Google: Giving Users Their Own Copies of G-Docs vs. Sharing

It’s easy to make a copy of any document within your own Google Drive account. But what if you want your collaborators to create copies when they receive share links automatically?

This can come in handy when you want to preserve the original document or template while giving others the flexibility to edit a copy of the document for themselves.  A typical case is a Google Doc that needs to be filled out individually by each respondent. Collaborators can enter the details in their own copy of the document without corrupting the original.  It will save them a trip to the File > Make a Copy command on the menu.

You won’t have to ask them to make a copy. Follow these steps, and the copy will be made automatically for them. This hack works for all Google Drive tools: Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

1. Open the Google Drive document you want to share.

2. Click the blue Share button on the top-right of the document.

3. In the Share with others dialog, click on the Get shareable link icon. Set the share setting to Edit to update the link. Copy the complete link to your email or any other exchange media.

4. Also, click on Advanced.  Uncheck the box that says to Notify people. You don’t want them to get the notification email for the shared file. You want to send the link to the shareable document separately. Click OK to save the changes.

5. Copy-paste the shared link in an email. Now, delete everything after the forward-slash in the link and insert “copy.”

This is how the new link looks now:

6. Send the email, and your work is done. When the recipient clicks on the link, it takes them to their Google Drive screen that prompts them to make a copy of your document.

When they click Make a copy, a local copy of the document is saved on their Google Drive. The original stays preserved in your account.