Q: What are the key steps to solving this problem? A: The primary steps include creating a dedicated “Internal” Shared Drive for private team documents, a separate “External” Shared Drive for client-facing materials, and potentially a third “Executive” drive for sensitive management-level information.
Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Concierge subscription.
Organize Your Client Files for Maximum Security and Clarity
Managing files across multiple client projects can quickly become complicated, especially when you need to ensure that internal drafts and sensitive estimates aren’t accidentally seen by the client. Many small business owners struggle with folder management when trying to restrict access within a single directory. The most effective way to solve this is to move away from complex folder-level permissions and instead utilize the power of Google Shared Drives.
The Two-Drive System for Client Success
The recommended best practice is to create two distinct Shared Drives for every client you onboard. The first drive is for Internal use only. This is where your team can collaborate on drafts, internal notes, and project planning without any risk of the client seeing the “behind-the-scenes” work.
The second drive is the External drive. This is the designated space for any documents that are ready to be exposed to the customer. By separating these into two distinct drives, you create a fail-safe environment for your staff. They no longer have to double-check individual file permissions; they simply know that if a file is in the “Internal” drive, it stays within the company, and if it’s in the “External” drive, it is intended for the client.
Scaling Your Shared Drive Structure
For growing businesses handling highly sensitive data, you may even consider a third drive dedicated to Management or Executives. This ensures that high-level financial discussions or contract negotiations related to a specific client remain restricted to your leadership team.
While creating multiple drives for each client might seem like more administrative work upfront, it significantly simplifies long-term management. Google Workspace can handle thousands of Shared Drives, so there is no need to worry about hitting technical limits. This structure allows you to apply group-based permissions effectively, ensuring that as your team grows, new members are automatically given the right level of access to the right projects.
Watch: Setting Up Internal and External Client Shared Drives in Google Workspace
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Full Video Transcription
My recommendation for that is to create two shared drives for each client one for internal one for external you may even have to create a third one which is just for management or Executives related to that client in Shar drive when I’m working with staff for separate projects each project something to be shared but not estimate for that separately another folder has to be created outside the drgs folder to restrict them folder management for 10 projects interesting okay I’m assuming here that some project documents are for internal or restricted use and some project documents are for external use my recommendation for that is to create two shared drives for each client one for internal one for external you may even have to create a third one which is just for management or Executives related to that client now is it a bit more annoying yes but what that does do is it makes it really simple for your staff they know that if it’s something that’s internal only goes in the internal folder for that client if it’s external it means this is going to be exposed to the customer so that’s a simple system there’s no real theoretical limit on shared drives if there is is in the thousands or tens of thousands so don’t worry about creating too many shared drives for Google to handle unless you have 10,000 employees but this is a yeah good opportunity for you to learn the settings of Google shared drives and configure them correctly now if you want to learn about that yeah we’ve got some pretty great videos on the channel specifically around shared drivve so if you head to the channel and you search for shared drives you’ll see we’ve got a number of different guides here on how to set up all of your group-based permissions how to apply them to your shared drives and what my best practices are for configuring the settings of shared drive so go ahead check those out on the channel they’re all very very useful if you need more help with what we’ve covered in this video it genius provides support services to businesses all over the world with problems just like this click the link below to get started
Setting Up Internal and External Client Shared Drives in Google Workspace
itGenius 🤓 Biz Tech Experts · 611 views

Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Concierge subscription.
Q: What are the key steps to solving this problem? A: The primary steps include creating a dedicated “Internal” Shared Drive for private team documents, a separate “External” Shared Drive for client-facing materials, and potentially a third “Executive” drive for sensitive management-level information.
Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Concierge subscription.
Q: Who is this guide for? A: This guide is designed for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and growing teams who use Google Workspace to manage multiple client projects and need a reliable, non-technical way to organize their digital workspace.
Q: What are the key steps to solving this problem? A: The primary steps include creating a dedicated “Internal” Shared Drive for private team documents, a separate “External” Shared Drive for client-facing materials, and potentially a third “Executive” drive for sensitive management-level information.
Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Concierge subscription.
Q: What are the key steps to solving this problem? A: The primary steps include creating a dedicated “Internal” Shared Drive for private team documents, a separate “External” Shared Drive for client-facing materials, and potentially a third “Executive” drive for sensitive management-level information.
Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Concierge subscription.
Q: Who is this guide for? A: This guide is designed for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and growing teams who use Google Workspace to manage multiple client projects and need a reliable, non-technical way to organize their digital workspace.
Q: What are the key steps to solving this problem? A: The primary steps include creating a dedicated “Internal” Shared Drive for private team documents, a separate “External” Shared Drive for client-facing materials, and potentially a third “Executive” drive for sensitive management-level information.
Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Concierge subscription.






