The person you send a link to needs nothing but a browser. Here is what the share page gives them.
Previews
These file types open right on the page:
- Images — full preview with zoom;
- Video and audio — an inline player;
- PDF — an in-browser reader;
- Word documents (.docx) — rendered in the page (very large documents fall back to download-only).
Everything else shows a card with the file name and type, and a working Download button — the preview is a convenience, never a requirement.
Folders
A shared folder can be browsed like a small file manager: subfolders first, then files, with breadcrumbs to navigate back up. The recipient only ever sees what is inside the shared folder — nothing above or beside it.
Downloading
- A single file has a plain Download button.
- A multi-file share offers Download all, fetching the files one after another.
- A shared folder downloads as a single ZIP that preserves the folder structure. Very large folders can exceed the one-go ZIP limit — the page says so openly and suggests downloading a subfolder at a time.
If a download that worked earlier suddenly does not start, the page just needs a reload — see Downloads not starting.
What recipients never see
The share page shows only that one share. Your Drive, your other files, your storage — none of it is visible or reachable from a share link. If the share is password-protected, even the file names stay hidden until the password is entered.
For photos that carry such data, an EXIF strip under the image shows the camera and the shot settings (shutter speed, aperture and the like) — but the page never shows the GPS location. The downloaded file itself is unchanged, though: if the photo contains a location, it stays in the file. If you don't want that, remove the metadata before sharing with the metadata remover.