How to set up a shared drive that stays organized as your team grows

When you’re a business of five, everyone knows exactly where every file lives. By the time you’ve grown to 25 or 50 employees, however, things change. All of a sudden, no one is sure whether the proposal they’re working on is current or whether a contractor still has access to last year’s project. The shared drive now contains three subfolders all titled “Final”.

Most business cloud storage tools give you the basics, but they won’t organize themselves. The goal is to keep a shared drive manageable as more people and files are added, without becoming another job for whoever runs operations. A useful system makes files easy to find, keeps access under control, and fits into the way your team already works.

In this guide, we’ll share how to:

• Give every file a clear home
• Decide who needs access and set appropriate permissions
• Keep files, folders, and access up to date as your team grows

What is a shared drive?

A shared drive is a common place for a team to store and work on files. Instead of passing attachments around, people access the same documents and folders, with permissions that determine who views or edits them.

For a growing business, it gives shared work a consistent home. Colleagues know where to find the latest proposal, which templates to use, and where to save project files.

How to create a shared drive

Keeping a shared drive organized means answering three questions: Where does each file belong? Who needs access? Who’s responsible for keeping it up to date?

1. Give every file a clear home

Start with one area your team uses every day. You don’t need to reorganize the whole drive before improving how current work is stored.

Choose a small set of main folders based on the work your business does. For example:

• Company resources: Policies, onboarding guides, and approved templates.
• Operations: Suppliers, procedures, and internal planning.
• Clients: Customer work and project files.
• Finance: Budgets, invoices, and financial records.
• People: Employment documents and personnel records.

Use subfolders to make files easier to find within each main folder. Under Clients, create a subfolder for each customer, with separate project folders inside it. Under Finance, create a subfolder for each year, with separate Invoices and Budgets folders inside it.

For similar projects, reuse the same subfolder names, such as Brief, Working files, Approved work, and Client handover. Consistent labels help colleagues find their way around each new project. If the folders follow a sequence, add numbers to keep them in that order when sorted by name.

Give files clear names that tell colleagues what they contain. For monthly reports, include the month and year, such as “Sales report October 2026.” For documents your team updates regularly, share a link to one working file so everyone uses the same version.

Tips for putting your structure into practice

• Check sensitive files before the wider cleanup. Review access to finance and personnel records and private client files, and remove permissions people no longer need before reorganizing less sensitive material.
• Test the structure on one active project. Ask two colleagues to find the brief, save a draft, and locate approved work. Adjust any labels they find confusing.
• Move current files first. Check permissions before and after moving them, update links in project tools, and tell colleagues where new work belongs.
• Tackle older files in manageable batches. Leave them in place while you review them. Set aside 30 minutes a week, starting with competing versions and files people struggle to find.

How to create and organize folders in Proton Drive

To build your structure in the Proton Drive web app:

1. Sign in at drive.proton.me(cửa sổ mới)
2. Click New, then New folder
3. Name a main folder, such as Clients
4. Open it and repeat the steps to create a customer subfolder
5. Open the customer folder and create a folder for each active project

To organize existing items, right-click a file or folder and select Move to folder. Select Rename to change its name. On Windows and Mac, colleagues can also sync folders shared with them to File Explorer using the Proton Drive desktop app.

See: how to create folders in Proton Drive and the Proton Drive web guide.

2. Decide who needs access

Give people access to only the files they need for their work. Limiting access reduces how much information is exposed if an account is compromised and makes permissions easier to manage as your team changes.

Group files together when they need to be shared with the same people. Company policies belong in a folder everyone can read, while finance and personnel records need restricted access. For client work, keep the files you’re delivering separate from internal drafts and pricing discussions.

Within each folder, give edit access to people who need to change the files and view access to those who only need to read them:

Folder	Who needs access	Suggested permissions
Company policies and approved templates	All staff	Most people view; those maintaining the documents edit
Active client project	Project team	Contributors edit; others view
Client handover	Client and delivery team	Client views; delivery team edits
Finance records	People handling finance	View or edit according to their responsibilities
Personnel records	People handling those records	View or edit according to their responsibilities

Invite regular collaborators by email so you can change or remove each person’s access separately. When sending finished files to a client, use a sharing link with an expiration date so access ends when it’s no longer needed. Add a password for sensitive files.

Tips for keeping shared files secure

• Plan access for new starters. Agree on which folders people in each role normally need, so you don’t have to decide from scratch whenever someone joins. Check out our onboarding checklists for more ideas on how to simplify this process.
• Use individual accounts. Each employee should have their own login so you can remove their access without disrupting colleagues.
• Require two-factor authentication. Proton business administrators can enforce this through organization security settings.
• Treat encryption and permissions as separate protections. Proton Drive encrypts file contents, filenames, and folder names before they leave your device, protecting that information from the storage provider. You still decide which colleagues and external recipients can access the files.

How to manage sharing in Proton Drive

To share a folder with specific people:

1. Select the folder and click Share
2. Enter your colleagues’ email addresses
3. Choose Viewer or Editor for each recipient and send the invitations

See: how to share folders by email.

Before you finish, check the sharing settings:

• Who can share: Editors can also invite others and change permissions by default. Turn off Access if they should only edit.
• When link access ends: If you’re sharing through a Public link, set an expiration date and add a password for sensitive files.

See: how to manage shared-file access.

3. Keep the system up to date

Give each main folder a named person responsible for keeping it useful. Having someone to turn to helps colleagues resolve filing questions, flag outdated documents, and request access as the team changes.

A short “Start here” document gives that person a place to explain what belongs in the folder and how files should be named. Include it in onboarding so new colleagues understand the system without having to ask around.

Project closure is a natural time to tidy up. The person responsible for the folder should confirm which files are approved, remove unnecessary duplicates, and move completed work into an Archive subfolder with the same access restrictions. Your business’s retention requirements should guide what stays and what gets deleted.

Access needs attention as responsibilities change, too. Include a permissions review when someone joins, changes roles, or leaves, and when a project ends, so former colleagues and contractors don’t retain access they no longer need.

Tips for keeping maintenance manageable

• Name a backup contact. Make sure someone else knows the filing rules and how to handle access requests when the person responsible for a folder is away.
• Set aside a short monthly check. Look for outdated shared resources, old delivery links, and unnecessary access, starting with sensitive folders and external recipients.
• Plan file handovers before removing accounts. Identify business files owned by the departing employee and preserve them in storage the company controls. Check that colleagues can access the preserved files before deleting the account. Download our offboarding checklists if you need a simple framework for employee departures.

How to review shared access in Proton Drive

To check items you’ve shared:

1. Open the Shared tab in the Proton Drive web app.
2. Select a file or folder and open its sharing controls.
3. Review the recipients and their permissions. Change their role or select Remove access as needed.
4. Check whether a Public link is enabled and disable it if it’s no longer needed.

See: how to manage shared-file access.

Let your shared drive grow with the work

A manageable shared drive makes clear where files belong, who needs access, and who keeps them current. Use this checklist when setting up your structure and maintaining it as your team grows:

• Start small: Choose one area your team uses every day and organize current files before tackling older material.
• Give files a clear home: Use main folders that reflect your work, consistent subfolders, and descriptive filenames.
• Control access: Share only what people need, distinguish view from edit access, and set expiration dates for temporary links.
• Assign responsibility: Give each main folder a named contact and record the filing rules in a short “Start here” document.
• Keep it current: Archive completed work and review access when projects end or people change roles or leave.

You don’t need to reorganize everything at once. Start with one area in Proton Drive’s business cloud storage, organize the files your team uses, and give each person the access they need. Your files are end-to-end encrypted, and passwords and expiration dates help you control access through shared links. Once that area works well for your team, apply the same approach to the next.