Google Drive Now Lets You Control Who Has Access To Specific Folders Within Your Shared Drives

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Google introduced a new Google Drive feature last year that lets shared drive managers restrict access to certain folders within a shared drive. So far, this feature has been limited to select beta testers, but the company is now expanding availability to all users.

In a recent Workspace Updates blog, the company says that the option to restrict folders to specific users is rolling out in shared drivers and My Drive to all users. It highlights that shared drive managers and My Drive owners can now restrict file and folder access using one of two ways. They can either limit users from accessing individual files or folders by changing the role of that specific user with the “Update item only” option or restrict access to an entire folder by changing its share settings. However, Google plans to remove support for the first method by next year.

Starting February 2026, shared drive managers and My Drive owners will only be able to restrict access to folders by choosing the folder, clicking the overflow menu, selecting its share settings, and clicking the check box next to the “Limit access to …” option. Once a shared drive manager limits access to a folder, users with regular access will see that a restricted folder exists within the shared drive and request access to it. However, folders with restricted access will always be available to managers and folder owners.

The ability to restrict access to files and folders in Google Drive is rolling out to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. If you don’t have it already, it should become available in your shared drives and My Drive over the coming days.

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