If Your Google Drive Links Stop Working, It Might Be Due to an Update

While we cannot express how important it is to update your software and hardware in a timely manner, it is important to keep in mind that some of these updates aren’t going to be perfect. An upcoming update to Google Workspace serves as the perfect example, as the company has recently released an alert to inform users about an issue affecting Google Drive.

What’s Going to Happen with Google Drive?

Anyone who uses Google Workspace for collaboration is more than likely familiar with the link-sharing feature that Drive offers. For those who haven’t used it, it’s a feature that enables you to share the documents you’re working on with others with varying permissions so that multiple people can collaboratively contribute to the work done on them. It’s an intensely useful feature, especially since you can just copy and paste a link into a quick message to expeditiously share this access.

However, the pending update to Google Workspace will throw a wrench into these links… at least, ones that were generated before these updates. 

Basically, Some Links Will Break

Here’s the crux of the situation: once these updates are applied, a resource key will be added to the URLs generated when sharing a link. As a result, there will likely be an influx of new access requests for businesses to manage.

Google’s dedicated support page has made it clear that admins can choose how to apply this update until July 23. After July 26, end users will start to receive notifications alerting them to any files they manage that were impacted. If admins allow it, users will be able to choose how these updates apply to their files until September 13.

Need Assistance?

SMART Services is here to help businesses with IT management needs just like this. Find out what more we can do for you by calling 586 258-0650 .