Sharing Audit

This guide walks through auditing your file sharing and cleaning up stale or unwanted permissions.

Quick Audit: Who Has Access?

Step 1: Open the Sharing Panel

Open the Sharing Panel from the panel selector. The All tab shows every person who has any sharing relationship with your files, each with a file count.

Step 2: Browse the List

Scroll through or search for specific people. The list includes anyone who can view, edit, or comment on your files — and anyone whose files you have access to.

Step 3: Drill Down

Click a person's file count to filter the file table to files involving that person. Expand their card to see a role breakdown (owner, editor, viewer, commenter).

Find Public Files

Apply this filter to find files accessible to anyone with the link:

shared_with:equals:public

Review the results and decide which files should remain public. To restrict access:

1. Select the files
2. Click Sharing → Make Restricted (keeps direct permissions, removes link access) or Make Private (removes all sharing)

Clean Up Sharing with a Specific Person

When someone leaves your team or you want to stop sharing with them:

1. Open the Sharing Panel → My Shares tab
2. Find the person
3. Click their file count to filter
4. Select All Matching (or select specific files)
5. Click Sharing → Remove User
6. Select the person's email from the dropdown
7. Start the operation

Find Files Shared Outside Your Organization

For Google Workspace users, combine the Sharing Panel with filters to identify external sharing:

1. Open the Sharing Panel and scan for email addresses outside your domain
2. Click those people to filter to the relevant files
3. Review and adjust permissions as needed

Generate a Sharing Report

For a comprehensive report, use a script:

let shared_files = files(filter("is_shared:equals:true"), sort_order("name asc"));

let table = report_table_new();
report_table_title(table, "Shared Files Report");
report_table_column(table, "File");
report_table_column(table, "Owned by Me");
report_table_column(table, "Type");

for f in shared_files {
    report_table_add_row(table, [f.name, f.owned_by_me.to_string(), f.mime_type]);
}

report_set_table(table);
log("Total shared files: " + shared_files.len().to_string());

See Audit Scripts for more detailed script examples.

Learn More

• Sharing Panel — Visual sharing overview
• Custom Filters — Targeted audit queries
• Sharing & Permissions — Change permissions in bulk
• Auditing Overview — All audit tools