How To Hide Files on Google Drive – Guide
Google Drive is a free cloud storage option that allows users to keep files hidden from other users and to share files with third parties. If you want to share an entire folder with a team or family, but only a few essential or confidential files inside it, one option is to place these files in an entirely separate folder. When files are systematically organized, however, this method is not possible. ..
- Open Google Drive and sign in.
- Click on the three lines in the top left corner of the main screen and select “Hide file.”
- The file will be hidden and you will not be able to access it.
How to Hide a file in Google Drive
To hide a file from the Drive folder, you can use the Google Drive feature known as “Manage Versions”. By saving multiple versions of the same file, you can make sure that the file is always accessible, even if it is in a different location on your computer. This workaround will help to keep your files hidden from view on the Drive folder.
load the original file
To keep a file secret on Google Drive, first sign in with your Google username and password. Then, navigate to the Google Drive folder in your browser. Once you’re in the folder, you can send the file you want to keep secret from other members who share the same Google Drive account or drive. Once the upload is complete, all members of your account can see the file. If you have this file on your drive, all members can prepare it to hide the original document.
Use temporary file to hide original
You can use any file to hide the original file. However, image files will produce more realistic thumbnails. Here, we’ll go with an image file to hide the original file you uploaded to Google Drive. Now go ahead to Google Drive and right click on the original file you uploaded and choose “Manage Versions” from the menuup menu. Select “Upload New Version” to load a new file on top of the original. Here you choose the image file you have on your system to load as New Version. There is no specific rule for uploading the image file here, you can use any file format supported by Google Drive to upload and hide the original image.
Google Drive now shows the thumbnail of the original file with the latest version of the file you recently uploaded to the folder.
rename the file
Google Drive still retains the old file extension even after an image is uploaded, which can be a confusing issue if you want to share files with others.
You can now change the filename and extension to the updated file extension. This makes it look like the file is an image file, which can be used to make an impression on the user.
After uploading the new version, Google will, by default, save the previous version of the file for 30 days on its server. If you want to keep the old version of the file forever, you can set it to do so.
Change file version expiration period
To continue, right click on the file and select “Manage Versions”. You will see the current and previous version of the file. Now click on the three vertical dots option and choose “Keep forever” to save the previous version of the file forever on Google’s server.
If someone tries to access the Google Drive, they will see the image of the plants, but they will be able to see the original version of the file if they delve deeply into the file versions. ..
Access the original file
When you want to download the original file, you can easily access the previous version. Just access the file in Google Drive > right-click on the file > Go to “Manage Versions”. You can find your old file there and click download.
If someone tries to double-click a file, the latest version of the file will always be opened, thus protecting your data from unauthorized use.
Final note
Google Drive is a great way to store and share files. However, if you want to keep your files hidden from Google, you need to do some extra work. In this guide, we will show you how to hide files on Google Drive. We will also recommend some ways to improve your Google Drive experience.
