How to share documents with users who don't have G Suite

Google is launching a secure visitor mode: secure, PIN-code-based collaboration with people who don't have a Google Account. This means you can share items with non-Google accounts, enabling them to view, comment on or edit content in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Sites using a secure PIN code.

How does it work?

Once the service is turned on in your organisation, your users will be able to share content with visitors in the same way they have shared it with Google users until now. People who don't have Google Accounts receive an e-mail invitation to collaborate on the shared file or folder. The user has 7 days to verify their identity with a PIN in order to collaborate on the shared file or folder. If the user needs to collaborate for longer than 7 days, they can use the original link from their e-mail to verify their identity.

Once verified, visitors can view, comment on, suggest edits to and directly edit files and folders. If a visitor has edit access, they can share the file onward with another Google user.

Visitors cannot create or own files and folders.

Visitors can delete their visitor session.

Visitor accounts can be seen in the sharing dialog, where you can change or revoke their access just as you can for other collaborators.

Visitor sharing was previously available in beta and will replace the current setting in the Admin console that allows users in your organisation to send invitations to share files.

Supported file types

Your users can share the following file types in My Drive and shared drives with non-Google users:

Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Sites

Images such as JPEG

PDF files

Office files

Video

Folders

The new feature will be rolled out according to this timeline:

31 August 2020: A setting to control sharing with people who don't use a Google Account will start to appear in the Admin console. This setting may be on or off by default, depending on your current settings. For more information, see the “Getting started” section below. This setting will not start to take effect for users until 8 September 2020 (for Rapid Release domains) or 28 September 2020 (for Scheduled Release domains).

8 September 2020: Users in Rapid Release domains will be able to use this new feature if their admin allows it.

28 September 2020: Users in Scheduled Release domains will be able to use this new feature if their admin allows it.

Why should you use it?

G Suite customers often collaborate with partners outside their company. These external users, or “visitors”, may not always have Google Accounts, which makes seamless and secure collaboration harder for both G Suite and non-Google users.

This new feature will help ensure smooth and secure collaboration with visitors.

Full collaboration – including comments, edits and more – with anyone you need to work with, regardless of whether they have a Google Account.

Audited visitor access – all interactions are tracked and logged.

The ability to revoke access – collaborators can be removed as needed.

Reduced need to download, e-mail or create separate files in order to work with external users who don't have Google Accounts.

If a visitor decides to create a G Suite account using their e-mail address, their collaboration and activity history is preserved once the account has been created.

Further details

Visitor sharing will not be supported for Cloud Identity users. With this launch, Cloud Identity users will only be able to share with non-Google recipients by sending invitations that let users view the content of files in read-only mode without signing in to a Google Account.

Known issues and limitations

Some sites that use Google sign-in may show a user's visitor session in the account switcher or when they select their picture at the top right of the screen. Unfortunately, visitors cannot use a visitor session to sign in to Google services other than Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Sites.

We have a limit on the total number of visitor sessions that can be created. If we reach our limits, users may see sharing errors.

The visitor feature applies to the web version of Google Drive, including files shared via My Drive and shared drives. The visitor feature will not give users access to documents in downloaded clients, including Drive File Stream or Backup and Sync.

Admins can upgrade a user's visitor session to a G Suite account by creating a G Suite account with the same e-mail address as the visitor session. Upgrading to a G Suite account preserves the visitor session's collaboration history, including comments and document edits.

To upgrade from a visitor session to a Google Account with the same e-mail address, the visitor will first have to delete the visitor session and then create a Google Account.

Visitors cannot do the following:

Upload or create content.

They will not have access to the root folder of a shared drive.

They cannot be added to Google Groups.

Edit sites, although they can be published viewers of a site.

Getting started – Admins:

Sharing outside your organisation with users who don't have Google Accounts will be ON by default if you currently allow users in your organisation to send sharing invitations to people outside your organisation who don't use a Google Account.

Sharing outside your organisation with users who don't have Google Accounts will be OFF by default if you currently don't allow sharing outside your organisation or don't use an allowlist of domains.

For more information on sharing with non-Google accounts, see our Help Center.

Sharing with visitors will be controlled by a new setting at Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs > Sharing settings. See the picture below. The new setting can be controlled at the domain or organisational unit level.

Setting the sharing type A) Allow visitor sharing with trusted domains only

Add domains with non-G Suite accounts to your organisation's list of trusted domains. For more information, see the article Allow users to work with trusted external G Suite domains.

Follow the instructions and restrict sharing outside the allowlisted domains.

Don't forget to select the option Allow users in your organisation to send sharing invitations to people outside your organisation who don't use a Google Account.

B) Allow visitor sharing with anyone

Under Sharing outside your organisation, turn on file sharing.

Select Allow users in your organisation to send sharing invitations to people outside your organisation who don't use a Google Account.

Availability

Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits and G Suite Essentials customers

Not available to G Suite Basic or Cloud Identity customers, or to users with personal accounts.