The Corporate Default
If you use Google Docs through a Google Workspace account (formerly G Suite) provided by your employer or university, your sharing settings are heavily influenced by the organization’s administrator. Often, when you create a new document and click the “Share” button to generate a link, the default visibility is automatically set to “Anyone in [Your Organization] with the link can view.” While this encourages internal collaboration, it is a massive security risk if you are drafting sensitive HR documents, financial projections, or personal notes, as simply pasting the link in the wrong internal Slack channel gives everyone access.
Restricting Default Link Sharing
To protect your private drafts and stop Google Docs from automatically sharing new links with your entire domain, you must manually restrict the link permissions before you copy it.
While only your IT administrator can change the global default for your entire company, you can control the specific document. Open the Google Doc you wish to protect. In the top-right corner, click the large blue Share button. A dialogue box will appear. Look at the bottom half of this box under the “General access” heading. You will likely see your company’s name with a globe or building icon next to it. Click on the dropdown menu displaying your company’s name. Change this selection to Restricted. The icon will change to a padlock. Now, even if someone within your company gets their hands on the URL, they will be met with an “Access Denied” screen and must explicitly request permission from you to view the file.