Google Workspace - external sharing

[Koldov]

TL;DR - I don't use Google Workspace admin very much... to save me from endless internet research which I don't have time for today... is there a quick and simple way to allow users in a specific OU to share documents with an external group of 'personal' users (but hopefully using their single named domain @ Anotherschool.co.uk) - iirc all external sharing is currently denied.

 

A while ago our Headteacher decided he would like to use Google calendar for the school's internal calendar.

 

On his own (without any input from I.T. obviously) he decided he would create all the teachers a 'personal' Google account and add them to his calendar.

 

He also decided in his wisdom that he would create these 'personal' Google accounts using the email address we currently use for our email... which is O365 and comes from a 3rd party provider and uses a domain that we don't own...

 

To add to this confusion when lockdown happened (after school was closed and I was sent home) it was requested that I create a Google Classroom for the whole school... (yeah right) followed up with an email the next day asking if I had done it yet and what was taking so long...

 

Anyway, I obtained a new Domain, created a basic education GSuite, added the teachers and SLT, got the children added, tried to set-up rules for sharing, security, apps and everything else...

 

Now this was nearly 3 years ago and after lockdown it was pretty rarely ever used again and hasn't been looked at since it was originally set up.

 

However, even after trying to persuade them otherwise SLT still use the 'personal' Google accounts the Head created, but it causes issues with Google calendar and those trying to access things that the SLT try to share with those who don't have the 'personal' google accounts and I try to steer everyone into using the School Google Workspace accounts, for many reasons (security, audit, no adds in Google search, YouTube restrictions etc.) and so they don't have to open two browsers or switch accounts to use Google Classroom...

 

Now I am being asked to find a way to allow SLT to share documents from the 'personal' Google accounts SLT use, with those who use the school's Google Workspace and I also had a very confused TA come and ask what she should do about the link she had been sent from the Head about adding herself to the calendar... obviously the email was sent to her O365 email account and she isn't signed into Google with the corresponding Google account as she is signed into the school's Google Workspace account!

 

I'm not explaining it well, but honestly it's just a mess... and confusing for those who don't use computers much.

Edited December 7, 2022 by Koldov

[Ratcliffepg]

Hi

 

You cannot allow external sharing for certain users it is all or nothing.... , I feel your pain with this mess... !

[jthompson]

Google Admin > Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Sharing settings.

 

Select the relevant OU and adjust the settings as required.

 

Edit

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As an alternaive to applying this setting per OU, you can also set it for Groups. That will give you more fine-grained control of who can share externally.

Edited December 7, 2022 by jthompson

[jthompson]

If you're needing the external accounts to be able to contribute to shared drives in your Workspace domain, the shared drives will need to be in an OU with the equivalent settings being applied to it as well. Best to be selective about which shared drives are available externally in this way (create an OU for the purpose and move only the required shared drives into that OU, leaving all the other shared drives limited to use within the organisation only).