Many people praise Google Docs for its versatility and the invaluable option to share a document with specific people, but those sharing options, and how they are used, can open the door for some huge breaches of privacy. It’s frighteningly difficult at times to use the internet in a professional capacity and avoid relying on Google’s services, but there are ways to make use of those tools and protect personal data simultaneously.
Google’s suite of features is useful to just about anyone with access to the internet. The company supports a treasure trove of free programs for all lines of work, such as Gmail, Google Sheets, Google Drive, Google Maps, and of course Google Docs. All of these tools provide impressive sharing options allowing users to share data and collaborate on projects, and some are even fun to use.
Unfortunately taking advantage of these sharing options also produces the biggest risks. In Google Docs, the easiest method of sharing links is to turn on link sharing to produce a unique URL for the document and send that link to a colleague. While the direct action of sending a link person to person is relatively safe, if that document has any links that go out to other websites, clicking those links sends the previous URL (the one that was privately created to share the document itself) to the new site’s directory. It’s not an inherently nefarious practice – it’s just a little-known part of how the internet functions.
How to Maintain Privacy When Sending Google Docs
One of the easiest and most effective ways to securely share a Google Doc is to share it with specific people. There are a few ways to accomplish this. The fastest way is to keep link sharing turned off, and instead select “Specific People” in the link sharing options. This requires that the other party logs into a Google account, but if the job means sending sensitive information in a document, it’s likely worth the extra step. If the file includes links and the user clicks those, the URL will still tell other websites where the user was when they clicked the link, however, it won’t allow those sites to read the document itself since the link sharing options have been set to limit access to only the specific people chosen.
Another option is to make use of Google Groups. This route also requires everyone involved to log in with a Google account, but in exchange, it creates a list of people to whom anything can be exclusively shared. This is a great option if the job requires frequently sharing documents with a large group of people. Each Group will have its own associated “@googlegroups” email address, so instead of inserting a specific person’s email address when choosing where to share a Doc, just use the Group email. It’s a good idea to keep track of the group’s members to maintain awareness of who has access to the shared files, and it’s easy to remove people who are no longer part of the project.
Ultimately, as is typically the case when communicating online, being mindful of privacy settings when sharing information is key. With smart use of link sharing, Google Docs can be both secure and safe.
