Use this Make a Copy trick when sharing Google Drive documents

The usefulness of this Google Drive hack is not very clear from the title, but give this tip a try. Give it a try once and you'll see immediate benefit when collaborating with others on Google Drive.

It's easy to make a copy of any document within your own Google Drive account. But what if you want your collaborators to automatically create copies when they receive sharing links?

This little tip can be useful when you want to keep the original document or template while giving others the flexibility to edit a copy of the document themselves. It will save you a trip to the File> Make a copy command in the menu.

Give users their own copies of documents

A typical case is a Google Doc that must be completed individually by each respondent. Collaborators can enter the details on their own copy of the document without damaging the original.

You won't have to ask To make a copy. Just follow these steps and the copy will be done automatically for them. This trick works for all Google Drive tools:Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

1. Open the Google Drive document you want to share.
2. Click the blue Share button at the top right of the document.
   
3. In the Share with others dialog, click the Get share link icon. Set the sharing settings to Edit to update the link. Copy the full link to your email or any other means of exchange.
   
4. Also, click on Advanced . Uncheck the box that says Notify people . You don't want them to receive the shared file notification email. You want to send the link to the shareable document separately. Click OK to save the changes.
   
5. Copy and paste the shared link into an email. Now delete everything after the forward slash in the link and insert "copy".
   
   This is what the new link looks like now:
   
6. Send the email and your work is done. When the recipient clicks the link, it takes them to the Google Drive screen that prompts them to make a copy of their document.
   

When they click Make a copy , a local copy of the document is saved to your Google Drive. The original stays preserved in your account..

Have you tried this method before? In what situation has it helped you or do you think it can help you?