Google drive sharing for others to upload. not cooperating

toddpotter · 2013-10-10T14:31:53.000Z

Ok, so I go to google drive and pick the folder I want to share, check it, choose “share” and then I’m to select who has access. for visibility I choose “anyone with the link”, “can edit” “no login required”.

(see screen shot attached)

so why is it when I send the link to someone they cannot add files to it?

I’m just trying to create a folder in google drive that a few people can upload some event pictures to.

ross · 2013-10-10T14:39:11.000Z

Helpful Hint: There’s no attached screenshot =]

toddpotter · 2013-10-10T14:48:58.000Z

doh!

chrisdsr · 2013-10-10T15:18:54.000Z

Because ‘that’s not how it works’, essentially because your use case isn’t something Google has taken into account.

Files in Google Drive are owned by the creator (i.e. uploader) so in order to create someone needs an account. It doesn’t need to be a Gmail account, they can add Google stuff to their existing email address.

Also, you won’t be able to take ownership of it unless you make a copy and reupload the files as you (most easily done with the sync client). The main reason you’d want to take ownership is if they run out of space and you don’t want to have them pay for more. (You can transfer ownership of files within the same Google Apps domain, but not for free accounts or between Google Apps domains.)

Now that said… giving ‘anyone’ edit access to a whole folder is probably not the safest option out there, although you are using the security by obscuity of ‘anyone with the link’.

If it’s just ‘a few’ people then walking them through getting set up to have Google Drive accounts shouldn’t be too much hassle. Or you can just create a free Google account for them to use.

toddpotter · 2013-10-10T16:21:52.000Z

Yes, the impression I had gotten via google search and reading elsewhere was basically “they must have a google account”. And I get that, I’ve had ftp sites with upload folders open to public before so I’m well aware of the abuse that can occur.

It just seems strange as you can see in the screenshot that google specifically states

"Access: Anyone (no sign in required) “Can Edit”.

Is there a dropdown selection for “NSA access only”?