Workspaces organize projects inside a drive. Every drive has two default workspaces — the general drive workspace and your personal private workspace — and on Enterprise plans, drive admins can create custom workspaces to control access across teams.
This article covers:
- The general workspace
- Your personal workspace
- Custom workspaces
- Manage a custom workspace
- Workspace membership and access
- Move projects between workspaces
The general drive workspace
The general drive workspace is the default shared space on every drive. All drive members can access it when they join. Projects in the general workspace are visible to everyone on the drive. It cannot be deleted.
Your personal private workspace
Every drive member has a personal private workspace — a private space for projects that aren't shared with the rest of the drive members. New projects save to your personal workspace by default. Like the general workspace, your personal workspace cannot be deleted.
Personal workspaces:
- Belong to you only
- Don't support folders
- Cannot be deleted
- Aren't visible to drive admins
To share a project from your personal workspace, move it into another workspace, or share it directly with specific people — they'll be able to access the project even though it stays in your personal workspace. Learn about project access and sharing.
Custom workspaces
Custom workspaces are only available on Enterprise plans. Drive admins create dedicated spaces for teams, clients, or projects, with control over who can see and join them.
Create a custom workspace
- In the left sidebar, click the + button next to Workspaces. Select Create new workspace.
- Name your workspace and choose its visibility: Open or Private.
- Open workspace — Visible and searchable by all drive members. Anyone on the drive can join.
-
Private workspace — Only visible to members who have been added by an admin.
Add members to a custom workspace
Only existing drive members can be added to a workspace. To add someone who isn't on the drive yet, invite them to the drive first.
- From the drive view, select the workspace in the left-hand sidebar.
- Click the ⋯ menu next to the workspace name.
- Select Add members.
- Search for drive members and add them.
Join an open custom workspace
When you join a drive, you'll see a list of open workspaces available to join. To join one:
- Open the drive view.
- Browse or search for workspaces in the left sidebar.
- Click Join next to the workspace you want.
If a workspace isn't visible in your sidebar, it may be a private workspace. Ask your drive admin to add you.
Leave a custom workspace
Leave any custom workspace with the following steps:
- Open the workspace.
- Click the ⋯ menu next to the workspace name.
- Select Leave workspace.
Manage a custom workspace
Click the ⋯ menu next to a custom workspace's name to access workspace actions: Rename workspace, Change workspace icon, Private workspace toggle, New folder, Copy workspace link, View members, Add members, Leave workspace, and Delete workspace. Renaming, changing visibility, changing the icon, adding members, and deleting require drive admin permissions.
Workspace membership and access
Your drive role determines what you can do in every workspace you belong to — it is not possible to be an editor on the drive but a viewer in a workspace, or vice versa. When you join a workspace, the system applies your existing drive role (admin, editor, or viewer) automatically.
- Drive admins → project admin access in all shared workspaces
- Drive editors → can edit projects in workspaces they belong to
- Drive viewers → can view and comment on projects in workspaces they belong to
Drive admins manage workspace membership. Editors and viewers can't create workspaces or add members to private workspaces. Drive admins can see all projects in shared workspaces, but not projects in members' personal workspaces.
Learn more about drive membership roles.
Move projects between workspaces
Drive editors and owners can move projects between workspaces they belong to, or into their personal workspace.
- Click the ⋯ menu next to the project you want to move.
- Select Move to…
- Choose a destination workspace.
- Confirm the move.
Moving a project changes who has access to it
Access updates to match the destination workspace's members. You'll see a confirmation before the move completes.
Published share links are not affected by workspace membership — anyone with a published link can view the published content, even if they aren't a member of the workspace the project belongs to.