Those with free personal accounts will have the option to “remove” this Google Drive security update. Once the update has been applied to a file, users who haven’t viewed the file before will have to use a URL containing the resource key to gain access, and those who have viewed the file before or have direct access will not need the resource key to access the file. The update will add a resource key to sharing links. Original 7/23: At a high level, this “update will change the links used for some files.” It could lead you (and others) to request file access again, though there are no changes to files that you have previously already viewed/opened.īehind-the-scenes, the URL to files shared in Google Drive is getting slightly longer with “resourcekey” followed by a string of alphanumeric characters and symbols added to the end. As a reminder, people that have already opened a shared file will not lose access. However, Google discourages this and only recommends taking that action on files that are intended to be viewed by a wide (and new) public audience.

Selecting them will let you “Remove” the longer URL and ensure that the level of access does not change.

A link at the bottom of this email takes you to Google Drive to see a list of “Impacted files” that have already had the security update “Applied.” Update 7/28: Google this week started alerting personal Gmail and enterprise Workspace accounts about the upcoming change. Google today announced a “Security update” for Drive to “make file sharing more secure.” This is part of a broader company-wide change that also affects YouTube and will impact the productivity app on September 13, 2021.

What is a google drive link