Is there anything like a symlink in Google Docs?

Question

For instance, I'd like to share my resume (in 3 formats) with a recruiter. I'd also like those links to be valid at all times but also be up to date if I upload a new PDF / DOCX / ODT file to Google Docs. A symlink of some sort seems like the natural choice. That way I could point the link to the new file without having to send an email out to the recruiter that says "hey here's the newest version".

Does such a thing exist in Google Docs?

Answer 1

That probably doesn't answer your problem, but for the record, there is something that looks like symlinks (january 2019), but is not. In particular you can't change the target without recreating the link, which changes its URL.

You can create such links from the GDrive web interface by selecting a file and pressing Shift-Z. No idea why they made it so invisible. It works with files and dirs, but don't behave exactly as you would expect from symlinks. Think of them more as "same file in two different locations".

• Names of all files (the link and the target) are sync'ed. You rename one, they both change names
• I haven't found how to change a link target (so probably not useful to the OP)
• If you "remove" one (web interface, right click > remove), one is moved to trash and the other disappears
• If you sync files to a computer (with google B&S), they appear as distinct files on your filesystem, then B&S syncs them. If you delete one, B&S deletes the others

The only (very lightweight) documentation I found is here. The rest comes from my (short) personal experiments.

Answer 2

I didn't find an answer and it's been months so I'll just post what I did.

1. make a folder in /resume/shared in Google Drive
2. share that folder
3. put updated versions of my resume in that shared folder
4. send anyone who needs my resume a link to the shared folder

Answer 3

Short answer, no. I don't think symlinks are the way to think about your problem, anyway. If the master copy of your résumé was a plain Google Doc, your recruiter could download it in any of those three formats and also Rich Text, Plain Text, Web Page, and EPUB.

My problem is a little different. I want to find a document from multiple Google Drive folders. My solution (workaround, really) is possible because each file in Google Drive has a unique URL. I maintain a single master document and create copies with the same document title whose content is a friendly pointer: "The master copy of the document you are looking for is at https://docs.google.com/document/d/16OG8N2NwzDZZIVxk5xpCR7oU0RMH-FzBVSZkBAKiuEM." It's easy to find all links to it if you want to update the URL for any reason. Simply search on the URL and Google Drive will find it in the content of the "symlinks."

Answer 4

I don't know if this existed at the time, but you can add versions to uploaded files.

1. Right click the uploaded file in google docs
2. Click "Manage Versions"
3. Click "Upload New Version"
4. Select the new resume file