- Sharing Folders versus Shared Drives
- Sharing with External Non-Google Users
- Create a Google Account Using an existing email address (Non-Google Email Address)
Sharing Folders versus Shared Drives
The long and short of it, when sharing folders, any files created are owned by the user who created them, versus Shared Drives which retain ownership of the files. This is important if users come and go, you don’t have to track them down to change ownership on the files they created, Shared Drives will own all files.
What can you do with shared drives?
Sharing with External Non-Google Users
If you’re sharing a folder or Shared Drive, you can add users with a valid @gmail.com or Google Workspace account outside your own Google Workspace account. Since these are both considered “Google Accounts”
For external non-google users, unfortunately, they will not be able to access files/folders/Shared Drives. However, these users can sign up for a Google Account using their existing non-Google email address. Full instructions are available at Create a Google Account – Use an existing email address
Create a Google Account Using an existing email address (Non-Google Email Address)
Visit the following KB article on this topic.