Collaboration Services

Shared drives should be used for collaborative data related to administration, learning, teaching, and/or research at VCU. Shared drives are not appropriate for storing personal or private data. Data in shared drives are considered to be owned by a group or team rather than an individual.

Data that is not collaborative and/or does not necessitate the real-time collaborative features Google Drive offers should be stored in a more applicable location.

Managers and Content Managers can delete files and folders in a shared drive. However, only Managers can permanently delete them from Trash.

1. 1. Go to Google Drive and select the advanced search options icon () to the right of the search field at the top of the page.
   2. Click the drop-down menu beside Location.
   3. Select Shared drives, and then select the name of the shared drive you need to clean up.

Google will provide a list of search results for all files and folders within the shared drive. This may help with finding files or folders that are no longer needed in your shared drive.

1. 1. Select the files you’d like to delete, click the trash can icon () in the top right, and click Move to trash.

Tip: Click and drag your cursor over multiple files to select them. Alternatively, hold the CTRL/CMD key and click the files to select OR click the first file, hold the SHIFT key, and click another file to select multiple files in a row.

Once you have deleted files, they will be sent to the shared drive’s Trash. Files in Trash will be automatically deleted after 30 days. However, files in Trash still count against the VCU's storage limit, so it is recommended that you empty the Trash after deleting. Remember, only Managers can permanently delete data in Trash.

To permanently delete individual files from Trash:

1. Go to your shared drive and click the name drop-down menu.
2. Select View trash.
3. Select the files you want to permanently delete, click the trash can icon () in the top right, and click Delete forever to confirm.

Once emptied, your deleted files become unrecoverable, and storage space used should decrease in about 24 hours.

It is beneficial to review the membership and permissions on a regular basis to ensure that those who should have access to the shared drive and its content are properly kept up to date.

Additionally, Managers, Content Managers, and Contributors can add or create content in the shared drive. If you would like to better control who can do so, it may help to manage the storage used by the drive moving forward if fewer members can add storage to it.