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Not too long ago, I decided to switch to Google Drive and Docs to write my cover letter and resumes, I already use the e-mail address to send them anyways, so using Drive and Docs seemed like a good idea.

I uploaded a template document that contains the basic information that is common on every application I send out (name, phone, Github url, previous work and education history, etc), and I made sure that only I could view the document.

I use KeePass to create and store a 64 character password (mixed with numbers, letters, and symbols), and I make it a habit to change the password periodically.

Yesterday, when I signed in, I realized the template was shared with someone that I don't even know. I can't understand how this happened, and I nearly shutdown the account. So far, I've removed the documents and migrated back to my previous workflow of using a word processor and a portable HD to store my documents.

If I were to shutdown the account, would who ever I shared the document with still have access to it? What should I do to prevent this from happening again? The information isn't too sensitive (you can get the same information on Linkedin), but I'm unsure of how to proceed.

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  • Did you use your drive on mobile after you uploaded the document? and what extension was that file? it can be so that when you gave an app the authorization to your google drive, the app created a file in your account. Also make sure the box "Prevent editors from changing access and adding new people" is checked so if you give someone special rights he cannot change rights or add other people to that file. – user211258 Aug 13 '19 at 18:50
  • This might help: webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/43235/… – admcfajn Aug 13 '19 at 19:34
  • @user319472 - Don't have a mobile device, and I only sign in to my Gmail account on my desktop computer. I copied and pasted the text into a Google Docs and saving it as .odt. I tried uploading a .doc but I had problems with formatting and different browsers, which I asked about here – user214532 Aug 14 '19 at 15:07
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It sounds like you've created a document-template & saved it to the template-gallery in google-docs. This would make your template public.

If you're using & paying for g-suite, you can (likely, I haven't tested this) make private templates.

But if you're using the public/free google-docs, your templates will be made public.

That's not to say your documents can't be private in google-docs, but that document-templates are made public. You may want to work around this by making copies of a document which stores the commonly used content, rather than using a template to store the content which is commonly used across your documents.

Templates are meant more for storing layout/functionality than for storing information.

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