On a fairly regular basis I’m asked some variation of the following question, “is it possible to duplicate a Google Doc if it wasn’t shared with me?” Yes, you can make a copy of Google Documents that weren’t directly shared with you. If you have the link to a Google Document that has been made public, you can probably make a copy of it.

Before jumping into how to make a copy of Google Document that is marked as “view only” let’s take a look at how to find publicly shared Google Documents. You can do that by refining your Google Search to display only results from docs.google.com. Make that refinement in the advanced panel in Google Search. Watch the following video to see that process.

When you have found a Google Document that you want to copy, use the process demonstrated in the following video to make a copy of the document.

Learn more about Google Docs in my upcoming course, Getting Going With G Suite.