Shared drive limits


here are limits to the number of items, members, and daily uploads you can have in shared drives.

Note: For information about storage limits, go to Drive storage FAQ for admins.

Limits for members and items

Maximum items in a shared drive

A shared drive can contain a maximum of 400,000 items, including files, folders, and shortcuts.

We recommend that you keep shared drives well below the strict limit. Users of shared drives with too many files might have difficulty organizing and finding items or ignore much of the content. 

To review the percentage of storage used in a shared drive, go to Manage shared drive users and activity

Maximum daily uploads

Individual users can only upload 750 GB each day between My Drive and all shared drives. Users who reach the 750-GB limit or upload a file larger than 750 GB cannot upload additional files that day. Uploads that are in progress will complete. The maximum individual file size that you can upload or synchronize is 5 TB.

File sharing limits

A given file within a shared drive can be directly shared with a maximum of 100 groups.

Folder limits

A folder in a shared drive can support up to 20 levels of nested folders.

We do not recommend creating a large number of folders in one shared drive. Users might have difficulty organizing and finding content. Instead, you can organize content into multiple shared drives.

Note: When using Drive for desktop, you cannot move a folder from My Drive to a shared drive.

Membership limits

You can add users and groups in Google Groups to a shared drive.

If you add a user who is a member of multiple groups that are members of the shared drive, the user only counts as one member.

MembershipLimit per shared drive
Groups100
Combined users and groups*600
Total individuals (users and group members)50,000

*Note: In this 600 limit, a maximum of 100 members can be groups. For example, you can share a shared drive with 100 groups and 100 users as members, but you cannot add another group as a member because that would exceed the 100 group limit for a shared drive. However, you can still add an individual user, bringing the total to 201, which is below the 600 limit for combined users and groups.

Maximum shared drives that appear in Drive

A maximum of 1,000 shared drives appear in the navigation list in Google Drive. You can still access additional shared drives using the direct URL.

Avoid exceeding limits

  • Use Google Groups for membership—Large organizations should manage membership using Google Groups instead of adding individual users. For details, go to Add new members

  • Keep track of hidden shared drives—If you hide a shared drive, its files, folders, and members still count toward the limits for shared drives. For details on hiding or unhiding a shared drive, go to Hide a shared drive.

  • Empty the trash for shared drives—Items that are not permanently deleted from the shared drive's trash still count toward the limits for the shared drive.

  • Use shared drives for specific projects—Make sure shared drives are organized for projects and teams instead of general-purpose file storage.