How to Make Files Public on Google Drive

Google Drive allows you to publicly share your files with other people, even those who do not have a Google account. You need to create a public link and send it out to people. You can also control people’s access to that particular file, whether they can only view, comment, or edit it.

This is the major reason people prefer Google Drive over any other cloud storage platform. It is flexible to use for not only Google Drive users but also non-users. The process to make files public takes only a few minutes and the option to further customize those files makes it even more favorable for users all around the globe.

Let us look at all we need to know on how to make files public on Google Drive.

Table of Contents

How to Make Files Public on Google Drive?

Creating a public link for a file or document on your Drive is pretty straightforward. Refer to the steps given below to see how to do it.

Open your laptop or PC and load up your preferred browser.
Head over to the Google Drive website at drive.google.com.
Enter your credentials to access the Drive.
Once you’re logged in, find and select the file you want to make available publicly.
Draw out the contextual menu by right-clicking on the file and clicking the Get link option.

A window will be displayed with the link already generated within it. Click the section below, which reads Restricted, and change it to Anyone with the link.
Now you can copy the link and share it.

How to Make Files Public on Google Drive — Make Files Public on Google Drive

You can also change the access level of the people who access this file by clicking on the box beside the Anyone with the link option. You can switch between viewer, commenter, and editor modes.

The viewer option only lets people view the document. They won’t be able to make any changes; the commenter allows people to write comments and suggestions for the file but does not permit them to make any changes.

The Editor option gives full privileges, allowing other people to modify, view, and comment on the file.

Read How To Password Protect Google Drive Folder

How to Publish a File On Google Drive

If you want more than a hundred people to have access to your file, you can choose to publish it on the web.

When you publish a file, it is made available to everybody on the web, so make sure you do not put any private information in the file or document.

Open your laptop or PC and load up your preferred browser.
Head over to the Google Drive website at drive.google.com.
Enter your credentials to access the Drive.
Once you’re logged in, choose any Docs, Sheets, or Slides file and open it.
After you’ve opened the document, click on File on the webpage.
Select Share from the menu and choose to Publish to the web.

How to Publish a File On Google Drive — How to make google drive files public

Choose between a link or an embedded link and click on Publish.

Now, you can copy the URL provided and share it with anyone you want or use the embedded link on your website.

Google Drive allows you to publish and host files on the web without the need to purchase a domain.

Furthermore, you can edit the document without changing anything on the public website and choose when you want to make the updates available to the public.

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How to Disable Automatic Republishing of a Published File on Google Drive

By default, when you publish a document to the web, it’s set to republish the changes on the website as soon as they are made to the original document. Refer to the steps given below to learn how to prevent that.

Open your laptop or PC and load up your preferred browser.
Head over to the Google Drive website at drive.google.com.
Enter your credentials to access the Drive.
Once you’re logged in, click on the File you want to choose.
Open the document and click on File on the webpage.
Select Share from the menu and click on Publish to the web.
Click on the Published content & settings section.
Uncheck the box that reads Automatically republish when changes are made.

Can a Google Drive folder be made public

Now you can manually choose when you want to make the changes available to the public. Simply go back to the Publish to the web window from File and click on the Published content & settings section.

You will see a button that reads Start publishing; click on that whenever you want to republish the changes to your site.

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How to Disable Publishing on Google Drive?

If you want to halt publishing a certain document, you can do so very quickly. This will stop that file from being available to the general public and only a limited number of people will have access to it.

This way your file will be protected as well. The process is identical to when you have to publish a document.

Open your laptop or PC and load up your preferred browser.
Head over to the Google Drive website at drive.google.com.
Enter your credentials to access the Drive.
Once you’re logged in, open the file whose publishing you want to stop.
Click on File and select Share from the menu, and click on Publish to the web.
Select Published content & settings.
If the document has already been published, you will see an option that says Stop publishing. Click on that, and the document will halt publishing on the web.

Read How to Clear Recent in Google Drive

Conclusion

That’s it, folks; now you know how to make files public on Google Drive and the various methods to share them with lots of people. Make sure you follow the steps mentioned in the methods above so that you are not stuck anywhere.

Google Drive does encounter bugs and errors a lot so make sure you carefully share and make any changes to the files. All these errors can be fixed by following the simple methods of starting over, updating the browser, apps, etc.

If you are still unable to follow the steps above and make your files public, you can try contacting the customer support team via Google and leave your question or query.

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Shirley

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