Q: How can I use a Google sharing link with my personal Google account?

Context

• MIT G Suite for Education Edition) at https://ist-mit-edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/g-suite
• Personal Google accounts and sharing with your mit.edu email address

Answer

Background (please read)

Google users at MIT can choose whether to accounts in MIT's G Suite for Education organization, or personal Gmail/Google Docs accounts for sharing documents with friends and colleagues.

When someone shares a Google Doc with an email address at a domain for which a G Suite organization exists, the sharing link Google sends you will assume that the sender wants to share with an account in that G Suite organization, even if the specific user is not using G Suite. This can be a little confusing, especially if you would prefer to collaborate or share using your personal Google account, rather than an MIT G Suite for Education account.

The Google document sharing messages look like this:

Workaround 1: Ask the sender to share with your personal account

This is the simplest workaround. Ask your friend or colleague to share the document with your personal Google account instead – usually an account name that ends in @gmail.com. You will get another sharing notification with a link to log into your personal Google account.

The drawback of this approach, of course, is the extra step for your colleague to go through and that you need to share your personal Gmail address rather than just your MIT address with them.

Workaround 2: Edit the sharing link

This workaround is fairly straightforward and does not require you to request a sharing invitation to your personal Google account.

1. Open the email message you received from Google notifying you of the shared document.
2. Right-Click (or CTRL-Click on a Mac) on the sharing link and select Copy Link from the menu that pops up. The exact label may be slightly different depending on the email program you use.
3. Go to your web browser and click on the location bar where you normally type in URLs or web site names
4. Paste the link you just copied (CTRL-v on Windows/Linux or COMMAND-v on a Mac)
5. Before you hit enter, edit the link as follows:
   • Remove the /a/mit.edu portion from the link
   • Example of original link: https://docs.google.com/a/mit.edu/document/d/1nBxF5gh34RfWgHl66Hj3f7/edit
   • Example of edited link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nBxF5gh34RfWgHl66Hj3f7/edit
6. Hit enter to go to the edited link; you'll be taken to the normal Google sign-in page where you can enter your personal Google username and password to share the document

Workaround 3: Sign up for an MIT G Suite for Education account

This isn't really a workaround. You can sign up for an MIT G Suite for Education account to keep your MIT and personal Google docs separate. To do so, fill out the form at:

• Sign up for an MIT G Suite for Education account

See also

• MIT G Suite for Education
• [archive:MIT takes over administration of Google Apps for MIT.EDU]
• [hdarchive:Google announces the end of Google Apps "Teams Edition"]