Some users may receive notifications for shared documents sent from external, unfamiliar senders. These are often spam or phishing attempts that abuse Google Drive's sharing notifications to deliver malicious links. If you receive a shared document from someone you don't recognize, do not open it or click any links inside it — instead, block the sender and report the file.


How to Block a Sender

Option 1: Block from the sharing email

  1. Open the Drive sharing notification email.
  2. At the bottom of the email, click Block the sender.
  3. In the new tab that opens, select the account where you want to create the block.
  4. Click Block.

Option 2: Block from Google Drive directly

  1. Go to drive.google.com.
  2. Right-click the suspicious file.
  3. Click Report or block, then select Block.

Once someone is blocked:

  • They can no longer share files with you.
  • You can't share files with them unless you unblock them first.
  • Neither of you can access the other's files.
  • You'll stop receiving comment notifications from them (unless you're subscribed to all comment notifications).

Note: blocking may take a short time to take effect, and if you're on a Google Workspace account, you can't block someone within your own domain or a trusted partner domain.


How to Unblock a Sender

  1. Go to drive.google.com.
  2. Click your profile picture in the top right, then Manage your Google Account.
  3. Go to People & sharing > Blocked.
  4. Find the person in the list and click Remove next to their name.


How to Check Who Owns a Shared File

Before opening a file shared with you, it's good practice to verify the owner — especially if the sender or file name looks unfamiliar or suspicious.

From Google Drive:

  1. Go to drive.google.com and click Shared with me in the left sidebar.
  2. Click the file once to select it (don't open it).
  3. Click the View details icon (a circled "i") in the top-right corner.
  4. In the Details panel that opens, scroll down to see the Owner field.

From inside an open Google Doc, Sheet, or Slide:

  1. Click File in the top menu.
  2. Select Details.
  3. The Owner field will be listed in the panel that opens.

Using Drive search:

  • Type owner: followed by an email address in the Drive search bar to see all files owned by that person.

If the owner's name or email doesn't match someone you know or expect, don't open the file — report it and block the sender using the steps above.


Reporting Suspicious Files

If a shared file appears to be spam, phishing, or otherwise abusive, use the Report or block option (Option 2 above) to flag it to Google in addition to blocking the sender.