How to Force Others to Make a Copy of Your Google Doc

With Google Docs, Sheets & Slides, you can share them in a way that forces the recipient to make a copy before opening them. This is a great way to make sure the original document remains unchanged.

Step 1 - Open your Google Doc

Step 2 - Click the blue 'Share' button in the top right of your Google Document

Step 3 - Select 'Anyone with the link' from the General access settings area, as shown below.

Step 4 - Make sure it is set to 'Viewer' access, then click 'Copy link' and 'Done'.

Step 5 - The next phase is to change the URL. You can do this by pasting the URL into the browser bar or into a message (chat or email, for example).

https://docs.google.com/document/d/YOUR_DOCUMENT_ID/edit?usp=sharing

You then need to delete everything from /edit and replace it with /copy

When you send that link to colleagues, it will ask them to make a copy of the document before opening it. Leaving your original document intact.

To learn more about Google Workspace, book one of Cloudshed's live sessions or our on-demand Google training courses.