If I create a public Google Doc that anyone can edit who has the URL, will my Google id or name or anything else be publicly viewable?
I tried it and I didn't see anything about the owner in another browser without being logged in.
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5 Answers
The document must be shared either with the setting "Public on the Web" where it will show up in Google Search results, or "Anyone who has the link". Either way you cannot find the e-mail address of the owner of the document. That would be a great security loop-hole on the side of Google, since anyone will know what company is doing a survey on what and stuff like that.
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Just noting that for Google Drive files I am able to see the owner's name and email when inspecting the info in a link such as
https://drive.google.com/file/d/<file-id>/view.– ofekpMar 5 at 18:48
Apparently as of March 2023, you can simply find the file in your "Shared with me" page or in "Suggested", right click on it, and there will be an option "Block example@gmail.com". Anybody can easily see the address of a file owner now.
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Google Docs shared files with anyone on the web a with anyone with the link will be shown on the shared with me views of Google Docs and Google Drive. These views display the name of the documentary owner.
Here is how you can get more information.
Remove everything after /htmlview?fsuyewuyerwyuuf from the end of the URL, like this:
That will get you:
Click on History. That will get the company name:
And if you're patient enough, wait until the owner opens the document, and you can see the name and start a call with the owner.
If the file is Public on the web or accessible via a link, yes, you can. The same applies to being directly shared with you via email, except there are no extra steps, just press "Share" and you'll see the editors and owners.
The best tool for this is https://github.com/mxrch/GHunt. It can recover a lot of information from Google products, including Google Docs. It's able to find an owner's email, Google account ID, and some other account information.
Also, for recovering info about a Gmail user, use the forgot password feature and record all the hints/questions it gives you, and press "Try another way" as many times as possible. It will show snippets of recovery emails, phone numbers, device models, etc., but the user will of course be notified if someone is trying to reset their password.
Google is very bad at privacy and security, because they never do a good job about clarifying how much information really is publicly available. I'd say that most of your settings, profile information (recovery contacts, email address, name, etc.), and so on are more or less in the public domain.
