Password protect files & folders in Google Drive

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Google Drive provides a secure cloud-based platform to keep the user’s content, including photos, files, and folders, which can be further shared with any user or device. The primary requirement of any user is to have such a tool that maintains the confidentiality of their essential data. This can turn into quite a task, especially when the data needs to be shared on a regular basis with various individuals. Without a doubt, Google Drive is a beneficial application that makes all documents easily accessible from anywhere. Despite all these benefits, it does not allow its users to protect individual files with a password. This definitely raises a few eyebrows, and the main question which emerges in your mind is how to protect files in Google Drive?

Measures to ensure the protection of files in Google Drive data

These are a few approaches that will help you in better protection of all private files and folders stored in the drive:

• Set a strong password
  The burden of any tool’s privacy lies in its password. A strong password is the primary preventive measure. These are the things to keep in mind while setting up a strong password for your account:
  1. The length of the password should not be too short.
  2. Use a unique password and avoid using the same one for more than one site or application.
  3. Avoid usage of personal information as passwords.
  4. Workaround with alphabets, numbers, symbols, uppercases, and lowercases.
• Allow two-factor authentication
  Two-factor authentication provides users with an extra level of security. When you allow this, every user needs to provide a password and a verification code to access the Google account. In addition, this will be applicable to all your Google applications.Follow these steps to make the account stronger:
  1. Open your existing Google Account.
  2. From the left panel, select “Security.”
  3. Scroll down to the “Signing in to Google” section and click on “2-step verification”.
     
  4. Click on “Get Started” to further secure your account.
• Decide actions for individuals who have the document link
  Sharing documents is the key feature of Google Drive, which makes work smoother for professionals. It promotes collaboration in the organization. But this same feature also opens doors to potential hackers if they get access to the link of the document. Before straightaway sharing the link, do ensure to make a few changes about the actions that can be taken by individuals who have access to it. The best resort would be to share the file’s link only with trusted colleagues.Follow these steps to decide the actions by individuals:
  1. Open the file and click on the “Share” options.
  2. Under the “Get link” box, select “Change.”
  3. Now, you can choose the actions which the individual can take- Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.
• Use more of Google groups
  If you are working with colleagues, the best option is to use Google Groups. It provides a separate group for individuals who share a common interest or project. It allows better organization since only the people added to this group have access to all the data present in Google Drive.
• Regular checks
  A healthy habit would be to keep a regular check on your device. You can monitor who all have access to which documents and remove the older ones that are no longer in use. This will ensure you stabilize and organize Google Drive in a much better and seamless manner.
• Take Google Drive backup
  Another wise approach is to maintain the backup of all your Google Drive contents. Due to the confidentiality of the data, a professional tool like the Kernel Google Workspace Backup and Restore Tool provides a secure platform for all the documents and folders. It provides methods to fix Some Common G Suite Problems and Solutions necessary for them. These are a few features that make it an ideal choice among the users-
  1. Offers easy way to backup of Google Drive data.
  2. Selective content can also be saved by using few filters like Folder, date, item type, etc.
  3. The in-built CSV file allows users to back up multiple accounts at the same time.
  4. The demo version of the software takes back up 5 documents per Google Drive account.
  5. Due to its simple interface, the process is straightforward and user-friendly.
  6. It can also provide a solution to Google account storage limitation for photos, videos, and emails.
  7. The Kernel Google Workspace Backup and Restore Tool is highly compatible with all versions of the Windows operating system, including the latest Windows 11.

Conclusion

Since Google Drive contains all essential data of a professional, it becomes mandatory to protect these files. But the question comes across- how to protect files in Google Drive data? There is no direct method to do the same. However, setting up a strong password and enabling two-factor authentication can do the needful. Special attention must be there while sharing the link of the files. Another wise approach is to back up the Google Drive files and folders using the this tool.