Google Drive and Dropbox have simplified file sharing and collaboration. Multiple people can edit the same document at the same time, see who edited things recently, and share things on the fly. When someone who has shared a document with you leaves the college, however, it can raise a lot of complicated questions about file ownership and access.
Preparing for Sharing
Groups of people who need to maintain access to files and folders even as the group membership changes have options within both Google Drive and Dropbox. Google’s solution is called “Team Drives” (soon to be called “shared drives”), and Dropbox refers to their version as “Team Folders.” Both of these options allow people to add group members who aren’t at Carleton.
All documents in these Team Drives and Team Folders are owned by Carleton and managed by the group. This means that, even if the person who originally created a document leaves the college, the document remains in the Team Drive or Team Folder and is still available to everyone with whom it had been shared.
For these reasons, it’s a good idea to set up a Google Team Drive or Dropbox Team Folder at the very beginning of a collaborative project. However, if you have a collaboration that’s already in progress, you can transition to one of these team spaces. If your work is in Google Drive, you can create your own Team Drive and move files into it yourself. (If you need to move folders or files owned by people who are no longer at Carleton, contact the ITS Helpdesk and we’ll have a system administrator take care of it for you.) If you’re using Dropbox, ITS will need to create the Team Folder for you, but you’ll be able to move files and folders into it.
Learn More
Google and Dropbox maintain extensive documentation on how to use Team Drives and Team Folders. We’re also offering training sessions on how to set them up and migrate existing information to them. And of course we’re always happy to answer any questions you have at the ITS Helpdesk.