, you can also get a shareable link.
Anyone with this link will be able to view or edit the document, depending on the permission you set.
Here’s how to get a link:
- Open your Google Doc
- Click Share > Get shareable link
- Set link permissions:
- Viewer – Anyone with the link can view
- Commenter – Anyone with the link can comment
- Editor – Anyone with the link can edit
- Copy the link and share it however you want!
For example, you can paste the link in an email, chat message, website, etc.
Publish Your Google Doc to the Web
Publishing your Doc to the web takes sharing to the next level. When you publish a Doc, it creates a public URL anyone can access by searching on Google.
Publishing is great for:
- Making your Doc accessible to a large audience
- Embedding your Doc in a website or blog
- Creating a central access point customers can access
Follow these steps to publish your Google Doc:
- Open the Google Doc
- Click File > Publish to the web
- Click Publish
After publishing, you’ll get a public URL to your document anyone can access.
You can share this new URL however you want. And any changes made to your original document will automatically update the published version.
Customize Sharing Settings
When collaborating on a Google Doc, you may want to limit what others can do. Luckily, Google Docs offers granular sharing settings to prevent unwanted changes or leaks.
In your Doc, go to Share > Advanced in the “Share with others” box.
Here are some key settings you can tweak:
- Disable options to download, print, and copy – Prevent others from copying your content
- Prevent editors from changing access – Lock down sharing settings
- Set date to remove access – Revoke access after a certain date
Set up sharing exactly how you want, then click Done.
Work Better Together with Google Docs
Sharing and collaborating on documents has never been easier thanks to Google Docs.
Whether you need to collaborate internally with teammates, gather feedback from clients, or publish content for your website visitors, Google Docs has you covered.
So gather your team and start collaborating! With the ability to work together in real-time from anywhere, you’ll get projects done faster and easier than ever before.