Google Drive Update Adds Disable Feature To Sharing

Google Drive has been updated with additional features that give users optional control over how shared content is used by the recipient. In particular, the update introduces an option that disables one's ability to print, download, and copy content that has been shared with them by another Google Drive user. While many users likely won't care either way, those with more sensitive content like businesses will be able to use Drive for sharing content while limiting the other person's control over it.

Google announced the new feature today, saying that via Information Rights Management, Google Drive users are able to disable a recipient's ability to "download, print, and copy" content sent to them. This limitation is simple to apply — there's a single checkbox that will disable those features.

The new feature can be applied to any files that are stored within Google Drive, whether it's a presentation, spreadsheets, or documents. The checkbox can be found by clicking "Advanced" under the sharing dialogue for a file.

The feature appears as shown in the screenshot above. Only the file owner has access to this feature; in addition, it is not available to mobile users. If someone attempts to perform one of the actions with a protected file, they see a note reading "Export options disabled..."

SOURCE: Google Blogspot