Unintuitive default: who can edit access in Google Docs

When you create a new Google Doc, you have the option to share it with others to view or edit. Viewing permission is straightforward, just view access, but by default, editors have the ability not just to edit the content of the document but also to edit sharing permissions. If you grant edit access for a private document to a collaborator and don't check the box for "Prevent editors from changing access and adding new people" in Advanced > Owner settings, they can share the document, edit history and all, with someone else.

A picture of the Google Docs sharing settings dialog after you've enabled access for anyone with the link; the Advanced settings in the bottom right corner is highlighted with a red arrow and box — This is what the Google Docs sharing settings look like after you grant edit access to anyone with the link. The button to expand the Advanced settings is pointed out in the bottom right corner.

A picture of the Google Docs sharing settings dialog after you've clicked to see the Advanced settings; the unchecked by default option to "Prevent editors from changing access and adding new people" is highlighted with a red arrow and box — Once you click to see the Advanced settings, make sure to consider whether or not you want to check the "Prevent editors from changing access and adding new people" box. If you've granted edit access to anyone with the link, leaving this box unchecked allows anyone to limit who can view your document.

Linking document editing to editing sharing permissions by default is particularly unintuitive to me in the context of documents where anyone with the link to the document can edit it: even in that case, anyone with edit permission - anyone who gets the link either from you or from someone else who had it sharing it, so potentially anyone on the internet - can change who has access to the document. Anyone with the link can limit access to the document, and that might subtly cause confusion when people who you'd expect to be able to view it suddenly can't.

Fortunately, no one can revoke access from the owner of the document, so once you're aware someone is locked out who shouldn't be, the owner can fix the sharing settings and decide whether or not to tick the "Prevent editors from changing access and adding new people" box.

Since discovering this accidentally, I always tick the "Prevent editors from changing access and adding new people" box when creating a new Google Doc, but that would probably have been more intuitive to have checked by default.