How to create and share a shareable link from a Google Doc, Sheet, or Slides.

This process is fairly simple, but there are a couple of settings that need to be correct for it to work properly. We have gathered three forms of instructions for you to choose from:

1. watch this video tutorial (it was made by a school that uses a different platform than the Hub - Schoology - but the sharing process is the same), or

2. visit Google’s help center, or 

3. read the instructions below

Use this process to share a Google Suite document (Doc, Slide, Sheet, etc.) with anyone. This process controls who can see and/or edit your document. You can share your document with specific people or so anyone with the link can access it. 

This tutorial applies to the Google Suite for Beginners, Google Suite Advanced, and any other course that asks you to create and submit a Google Doc to an assignment or forum. For simplicity, we are going to refer to any Google Suite document (Doc, Slide, Sheet, etc.) as a Google Doc for the remainder of this help article. 

PART 1 - Create the shareable link

1. Begin by going to your Google Doc. 

2. If you hover over the Share button in the upper right, you will see how your document is currently shared. By default your document is ‘Private to only me’. To successfully share/submit your work in the Hub course, you will need to change this setting.

1. Click the ‘Share’ button. 

From here you have two options: create a sharable link or give access via email. This will depend on what the assignment is asking for. It is typically the shareable link with either view or edit access.

Option 1: Create a shareable link

1. In the bottom of the two boxes that open, check under ‘Get link.’

2. If it says ‘Restricted. Only people added can open with this link’, you can click the link text below it to change it to ‘Anyone with the link’ to make it more generally available. (Otherwise, only those defined in Option 1 can open the links you give.)

3. You can change the level of access by clicking the drop-down to the right (View, Comment, or Edit).
   
   
   

4. (You can change back to Restricted by clicking on ‘Anyone with the link.’)

5. Click ‘Copy link.’

6. Click the Done button.
    

7. Clicking anywhere in the dark area around the boxes returns you to your document.

Option 2: Give access to a specific person via email

1.  In the boxes that open, enter the email addresses for those you want to share with in the top box. For example, allyson.briese@mt.gov, andthen press the Enter key on your keyboard. 

2. If it says ‘Commenter’ or ‘Viewer’ to the right of the email address you just put in, but you want to give editing access, click on the word and then select ‘Editor.’

3. Repeat for each person you want to include.

4.  In the bottom right of the box, click ‘Send.’ Each person will get an email with their own link.
   

PART 2 - Share the link in the course

After you have gotten your shareable link, you can return with it to your Learning Hub page and go to the assignment where you want to put the shareable link. 

1. Click the ‘Add Submission’ button near the bottom.

2. Scroll down to the ‘Online text’ box.

3. Paste the link from your Google Suite document, adding a note if you want, into the online text/message box. Note: do not put the link in the Comments field, it must be in the Online text field for it to be properly submitted.
   

1. Once you’re done, click the ‘Save changes’ button at the bottom of the page.