Troubleshoot issues with shared drives

Shared drives are a way to share related files and folders with a group or team in Google Drive. If you’re having problems with shared drives, try the solutions in this article. If you're an administrator, learn how to help users with shared drives in Troubleshoot shared drives for your users.

On this page

Issues creating or managing shared drives

• Can't create a shared drive
• Can't add a member to a shared drive
• Can't change shared drive sharing settings
• Can't delete a shared drive

Issues sharing or working with files and folders

• Can't share a file or folder in a shared drive
• Can't edit a file in a shared drive
• Can't make a form in a shared drive accept an upload

Issues moving files and folders

• Can't move a file to a shared drive
• Can't move a folder from My Drive to a shared drive
• Can't upload or move a file into a shared drive that exceeds available space

Issues creating or managing shared drives

Can’t create a shared drive

• If you don’t have the option to create a shared drive, your organization might not let you. If you think you should be able to, contact your administrator.
• If you can click New and start creating a shared drive, but it’s taking a while to create, your organization might have security policies that take some time to process. You get an email when the shared drive is ready.

Can’t add a member to a shared drive

1. Confirm that you have Manager access to the shared drive:

   1. Right-click the shared drive and click View members.
   2. Your name is listed at the top with your access level.
   3. If you don’t have Manager access and think you should, ask someone who has manager access to update your access.
2. Confirm that the person has a Google Account associated with their email address. If they don’t, they can create a Google Account with their existing email.
3. If you just created the shared drive, wait for a few minutes then try again. It can take some time for security policies to be processed for new shared drives.
4. If the person is external to your organization, you might not be allowed to add them as members to shared drives. To find out, contact your administrator.
5. Review the membership list for the shared drive (right-click the shared drive and click View members) and make sure that it doesn’t exceed shared drive membership limits.

Can’t change shared drive sharing settings

1. Confirm that you have Manager access to the shared drive:

   1. Right-click the shared drive and click View members.
   2. Your name is listed at the top with your access level.
   3. If you don’t have Manager access and think you should, ask someone who has manager access to update your access.
2. Your administrator might not allow shared drive managers to change sharing settings. To find out, and ask to have the sharing settings updated for a shared drive, contact your administrator.

Can’t delete a shared drive

1. Confirm that the shared drive is empty. If it isn’t, you must delete the contents before you can delete the shared drive.
2. [snippet] Confirm that you have Manager access to the shared drive:
   1. Right-click the shared drive and click View members.
   2. Your name is listed at the top with your access level.
   3. If you don’t have Manager access and think you should, ask someone who has manager access to update your access.

If you’re not a manager and want to delete the shared drive and all its contents, ask your administrator to delete the shared drive.

Issues sharing or working with files and folders in shared drives

Can’t share a file or folder in a shared drive

1. Confirm that you have Contributor, Content manager, or Manager access to the shared drive:

   1. Right-click the shared drive and click View members.
   2. Your name is listed at the top with your access level.
2. Review the sharing settings for the shared drive:
   1. Right-click the shared drive and click Shared drive settings.
   2. If the first box is unchecked, you can’t share with people outside your organization.
   3. If the second box is unchecked, you can’t share with non-members. If you try, you see this error: "This shared drive's settings prevent sharing with non-members." If you think you should be able to share with people outside your organization or non-members, contact one of the shared drive's managers.
3. If you just created the shared drive, wait for a few minutes then try again. It can take some time for security policies to be processed for new shared drives.
4. To share a folder, make sure the person has a Google Account associated with their email address.
5. Your administrator might not allow you to share with certain people. For details, ask your administrator.

Can’t edit a file in a shared drive

Note: If you’re using Drive for desktop and the Files app on ChromeOS, you need Content manager or Manager access to edit shared drive files locally.

Can’t make a form in a shared drive accept an upload

If you put a form created with Google Forms in a shared drive, the form can’t accept uploads. This is a known issue.

Issues moving files or folders into or out of shared drives

Can’t move a file to a shared drive

1. Confirm that you have Contributor, Content manager, or Manager access to the shared drive:

   1. Right-click the shared drive and click View members.
   2. Your name is listed at the top with your access level.
2. Confirm that the file owner is in your organization. You can’t add files owned by people in other organizations. To add a file owned by another organization, someone from that organization with Manager access must move the file into the shared drive.
3. If you just created the shared drive, wait for a few minutes then try again. It can take some time for security policies to be processed for new shared drives.

Can’t move a folder from My Drive to a shared drive

1. You can’t move a folder if it has too many unmovable files (25 files or 10% of items, whichever is smaller). Try moving files individually or ask your administrator to move the folder for you.
2. You can’t move a folder if the move involves more than 100,000 items. Try moving files in smaller batches.
3. If you’re in Google Drive for desktop on your computer, try again at drive.google.com. Folder moves aren’t supported in Drive for desktop.
4. If you try to move a folder and get an error, your move might exceed shared drive limits. Determine which files and folders need to be in the shared drive and move only those.

Can’t upload or move a file into a shared drive that exceeds available space

If you see an error message “Item can’t be uploaded” or “Item can’t be copied”:

• If you’re a Manager or Content manager of the shared drive, move or delete content from the shared drive.
• If you’re a Contributor or Viewer, ask a Content manager or Manager to move or delete content from the shared drive.