The main aspect of Google Docs is its capability to share documents, and you can able to edit those Google Docs documents together collaboratively in real life across the globe with zero hassle. The collaborators of your Google Docs document can comment, view, and make changes to the Google Docs document, but it all depends upon the permissions you provide to them. So what if you want to make your collaborators only view your Google Docs document? It’s pretty simple! You can make Google Docs view only mode with just a click.
Let’s go through some of the sharing options of Google Docs for restricting collaborators to Google Docs view only and controlling document permissions.
Table Of Contents
- Google Docs public sharing
- How to make Google Docs view only?
- How to Share Documents in Google Docs?
- Google Docs view only link
- Share with people settings
- How to make Google Docs view only using Google Drive?
- How do I turn off editing in Google Docs?
- What is editing mode in Google Docs?
- How to give permission to edit google docs?
Google Docs public sharing
The public sharing option of Google Docs makes it possible to display your Google Docs document on the Web to view publically. When you choose the settings, to view, comment, or edit based on that, the visitors can act on that.
You can select this Google Docs public sharing option to share generic Google Docs documents for public viewing. You need to access the Sharing Settings of the Google Docs document in order to enable the public sharing option.
How to make Google Docs view only?
Google Docs view only is controlled by Visibility Options. By default, the Google Docs documents that are present in Google Drive are private. It is also possible to make your documents visible to certain collaborators, anyone having the link to the document or even public on the web.
- You can see “Private to only me” pop-over showing that your current Google Docs document is private by default when you mouse hover over the blue colored “Share” button that is present at the top right corner of your Google Docs document.
- When you click the “Share” button, “Share with people and groups” screen appears.
You can type the names of people or even you can type their email addresses too to share your Google Docs document.
Google Docs view only link
- You can choose “Anyone with link” from the Visibility options to provide access to a large group of specific people.
- On the “Share with people and groups” window, you can able to turn on the link visibility options. Any person, who is having a link to your document can able to access it once you turned on the link visibility option. It is restricted to “only people added can open with this link” by default in Google Docs.
- To turn on the Link Sharing option, click on the inverted triangle “dropdown” icon next to the restricted option. Click on “Anyone with link”.
- By selecting this option, it is clear that anyone on the internet with this link can view it. You can see that the “Viewer” option is selected by default. This default option ensures to change Editing access to view only so that anyone can only view your Google Docs document.
- You can change the settings of viewers, editors, and commenters by using “Share with people settings” window.
- On the “Share with people and groups” window, you will see a “settings icon” that is present at the right corner, click on that “settings icon”.
- “Share with people settings” screen appears that allows you to change people sharing settings. The two options are
- Editors can change permissions and share
- Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy
- These two options are checked by default. To make Google Docs view only, you will have to check out these two options.
- This is how it restricts your editors from changing permissions and share. And the viewers and commenters can’t able to see the option to download, print and copy. This ensures to make Google Docs view only.
How to make Google Docs view only using Google Drive?
Google Drive is the boon for collaborators to share and modify google Docs documents with other users. If you share a Google Docs view-only file, you can also restrict users to make a copy, download it locally, or print it out. You can also prevent other editors to add other people without your knowledge.
But what if you want to do make Google Docs view only to a bunch of Google Docs files?
You can make Google Docs view only for a bulk of Google Docs documents right from Google drive without opening your Google Docs.
- All you have to do is open your Google Drive and add all your Google Docs files in a folder.
- To do this Click New > Folder
- Name your folder and insert your Google Docs files.
- Now Double click on your folder
- Click on the drop-down arrow present next to the folder name.
- Click on the “Get sharable link” option. This will open up the “share with people and groups” screen.
- Click on the inverted triangle “dropdown” icon that is present next to the restricted option inorder to turn on or enable the Link Sharing option.
- Then you need to click on “Anyone with link” option and you will find the default option is “Viewer”.
- This is the default option makes sure that anyone can only view your Google Docs document.
This is how to make a Google Doc View Only and protect a Google Doc from editing.
How do I turn off editing in Google Docs?
Before going to learn how to turn off editing in Google Docs, lets first learn what is editing mode in Google Docs.
What is editing mode in Google Docs?
There are three modes of editing on Google Docs:
- Viewing Mode — Viewing mode only lets you use for reading purposes and printing documents.
- Editing mode — Editing mode allows you to edit documents directly.
- Suggesting Mode — Any edits that you make in this mode show up as suggestions to simply track your changes.
How to give permission to edit google docs?
- The editing option allows other individuals to edit the Google Docs document in real-time.
- You can give permission to edit Google Docs using the “Share with people and groups” screen.
- To give permission to edit Google Docs, click on the inverted triangle “dropdown” icon next to the restricted option. Click on “Anyone with link”.
- This option says that anyone on the internet with this link can view it. You can change this default option to give permission to edit Google Docs. Click on the third option “Editor”.
- This changes a Google Docs document from view only to edit mode.
- If you will select the Viewer option, then the user can view it for reading purposes, and this way you can disable editing in Google Docs.
And that’s it! You can now make Google Docs view only mode using the above-mentioned methods with ease in no time and protect a Google Doc from editing.