How to Hide a Folder in Google Drive

There are loads of files or folders that are highly confidential and not meant for all users. It is especially applicable when you have multiple users using the same account. Hence it is important to hide a folder in Google Drive so that only you can access or view it when needed.

Do you want to know how to hide folders in Google Drive? If yes, you have stumbled upon the right webpage. In this article, we are going to share step-by-step guides that you can follow to hide folders in Google Drive.

So, without any further ado, let’s get started –

How to Hide a Folder in Google Drive

All the files that you upload to your Google Drive are completely private and only be accessed by you as long as you don’t share them with anyone else.

Even if you have done that, that person will only have access to the files that you’ve shared with them. Therefore, you don’t actually need to hide any folder inside your Google Drive.

However, things get tricky when you want to hide some files or folders for specific users in a shared folder.

Let’s suppose you have shared a folder with your colleagues and clients, but you don’t want your clients to have access to all the files available inside that folder.

If you are in a situation like this, you can follow the solutions mentioned below in this article. Below, we have shared a few different methods for that, so here we go –

1. Separate Folders

One of the easiest ways to hide a folder in Google Drive is by separating folders and controlling who will have access to those folders. For example, you can create two separate folders – one for your colleagues and collaborators and the other one for clients.

This will solve the issue for you as your clients will not have access to the other folder, meaning they will not be able to see files available in the other folder.

To do this, you have to follow these simple steps –

• Open drive.google.com and log in using your Google credentials.
• Now, create a folder, name it “Collaborators or Team,” and save it. You can name it whatever you want.
• Right-click on the folder and select the Share option.
• Provide email addresses of the people you want to share this folder with.
• From the drop-down menu, select what roles and access you like to assign to that user.
• After that, click on the Gear icon and ensure that the “Editors can change permissions and share option” is disabled.

• Click on the Send button.

That’s it. This folder can only be accessed by you and the people you’ve added in the sharing option. You can follow the steps again to create a folder for your clients and other people. This is the easiest and most practical way to hide a folder in Google Drive.

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2. Using File Version

If you don’t want to create separate folders, you can use the different file version options to hide files from people.

Google Drive comes with a feature that allows you to store multiple versions of a file. This feature lets you create a new version of a file while keeping the old one as it was.

Whenever someone clicks on that file, the latest version of the file will appear. The older version will be preserved as it was, and you can download it too.

However, one of the biggest disadvantages of this technique is that it doesn’t work for Google document files, but if you download those files and upload them, you will be able to control their versions.

To hide files using the file version technique, follow these simple steps –

• Create an empty text file on your computer and name it whatever you want.
• Go to drive.google.com and right-click on the file that you want to hide.
• From the drop-down menu, select the Manage versions option.

• Here, you get the option to upload a new version of the file. Simply upload the file that you created in step one.

• Now, rename this file to anything.

That’s it. You have to hide the older version of the file in Google Drive.

One limitation of this file version feature is that, by default, it keeps the old version of the file for only 30 days. After 30 days, the old file will automatically get deleted.

However, you can keep the old version of the file forever by following these simple steps –

• Open Google Drive and right-click on the file.
• Select the Manage versions option.
• Click on the three-dot icon available for the old file and enable the Keep forever option.

Read How to Remove User from All Files in Google Drive

3. Using a Google Chrome Extension

There are plenty of Google Chrome extensions out there that can help you hide folders in Google Drive. These extensions actually get integrated into Google Drive to allow you to mark folders as private or hide them completely.

One such extension that we got recommended by one of our readers is Hidden Folder for Drive, Cloud USB. The user said that he has been using this extension for over a year, and it works like a charm for him.

After seeing the reviews on Chrome Web Store, I felt that this extension actually works very well.

However, I am skeptical about allowing third-party extensions to access my Google Drive. I have nothing against this extension, and plenty of people are using it, but since it isn’t open-source, I won’t recommend using it from a privacy standpoint.

I mentioned this extension in this article because it is a way to hide folders in Google Drive, and this actually works. If hiding a folder is way more important than getting into the risk of compromising your Google Drive data, you can surely try it.

Closing Comments

There you have it – a detailed article on how to hide a folder in Google Drive.

Google Drive is quite safe and protected, and since only you can access your Google Drive data, there is no need to hide a folder inside it. This is the reason there is no option to hide a folder in Google Drive.

However, if you collaborate with people, you can try the methods mentioned in this article to hide files and folders from them in a shared drive. Even though you can use third-party extensions to hide files and folders in Google Drive, we don’t recommend you do so because nothing is worth more than your privacy.

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