Team Drives is a shared space where teams can easily store, search, and access their files anywhere, from any device.

Unlike files in My Drive, files in a Team Drive belong to the team instead of an individual. Even if members leave, the files stay exactly where they are so your team can continue to share information and get work done.

Not sure whether to use My Drive or Team Drives? Ask yourself these questions:

Are the files of interest to most or all members of a particular project team?
Do the files share a consistent theme?

If you answered "yes" to both questions, creating a new Team Drive is a good idea. If the files are for a variety of projects, create multiple Team Drives.

For tips on getting started with Team Drives, please see the Google Learning Center for Team Drives.

What's the difference between My Drive and Team Drives?

My Drive is best for storing personal files or files that you want to share one-on-one. Team Drives is best to use with a group of collaborators who are working on the same files. Team Drive members can easily store, search, and access their files anywhere, from any device.

For more details about sharing, see Best practices for Team Drives.

Some key differences between My Drive and Team Drives are:

Who can add files? The person who owns My Drive. Any member with Contributor access or higher.
What types of files can I add? All file types. All file types (except Google Maps).
Who owns files and folders? The individual who created the file or folder. The team.
Can I move files and folders? Yes, you can move files and folders around in My Drive.
  • If you have Contributoraccess or higher, you can move files from My Drive to a Team Drive.
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  • If you have Content manageraccess or higher, you can move files and folders within a Team Drive.
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  • If you have Manager access, you can move files out of a Team Drive or between Team Drives.
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  • If you want to move foldersfrom My Drive to Team Drives, contact your G Suite admin.

For details on adding files to a Team Drive, see Get started with Team Drives.
Can I sync files to my computer? Yes, using Drive File Stream or Backup and Sync.

It depends on which sync solution you use:

  • Drive File Stream: Yes
    Backup and Sync: No
How does sharing work? Different users might see different files in a folder, depending on their access to individual files.

All members of the Team Drive see all files.
How long do files I delete stay in Trash? Files or folders in Trash remain there until the user selects Delete Forever.
  • Each Team Drive has its own Trash.
    Members with Content manager access and above can move files to Trash.
    Files and folders in Trash are deleted forever after 30 days.
    Members with Manager access can permanently delete files before 30 days.
Can I restore files? Yes, if you’re an owner of the file.

Yes, if you have at least Contributor access.

1 .Create a new Team Drive.

 

 

2. Add members to a Team Drive.

 

 

3. Add files or folders to a Team Drive.

 

4. Change access levels for members.

 

Permissions