We all know Google Drive allows you to upload, download, and share files with users all around the globe. You can simply choose to make necessary changes to its Sharing settings based on who should be given access and who shouldn’t be.
Whether it be adding someone to the document or removing the sharing link for that user, you can do it all. It is super easy and hardly takes any time. So, we did prepare a guide that will you to remove Google Drive sharing the link.
We came across multiple forums, customer support queries, and much more where people were confused about how can they stop sharing the google drive files with other users.
Some of these files are made public for a purpose but users no longer wish to keep them in that manner. Hence, you need to remove Google Drive sharing link for the same.
Here is all you need to know about how you can choose to do it.
Read How to Open Unsupported Files on Google Drive
How to Remove Google Drive Sharing Link
You can choose among multiple methods to remove Google Drive sharing the link. Now, if you have made your file public where anyone with the link makes changes to it, the process for that is different.
Similarly, to remove any user with whom you have shared the file, you can try that as well. Here is what you can do.
1. Remove the Sharing Link for a Person
Now, you can start by simply removing the person from the document you have shared with. Here is how you should proceed.
- Open Google Drive and log in to your account.
- Now, choose the document you wish to remove the person from.
- Make a right-click and select Share.
- Here, select the person you want to remove and bring them to the drop-down menu.
- Select the option Remove from the list
As soon as you make the selection, that person will be removed from the document and will no longer be able to access it or the shareable link.
Read Google Drive Shared Folder Space
2. Remove Public Sharing Link
You can also restrict the sharing link by following similar steps mentioned above. Here it goes. This will ensure that you have removed the public sharing link that anyone can access the file based on your changes. Let us see how we can make these changes.
- Open Google Drive and log in to your account
- Now, select the file you wish to remove the link for.
- Make a right-click and select Share.
- Click on Anyone with the Link and choose Restricted.
- Tap on Done to save the changes
Your file is now restricted and no one can share it with the link they already had or were provided with. Unless you make the link shareable again no one can have access to it.
Read How to Share a Folder On Google Drive
How to Prevent Others from Sharing your Shared Files
Google Drive also allows you to stop other users such as the editors of a particular file from sharing the link with other people. They cannot change any permission with respect to all the sharing changes made by the owner.
- Make a right-click on the file.
- Now, choose Share and open sharing settings.
- Click on the Settings or Gear icon on the top-right corner of the tab.
- Uncheck the box beside “Editors can change permissions and share”
Once done you can now head back. Test out this method by yourself just to be sure. We have tried it and it works perfectly well.
Read How to Share Google Drive links on WhatsApp
How to Remove Google Drive Sharing Link on Android
You can follow the same number of steps as done on a desktop app. Well, the same steps you will find on your iPhone as well so make sure you understand what needs to be done. Here are all the steps listed below.
1. Remove a Person
Similarly, what we did for the web version, the same number of steps we will be doing for our smartphone as well. Here is how you can do it.
- Open the Google Drive app on your Phone.
- Click on the three dots beside the document
- Now, select Share and click on it.
- On the bottom, tap on the profile icon.
- Choose the person you want to remove and tap on the drop-down icon.
- Click on Remove.
That person will be removed immediately from that doc and will no longer be able to share the file with anyone or make any changes to it.
Read How to recover deleted shared files on Google Drive?
2. Remove Sharing Link
You can do the same to remove the sharing link from your document.
- Open the Google Drive app.
- Choose the document you want to make changes to.
- Now, click on the three dots and choose Share.
- You can now click on the drop-down icon beside Anyone with the Link.
- Here, you can make it Restricted.
As soon as you tap on the option all the content on the file will now be restricted. No one can view the file through the link they already have.
With all these methods, you can do it likewise on your iOS devices as well and ensure that the sharing link is removed from the document. You can do it for as many files as you want.
Read How To Share Google Drive Folders With Non-Gmail Users
Conclusion
Here we are with everything you need to know on how to remove sharing link Google Drive. By sharing link we mean the link that has been created either to share it with everyone or simply the people you have chosen to add to your list.
You can undo your acton the same way you shared it with people. The steps and the process are the same making it less complicated. However, you might come across a few errors while doing this. Few users have reported such errors, if you also encounter this, you can try out different methods to fix it and then proceed with the same.
Furthermore, Google Drive does not allow the same functions to restrict the permission of an editor as we did on our web app. Hence you will have to make those changes through your laptop or PC itself.
You may like the following Google Drive articles:
- How to Copy a Shared Folder in Google Drive
- How to Unshare a Folder in Google Drive
- Remove Password from PDF Google Drive
- How to Remove Shared Files from Google Drive
- How to Share Videos on Google Drive
Hello, my name is Shirley. I’m a Google Drive expert and have been working with the platform since it launched. I’ve written extensively about Google Drive tips and tricks, and have created numerous tutorials on how to get the most out of the platform. I also enjoy creating tutorials to help people learn how to use Drive like pros. Read more