Collaborate and store files securely
Google Drive offers HMS faculty, staff, and students a secure platform for collaboration and storage. Use tools like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides to streamline teamwork and manage documents in one place.
Note – There is interoperability between Harvard University’s Microsoft 365 calendars and Google calendars, so the calendar and email functions are not included with this service. If you need Google calendar, let us know why in the request form.
Request a Harvard Google account
Eligibility
Eligibility for HMS Quad-based faculty, staff, and studentsGoogle Drive is available to HMS Quad-based faculty, staff, and students who have or are eligible for an HMS email address.
Google Drive may only be used to support research or teaching. Administrative staff must use Microsoft 365 for collaboration and document storage tasks related to non-research administrative work.
Google Drive must be used only for collaboration on documents created in Drive rather than for storage of research data. When storing research data, we recommend using HMS-supported research storage which provides robust options for active analysis, standby storage, and long-term retention.
We recommend sharing content in Google Drive using shared drives when creating documents for collaboration with a department, as files created in shared drives are retained when users leave the University.
Security
Approved for level 3 (L3) data, excluding public repositoriesGoogle Drive is approved for level 3 (L3) data, excluding public repositories. For public data sharing, contact rchelp@hms.harvard.edu. For more information, see the Collaboration Tools Matrix from Harvard Information Security and Data Privacy.
Files in personal folders can be shared with these permissions:
- Edit
- Comment
- View
Shared drives additionally allow these roles to be assigned:
- Manager – For content, people, and settings management.
- Content manager – For adding, editing, moving, deleting, and sharing content.
Storage space
Learn about default allocations and how to request more storageThese are the available storage limits based on type:
| Storage type | Default (GB) | Requestable limit (GB) |
|---|---|---|
| Individual accounts | 25 | 500 |
| Shared drives | 5 | 500 |
To increase your storage capacity, submit a request using the Google storage request form.