As we wrap up spring term, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) wants to encourage you to do a little digital spring cleaning. Today, we're focusing on one of the sharing options in Google Drive: "Anyone with the link" sharing.
The Convenience (and Risk) of Public Links
Google Drive makes collaborating incredibly easy. When you need to quickly share a document with a large group of people, changing the access to "Anyone with the link" can feel like the fastest solution. This is a fantastic feature for sharing public-facing resources, event flyers, or general informational guides.
However, over time, it’s easy to accumulate dozens (or even hundreds!) of files with this setting turned on. Sometimes we use it for convenience on internal documents, forgetting to turn it off once the project is over.
Why does this matter? It's important to be highly intentional when using this type of sharing. When a file is set to "Anyone with the link," it means exactly that: anyone who stumbles upon, guesses, or is forwarded that link can access (and sometimes edit) your document. If the document contains sensitive university information, personal data, or confidential department drafts, this poses a significant risk to data privacy and security.
What to Look For
How do you know if a file is currently shared with the public? When you are working inside a Google Doc, Sheet, or Slide, reference the Share button in the top right corner.
If there is a globe icon on your Share button, it means the document can be accessed by anyone who has the link!
OIT is also implementing a special label/tag called “Public Link” that will show up on newer Google Drive files that are shared to anyone with the link. This label may take several hours to update, so don’t worry if it doesn’t disappear immediately after you change sharing settings.
Invitation to Tidy Up Link Sharing
Ready to tidy up your digital workspace? You don't have to hunt through your folders one by one to find these files. We have a shortcut for you!
Select the links below. The first will automatically open your Google Drive and run a customized search that displays every file you own that is currently shared to "Anyone with the link". The second link will display more Google Drive content that you have access to, including items in Shared Drives.
👉 Find files you own in Google My Drive that have been shared via a public link
👉 Find files in Shared Drives and My Drive that have been shared with a public link
What to do next:
- Navigate through the list of results.
- If you find a file that should no longer be public, right-click the file and select Share.
- Under "General access," select the dropdown menu that says "Anyone with the link" and change it to Restricted (only people you specifically add can open it) or Portland State University (only logged-in PSU community members can open it).
- If you can’t change the permissions, contact the owner, or reach out to OIT’s information security team at help-security@pdx.edu for assistance.
- Select Done.
Other Quick Tips for Good Data Hygiene
- Default to Restricted: When starting a new document, keep it restricted and only add the specific email addresses of the people who need to collaborate with you.
- Use Shared Drives: For departmental work, use Google Shared Drives. If someone who owns a document in their My Drive folder leaves PSU, that content may be deleted in the future.
- Regular Reviews: Make it a habit to occasionally use the links above to review your files to make sure nothing has slipped through the cracks and is inappropriately shared to anyone with the link.