How to Leave a Shared Google Drive Folder on PC or Mac

A step-by-step guide on leaving a shared folder on your computer

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: June 2, 2022 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to remove yourself from a shared Google Drive folder and delete it from your online Drive storage, using a desktop internet browser.

Steps

1
Open Google Drive in your internet browser. Type drive.google.com in your browser's address bar, and hit ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return on your keyboard.
- If you're not automatically logged in to Drive in your browser, enter your email and your password to sign in with your Google account.
2
Right-click the shared folder you want to leave. Find the shared folder you want to leave on the list of your saved folders, and right-click to open a drop-down menu.

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3
Click Share on the drop-down menu. This option is listed next to a gray figurehead icon on the menu. It will open this folder's sharing settings in a new pop-up window.
4
Click Advanced in the pop-up window. This option is located in the lower-right corner of the window. It will open a list of everybody who has access to this shared folder.
5
Click the X icon next to your name. Under the Who has access heading, find your name, and click the X icon next to it. This will gray your name out on the list.
- If you're the owner of this shared folder, you have to transfer your ownership to another user before you can leave the folder. To do this, click the
  icon next to another user, and select Is owner.
6
Click the blue Save changes button. It's on the lower-left corner of the pop-up window. You will have to confirm your action in a new pop-up window.
7
Click the blue Yes button. It will confirm your action, and remove you from this shared folder. The folder will be deleted from your Drive.

Community Q&A

Question

What if it's a 'shared with anyone on the internet' folder?

Community Answer

That means the file is public and anyone can view it. You would simply just not view the file, because there no permissions required to view it.
Question

Who unsubscribed the share file?

Community Answer

Anyone who doesn't want to see it anymore. They may have lost interest in it or don't need anymore. It doesn't mean the file is bad.