How to create a shared Google Doc and control who can edit it
A Google Doc can be shared with as many people as you like, and each of them can be given a different level of access — read it, comment on it, or change it. This guide creates a new document, shares it with named people, sets what each person can do, and shows how to take that access away later. It covers the desktop browser version.
What you'll need: A Google Account (a Gmail address counts). A desktop or laptop browser. The email address of each person you want to share with.
Open Google Docs
Go to docs.google.com and sign in if you aren't already.
Create a blank document
Under Start a new document at the top of the page, click the Blank document tile — the one with the large coloured + on it. A new, empty document opens in the same tab.
Give the document a name
Click where it says Untitled document in the top-left corner, type a name, then press Enter. Do this before sharing — the name is what the other people see in their email and in their own Drive.
Open the sharing settings
Click the Share button in the top-right corner of the page. A box opens with the document's name in its title.
Check the general access setting
Look at the General access section near the bottom of the box. It should read Restricted, which means only the people you name in the next step can open the document. If it says Anyone with the link, click that and change it back to Restricted.
Add the people you're sharing with
Click in the box at the top labelled Add people, groups, and calendar events and type the first person's email address. Press Enter to confirm it, and it turns into a small chip with their name or address on it. Repeat for anyone else.
Choose what they can do
To the right of the address box is a dropdown that reads Editor by default. Click it and pick one of three levels:
Viewer — they can read the document, but can't change it or add comments.
Commenter — they can read it and leave comments and suggestions, but can't change the text itself.
Editor — they can change anything, and unless you switch that off (see Variations), they can share the document with other people too.
Send the invitation
Leave Notify people ticked so each person gets an email with a link to the document. You can type a short note in the Message box if you want to explain what it is. Click Send.
The box closes and the document is now shared. If you click Share again, each person is listed under People with access with their level shown next to their name.
Variations
Click Share, find the person under People with access, and click the dropdown next to their name. Pick a different level to change what they can do, or click Remove access to take the document away from them altogether. Click Save if the box asks you to. The change takes effect the next time their copy of the page refreshes — if they had it open, they're shown a message that they no longer have access.
By default, anyone you make an Editor can add other people themselves. To keep that control for yourself, click Share, then click the gear icon (⚙️) in the top-right corner of the box. Untick Editors can change permissions and share. In the same place you can untick Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy, which removes those options from their menus.
If you'd rather post a link in a group chat than type out every address, click Share, then under General access change Restricted to Anyone with the link. A second dropdown appears next to it where you set the level for the link — Viewer, Commenter or Editor. Click Copy link and paste it wherever you like. Bear in mind that "anyone" means exactly that: the link can be forwarded, and whoever ends up with it gets the access you chose.
Troubleshooting
That message means the account they're signed into isn't one you shared with. The usual cause is that they have more than one Google Account — a personal one and a work one, say — and opened the link while signed into the wrong one. Ask which address they sign in with, then add that one using steps 4 to 8. You'll also get an email from Google when someone requests access, with an approve link in it that does the same thing.
You can only share a document you own, or one where the owner has made you an Editor and left "Editors can change permissions and share" switched on. If someone else shared the document with you as a Viewer or Commenter, you can't pass it on — ask the owner to share it with the other person directly.
On a work or school account (Google Workspace), the administrator can block sharing with addresses outside the organisation, or limit the "Anyone with the link" option. If you get a warning when you add an outside address, or the option you want is greyed out, that restriction is the cause and only the administrator can change it.
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