Depending on the needs of your organization, as a Google Workspace administrator you can make the following changes for all users or only users in certain organizational units:
- If you don't want users to use Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and email layouts, but to still use Drive for file management, leave Drive turned on and turn off Docs creation.
- If your organization uses a third-party storage provider instead of Drive and you turn off Docs creation, users can still create Docs, Sheets, and Slides that are hosted by the other storage provider as long as Drive and Docs is turned on.
- If you don't want users to create, upload, or organize any files in Drive, turn off Drive and Docs.
Turn off the option to create new Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, or Drawings
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Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
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In the Admin console, go to Menu AppsGoogle WorkspaceDrive and DocsFeatures and Applications.
- (Optional) To apply the setting to a department or team, at the side, select an organizational unit. Show me how
- Click Creating new files in Google Drive and uncheck the Allow users to create new Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and email layouts box.
- Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.
To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit.
The next time users reload each Google Workspace application, the options to create or copy new Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, or Drawings will disappear.
Turn off the option to create and upload any files in Drive
If you turn off the option to allow users to create and upload all types of files on Drive, users won't be able to:
- create or copy Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drawings, or email layouts
- upload non-Google files such as PDF, JPG, and Microsoft Office.
- create new Jams or Google Sites.
- record meetings in Google Meet.
Important: This is turned off by default for users who have Box for Google Workspace Essentials. If you turn this option on, it might increase the monthly price of your Google Workspace subscription.
This setting affects only new files. Users are able to move and organize existing files in Drive as well as edit and share existing files.
To turn this option off:
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Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
-
In the Admin console, go to Menu AppsGoogle WorkspaceDrive and DocsFeatures and Applications.
- (Optional) To apply the setting to a department or team, at the side, select an organizational unit. Show me how
- Click Creating new files in Google Drive and uncheck the Allow users to create and upload any files on Drive box.
- Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.
To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit.
Turn Google Sites on or off
You can turn Sites on or off using a separate control. This option determines whether users can create or edit sites in Sites.